Walking my dog last night, I came across a six person outdoor dining set set out for trash-pick up (why on earth somebody dumped this dining set, is beyond me). I don’t need it, I have a perfectly nice outdoor dining set - but, I couldn’t resist. I sent H & D back with their respective cars to get it; it’s now sitting on my deck waiting to be cleaned and refurbished. I feel very excited by the find, but I can’t help but hope this is not the beginning of my ‘old lady’ foraging days!!!
Please make me feel better and share some of your ‘finds’!
We threw away rolls of chicken wire fencing in our trash. Next day, we noticed someone took them. We were very glad and should have thought of leaving it on the sidewalk with “free” sign instead. You did good!
My BFF and I have been foraging for antique and interesting junk finds since grade school! Some favorite finds: A pair of beautiful but rusted old iron bedsteads that we spotted leaning against an old barn on a country road, and a double kitchen sink with drainboard, c.1920, lying in someone’s yard after a renovation. Both times, I knocked on the door and asked if they’d be willing to sell to me, and both times they looked at me like I was insane and said “You can just take it…?!” We also discovered a couple of dusty old chests of drawers that were forgotten under the eaves at a big barn sale. We got those for $10 each. One was tiger maple, the other birdseye maple. Absolutely stunning once we cleaned them up a bit!!
So many things. We have always been furniture refinishers. H grew up in a home where summers were spent going through old abandoned barns with his parents and/or finding old oak round pedestal tables for $5 so he learned how to restore furniture from a young age and then I learned too.
One of my most fun finds - a old metal bed headboard. I had a local fixer upper person repaint it and craft it into an outside patio bench for me - the headboard is the back of the bench.
Also our attic is FILLED with antique chairs, tables, dressers, etc. found at curb. This is actually a really sore point for me now as H will not get rid of these things but also is not taking the time to refinish anymore - but keeps bringing things home!
I would also take that outdoor set in a heartbeat. One of my kids would use it for sure! Or I’d use it at our cottage.
Read this in my local paper. I live in a small town where there isn’t trash collection (you can hire a private service). If not, residents take their trash to a transfer station where there’s an area called “TIOLI” (Take It or Leave It). People leave items that can’t be recycled or go into the trash at TIOLI–stuff like the outdoor dining set mentioned above or anything else.
I have friends who go home from the transfer station with more than they brought because they shop at TIOLI. Anyway–last week a woman was sorting through the box of mugs at TIOLI and on the bottom, she found an unbound book published in France in 1740. The woman called the Wellesley College Special Collections library and a librarian came out to evaluate it. The book was a rare festival folio that was a commemorative gift given to guests after a wedding. The book is now with Wellesley College. According to the paper, it was worth $15K.
We found a peddle car being thrown out. We discovered that the wheels were quite worn so I called the company and it was a simple matter to get new wheels for it. So, for little money, my kids had a car that they loved. They loved it so much that they wore out the new wheels, but I knew how to get more wheels. It was a very happy and well-loved find.
Don’t tell anyone but my new Manhattan apartment is completely furnished with curb furniture! The best thing I got was a mid-century credenza - it’s so unique compared to the ikea stuff that everyone else has. Once my mom and I found a painting among some garbage bags.I took it to furnish my apartment with and for the past 3 years, I’ve gotten SO many compliments. Like people will walk in and say, “ooh, I love that painting!” to the point where it’s comical how many people comment on it. I can’t help but laugh because I got it from the trash.
I retrieved a plastic toy grocery cart once and a tiny sliding board when my kids were young. Of course, they loved those more than most new toys they had over the years. Those and discarded cardboard boxes!
Family friends owned a trash hauling service. They named their boat “Off the Truck” because they had found so many treasures - and turned them into cash.
We recently changed the ceiling fan in our family because it didn’t have a light kit, and it was so old that there weren’t any available for it. My husband put the old ceiling fan (that worked) out by the trash on trash eve. It was gone the next morning.
When we were in London, someone around the corner from us threw out boxes of books. I went through them and found many to keep. I also took a lot to the thrift store. They were in perfect shape.
We have 3 old ceiling fans in our house, the kind that need occasional applications of “fan oil”. They are great! If that’s what you threw out @silverlady, you made someone very happy.
In the early 80s a friend foraged, found, and gave me THE gaudiest desk lamp I had ever seen. Bronze with cobalt blue glass and it weighed a ton! My mother saw it and admired it so I gifted it to her. About 10 years later it needed rewiring so she took it in and found out it was some renown lamp maker and at that time it was worth over $10k. She sold it and split the $ with me.
At my house, this is referred to as “Shopping at Le Garbage” - with a bad fake French accent. Many things have come from there, and some have been returned there eventually when a better thing turned up.
One brother-in-law is a Mississippi River pilot. He has rescued free-floating canoes, john boats, and at least one picnic table while on the water. Happykid keeps hoping his next catch will be a kayak she can claim.
My neighbors got rid of perfectly good hardwood floors. I used them to create a dance space for my girls.
This may out me to folks who know me because I’ve told this story before, but a friend tossed a set of outdoor teak furniture because it had turned silver. I cried.
It was a very happy and well-loved find.