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A nearby village has a once-a-year tradition wherein its citizens place unwanted items at curbside. "Dumpster diving" or gleaning is encouraged to keep items out of the landfill. After several days, garbage trucks haul away anything that has not been picked up. I have seen the piles of forlorn furniture and oddities at the curbside each year, but have rarely seen anyone grabbing anything, nor have I ever stopped for anything myself.
There is a first time for everything. I am short several chairs in my house. My bedroom writing table does not have one. We borrow one from the kitchen table for the computer desk. We use the old piano bench at the dinner table if we have one extra guest for dinner. So... a fairly decent looking wooden chair with a dingy seat cover had a certain appeal! I went around the block twice and my sons had to talk me in to stopping. Quickly, looking furtively over my shoulder for witnesses to my perfectly acceptable gleaning, I tucked the chair into the back of my standard issue Soccer-Mom mini-van and drove off.
I recovered the seat with some fabric that was given to me years ago (and which Haiku has used in several crafts over the years: a tote bag, a book cover, a stuffed kitty) and within hours of leaving town, I had a new chair at my computer desk. Dumpster diving confessions, anyone?
6 comments:
Dumpster diving--well, maybe this counts--my next door neighbor put out several pieces of furniture for garbage pickup. We saw them and waited until it was dark to carry them in to our house (hoping that no one else would get them before us). When they come over to our house, we hope they don't recognize their castoffs, which we have refurbished. I like your "new" chair and the pattern and color of the fabric is perfect.
Catherine Mary, I love your story. *grin* Maybe someday we'll see photos of your refurbished furniture. (hint, hint!)
I've probably told you this story before, but my favorite dumpster diving find is the red armoire in Joy's room. It has Queen Anne style legs and is just so cute.
I was on my way to a Halloween dress up party at the time. There I was, dressed as Laura Ingalls, hoisting an armoire from someone's curb into the back of my little Toyota Celica hatchback! Those bruises and scrapes were worth it though!
Beautiful renovation, Aisling!
My neighbor once put out a lovely wooden chair that I admired, I went to her and asked her permission to "dumpster dive" from her swale. ;) She was more than happy to give me her trash, said that it had been her favorite chair but her husband was insisting that it had to go! The only thing wrong with it was the color (a burnt orange) and a little crack in the wood. Nothing to hinder it's true quality! I think it might be Ethan Allen as it is the same wood and similar lines to my own bedroom set!
9 years later, I still have that chair in the corner of my bedroom. It's where I sit to read, to chat on the phone, and often to work through a problem. My girls will sometimes walk by my room and say, "uh-oh, Mom's sitting in THE chair, what's up?" LOL
Grace, That story is priceless! I love it! It is fun to have things in ones home with a story (inherited, picked up at the curb, whatever! *grin*)
Rapunzel, I loved reading about that story on your blog, and seeing the photo of the chair. (Your comment here took a few days to show up for some reason!) Thanks for responding to my request for stories! :)
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