It was garbage day and my neighbor said, "Hey, are interested in this metal sun I am throwing out"? Of course was my answer. My husband just looked at me and said, you can't talk to her any more! He was only joking, I think!
Have you found a "trash" item that became a treasure to you? I have found many trash items, although I did not keep all of them. However, when I found these vintage wooden chairs just sitting there waiting for garbage pickup, I had to save and keep them.
Garbage pickup is like dumpster diving without having to climb into a dumpster.
Can a chair be too far gone to save? I didn't use to think so, but finding this chair made me re-evaluate that question. There it was, just sitting there by the curb waiting for the garbage man to take it away.
Oh no, I have to save it. I grabbed it an put it in the car, but I was wondering? Could it be saved?
Do you ever see a piece along the road and stop and pick it up? Sometimes it is good and sometimes it is NOT so good. Well, we were driving home and I see this piece by the road and yell to my husband to stop the car. He rolled his eyes , as usual, but stops. I didn't take time to check it out the piece, we just stuff it in the car. It turned out to be a solid piece but way too "heavy looking".
We came back from our other house today and unpacked as usual. I was putting some things away when my neighbor knocked on my door. She had a hutch that she was putting out for bulk pickup and wondered if I wanted it. Now if you follow me, you know that each month we have "bulk pickup". This is where you can put out anything and they will pick it up.
Some of you might remember that by the end of the 1980s, the 5¼-inch disks had been superseded by the
3½-inch disks for computers. By the mid-1990s, the 5¼-inch drives had virtually
disappeared, as the 3½-inch disk became the predominant floppy disk. The
advantages of the 3½-inch disk were its smaller size and its plastic
case, which provided better protection from dirt and other environmental
risks.
When we were in Vermont last month, I found this pot in a pile at a garage sale that was to be thrown out. I don't think it was used as a watering can, because there is no hole on the inside where the spout is. Maybe just some decorative piece.
It was very rusty. Some how I managed to delete some pictures including the picture of what the original pot looked like. I have never stained a piece of metal, this was my first. I only did the spout and the top. It turned out great. I can't find that picture either. It is a shame, since the staining made a big difference.
Last month I found this mirror at a barn sale in Vermont with several other goodies. You can see that post here.
The mirror was so dirty you could not tell what kind of wood it was. The people who had the barn sale, said the mirror was in the house when they bought the farm.
Not sure how old the house was.
In addition to being dirty, it needed some work.
How I love bulk pick up week. Do you have something like that where you live? Once a month, people put out "trash" for bulk pick up. Now it is not really a week, only a day, but people can start putting out "trash" a week ahead. The hard part is competing with the "truckers". These are individuals that ride through the neighbors looking for stuff. Mostly they want items that they can scrap. They can get money for scrap metal - usually by the pound. Most of the time, they beat me to any metal items.
Most of my collecting is done within my neighborhood. Last month my neighbor put out these children's cabinets.
Last month when I was in Hobby Lobby they had some of their summer Decor on sale. I spotted this watering can. I loved the chevron pattern and the blue color. I can't remember how much it was, I think around $20.
As I was looking at it, I remembered that I had purchased a watering can a while back. Maybe I could make it over.
My daughter and I were out treasure hunting when we came upon this little side table. It needed some love but I liked the fact that it looked like a mini vintage fridge. At $12 it was a no brainer.
That is not how it looked when I bought it however. It was solid but banged up.
Did you ever find the right piece you were looking for, only to find out it had a big hole in it? Well, that happened to me. I needed a small round frame for a project I was working on. I searched, garage sales, flea markets and thrift stores. No lick, then a couple of weeks ago, I came across a new thrift store and there it was - just what I wanted. A small, round frame and only 50 cents. Yeah!
All was well until I picked it up - and there it was - a big hole!
I
was out running errands with the dogs and came across a yard sale close to home and
thought why not even though it was late in the day. As I approached, the owner meet me
and said, "great timing, I'm dealing". So I found a little cabinet that
held spices, two children's rockers. One was a wicker rocker and one
was a jute seat rocker.
Although it was in relatively good condition to look at, the dog had chewed on the rungs especially in the back.
I wanted to do something different for my Valentine decoration this year, but what? I was cleaning out some wood in the barn and created a pile of wood trim pieces that I used for testing paint colors. I hated to throw them away, but they were small pieces and not really "Valentine" colors. My mind started to work and I thought, why not a Valentine plaque. So here is what I created.
I have a strong love of boxes. It is hard for me to pass up any type of box at a flea market or garage sale. You can do so many things with them. So when I saw these boxes at a garage sale a few years ago, I had to get them. Of course the price - 50 cents each, was also a contributing factor.
What a week I have had, the flu caught up with me and took me down. All I wanted to do was to crawl in bed and sleep. However, the dogs had other ideas. We spend a lot of time outdoors and they wanted to be outside. They were not sick.
When the dogs were little, I taught them to ring a bell, tied to the door handle, when they had to go to the bathroom. Well, that bell was ringing off the handle. Every time I would lie down on the sofa, the bell would ring. After a few days, the bell came down. I did manage to work on this cutting board that was my grandma-in-law's.
Happy Monday to everyone! Hope your weekend was great. Our weekend was a little rainy, but I did manage to get to a couple of garage sales. I was so excited with my finds. Here are most of them.
I scored the mirror and the two wire baskets at one sale for $1 each. I love to get wire baskets for plants.
A few months back, I pulled a wicker lamp out of the neighbors junk pile. The cord had been cut off but the rest of the parts where there. I keep lamp parts so I took it apart. The lamp shade was "toast", I wanted to recover it so that was fine. The base of the lamp was wicker and in good shape, but I didn't like the color (sort of dirty blond). Sorry, I don't have a picture of the original lamp. I didn't think I would be using the base.
The other day as I was cleaning and found the wicker base and had an idea. I found some brown spray paint. I got so excited that I forgot to take a before picture. While the paint was drying, I headed to A. C. Moore for a couple of items.
Free is great! We all love free of course. This months rubbish day was very successful. As you may know if you follow my blog that each month we are allowed to "throw out" our rubbish for "balk pick up". In most cases it is plant and tree trimmings, but I have picked up some great furniture pieces. This week was no exception. My neighbor across the street put out these rocking chairs. I went to put out some garbage and wow there they were. I got so excited, I ran over there and my neighbor happened to be out. Can I have those? Of course, they had bought new ones. They needed some repairs.
My husband went to West Virginia (Wheeling) for his family reunion. It was rather last minute so he decided to drive from Ft. Lauderdale and would pick up his brother in Georgia. Normally, he would have taken his truck, but 5 days before he left, he was rear ended and over $5,000 in damage. Fortunately, he is fine. So they gave him a Honda Accord. Somewhat smaller than he is use to. After a few days I get a call, would you like some chairs. Well of course. There were also three lamps. I will take anything. lol! I said, bring what you can. Here is what he brought me.
