Trash to Treasure, Dumpster Diving...
...or as I think of it, rescuing cool stuff out of other peoples' trash. I feel like a criminal when I do it, though the stuff is always at curbside on trash day. I always wait until dark, because I feel so guilty. Here is the haul from this spring and summer so far (and I'm saving the best for last):
Above is a hand painted silk screen of an oriental Japanese-like scene. It's about 4 feet tall and has a sticker on the back from Korea. It's yellowed, and has a couple of minor holes that I need to touch up. I like it! It was curbside with a couple of cardboard prints.
Above is a really crummy picture of a huge load of tablecloths, bedspreads, curtains, and hand embroidered doilies, runners, pillows, and tablecloths. This is what I kept from 6 bags of linens that I threw in my trunk. Hand embroidery!! One table topper was laying in the mud - that's what drew me in. What I didn't want, I sent off to Goodwill. Also in the bags were many papers with Social Security numbers, medical info etc! (I shredded all that stuff.) The little wooden tray table is from there also. I think the old folks who lived here had died, and their kids were throwing out all the "old junk". The house has been sold since.
So the next week I drove by and there was another enormous pile of stuff at the same house, and it was beginning to rain. Poor BF, I made him throw everything in the car! Above is the not-so-special stuff: an electric heater, tray full of old silver plate, (maybe some silver), a vase, the wooden rack it sits on, a giant plastic wall 'barn' scene (1970's?) and some school yearbooks and other books. There is also a little black trunk that I thought was a trumpet case, but isn't. I won't talk about that now - that one is a story all by itself! There's more...
Okay, this is lame too. An electric clock that looks like an old mill. From their "country kitchen" probably. Works fine. Still more...
This is one of a pair of GORGEOUS gold wood and gesso frames. They were inside black shadow boxes, behind glass. In the frames were "paintings". On closer inspection, the paintings turned out to be really bad cardboard prints, with a few smears of actual paint (not matching very well) on the top. Awful. They were filthy, and looked like valuable antiques until I took them out of the shadowboxes and into the light. The frames will hold paintings about 9"x12". I am a painter, so I will definitely use these! And still more...
I thought this was a cardboard print when I picked it out of the pile. At home, it turned out to be an original oil painting. It is so CHARMING!! It was dirty, so I cleaned it up, and it needs to be varnished, but I'll do that soon. It's signed, but I can't read the signature. It's about 18"x24", but I'm guessing. Still more to come...
This is an oak table, (excuse the pile of linens underneath) and it's legs FOLD UP! I've never seen anything like it. It was filtheee! I've stripped the varnish and re-varnished it. I know it ruins the value, but I am not selling it. On the table top are ruler markings. Curious! I saved as much of the ruler as possible while I refinished it. This was in pieces in the pile. I couldn't figure out how this went together at first. I had to re-glue and clamp the legs sections together before I could puzzle it out. One more treasure...
Well, two. On the left is a fabric doll, probably from the '40s or '50s. She has painted eyes, yarn hair, and no tag or ID. She was very dirty. I wiped her off as best I could, and washed her dress, and now she's much happier. She has a hole in her hand and a missing shoe sole. On the right is a German "half-doll" that appears to have been a lamp. The skirt you see is a new one I made for her. She was wearing a gathered piece of blue polyester when I pulled her from the pile. The remnants of her original skirt were rose colored. The porcelain is marked "Bavaria" and I can't read the label on her back. The lamp works are missing from the skirt frame. She is beautifully made, from around the turn of the century, I believe. That's all I got from that house. Cool, no?
So, the following week, BF and I were on our way somewhere, and I saw this deck box at the curb, with a "Free" sign. Say no more - it's coming home with me. The top was "broken". It just needed some wood glue and some screws, and it's as good as new. I keep all my gardening stuff in it now.
No more than a week after that, the house across the street appeared to be being "cleared out" in preparation for being sold. Lots of trash bags (not CLEAR ones, drat!) and an obvious sewing machine! After dark, I drove back and rescued it, as well as a leather magazine rack, not pictured. It's a Singer machine, with all the pieces, and it works GREAT. I've already used it several times. It was being THROWN AWAY! Argh.
And finally, my latest, coolest find - a heavily tooled western SADDLE. Missing only the stirrups. It was JAMMED IN A TRASH CAN at curbside. I was on a dog walk, far from home, so I couldn't just grab it. But it took my breath away. (This picture's not great.) I drove by at dusk, but there were PEOPLE at the curb TALKING and of course, I have no nerve. So I circled the block until they began to notice me. Then I drove off and parked at the school a few blocks away, and waited until after 9 PM, when they FINALLY went indoors! I grabbed that saddle out of the trash can and hurled it into my back seat as fast as I could. Really felt like a thief. It's a "Big Horn" brand saddle, and was very dirty. I keep checking their trash (surreptitiously, or course!). They seem to be re-decorating, or prepping for sale. Now this saddle is on display in my house, and I think it's still usable for riding.
That's all for now. With all the houses for sale around here, there are bound to be plenty of treasures to come this summer!
Above is a hand painted silk screen of an oriental Japanese-like scene. It's about 4 feet tall and has a sticker on the back from Korea. It's yellowed, and has a couple of minor holes that I need to touch up. I like it! It was curbside with a couple of cardboard prints.
Above is a really crummy picture of a huge load of tablecloths, bedspreads, curtains, and hand embroidered doilies, runners, pillows, and tablecloths. This is what I kept from 6 bags of linens that I threw in my trunk. Hand embroidery!! One table topper was laying in the mud - that's what drew me in. What I didn't want, I sent off to Goodwill. Also in the bags were many papers with Social Security numbers, medical info etc! (I shredded all that stuff.) The little wooden tray table is from there also. I think the old folks who lived here had died, and their kids were throwing out all the "old junk". The house has been sold since.
So the next week I drove by and there was another enormous pile of stuff at the same house, and it was beginning to rain. Poor BF, I made him throw everything in the car! Above is the not-so-special stuff: an electric heater, tray full of old silver plate, (maybe some silver), a vase, the wooden rack it sits on, a giant plastic wall 'barn' scene (1970's?) and some school yearbooks and other books. There is also a little black trunk that I thought was a trumpet case, but isn't. I won't talk about that now - that one is a story all by itself! There's more...
Okay, this is lame too. An electric clock that looks like an old mill. From their "country kitchen" probably. Works fine. Still more...
This is one of a pair of GORGEOUS gold wood and gesso frames. They were inside black shadow boxes, behind glass. In the frames were "paintings". On closer inspection, the paintings turned out to be really bad cardboard prints, with a few smears of actual paint (not matching very well) on the top. Awful. They were filthy, and looked like valuable antiques until I took them out of the shadowboxes and into the light. The frames will hold paintings about 9"x12". I am a painter, so I will definitely use these! And still more...
I thought this was a cardboard print when I picked it out of the pile. At home, it turned out to be an original oil painting. It is so CHARMING!! It was dirty, so I cleaned it up, and it needs to be varnished, but I'll do that soon. It's signed, but I can't read the signature. It's about 18"x24", but I'm guessing. Still more to come...
This is an oak table, (excuse the pile of linens underneath) and it's legs FOLD UP! I've never seen anything like it. It was filtheee! I've stripped the varnish and re-varnished it. I know it ruins the value, but I am not selling it. On the table top are ruler markings. Curious! I saved as much of the ruler as possible while I refinished it. This was in pieces in the pile. I couldn't figure out how this went together at first. I had to re-glue and clamp the legs sections together before I could puzzle it out. One more treasure...
Well, two. On the left is a fabric doll, probably from the '40s or '50s. She has painted eyes, yarn hair, and no tag or ID. She was very dirty. I wiped her off as best I could, and washed her dress, and now she's much happier. She has a hole in her hand and a missing shoe sole. On the right is a German "half-doll" that appears to have been a lamp. The skirt you see is a new one I made for her. She was wearing a gathered piece of blue polyester when I pulled her from the pile. The remnants of her original skirt were rose colored. The porcelain is marked "Bavaria" and I can't read the label on her back. The lamp works are missing from the skirt frame. She is beautifully made, from around the turn of the century, I believe. That's all I got from that house. Cool, no?
So, the following week, BF and I were on our way somewhere, and I saw this deck box at the curb, with a "Free" sign. Say no more - it's coming home with me. The top was "broken". It just needed some wood glue and some screws, and it's as good as new. I keep all my gardening stuff in it now.
No more than a week after that, the house across the street appeared to be being "cleared out" in preparation for being sold. Lots of trash bags (not CLEAR ones, drat!) and an obvious sewing machine! After dark, I drove back and rescued it, as well as a leather magazine rack, not pictured. It's a Singer machine, with all the pieces, and it works GREAT. I've already used it several times. It was being THROWN AWAY! Argh.
And finally, my latest, coolest find - a heavily tooled western SADDLE. Missing only the stirrups. It was JAMMED IN A TRASH CAN at curbside. I was on a dog walk, far from home, so I couldn't just grab it. But it took my breath away. (This picture's not great.) I drove by at dusk, but there were PEOPLE at the curb TALKING and of course, I have no nerve. So I circled the block until they began to notice me. Then I drove off and parked at the school a few blocks away, and waited until after 9 PM, when they FINALLY went indoors! I grabbed that saddle out of the trash can and hurled it into my back seat as fast as I could. Really felt like a thief. It's a "Big Horn" brand saddle, and was very dirty. I keep checking their trash (surreptitiously, or course!). They seem to be re-decorating, or prepping for sale. Now this saddle is on display in my house, and I think it's still usable for riding.That's all for now. With all the houses for sale around here, there are bound to be plenty of treasures to come this summer!
Labels: Trash Picking
posted by L at 10:03 PM
4 comments
