2005-02-07 - 4:32 p.m.
I am constantly amazed at what people throw away.
J and I may be pretty middle-class in some ways, but scratch us and you’ll find dumpster-divers. So far, we have found six nearly-new Windsor-backed chairs, a good-sized circular table, a set of two loveseats and a recliner, a sideboard, and an end-table, all left out for the trash. There are times when I regret having bought the minivan, but then we find some incredible haul and the big clunker redeems itself. Just this weekend we found the loveseats, recliner, and sideboard all out in an alley. The prior owners had bought new furniture and had just put them out. Nothing wrong with them except for a few stains. So, we loaded them up one by one and now they grace our humble abode. Perfect timing too, as the old couches were downright painful to sit on. Later we’ll have them steam-cleaned but for now they provide all sorts of comfiness.
The sideboard needs some restoration work, but it’s nothing we can’t handle. Some new veneer, new hardware, strip it and sand it and stain it just like I did with the Professor’s chest of drawers, and it’ll be good as new. Then we can entertain in proper hoity-toity fashion, use the good china and silverware and actual linens, bejabers!
Then there’s the treasure-trove of old furnishings also known as my mother’s basement. Mom is a pack-rat, but some of the stuff she hoards is pretty cool. She’s still got my older sister’s toddler bed from 1967, and my old bunk beds from the ‘70s, plus a tangle of old bicycles and toys and whatnot. When we were last over for a visit, she offered us the toddler bed and a futon couch she’d bought a while back but never really used. Bottom line: we have completely replaced all the living room furniture out of leftovers and castoffs, and we are shamelessly proud of ourselves. Yeah, the stuff doesn’t exactly match, but dang it all, we get the scrounge points!
(Now if we could just find some patio furniture…)
