Aren't the best things in life FREE?

[eddieb]

I just thought about this last night... i'm sure some of you have seen stuff just left out on the sidewalk for the taking?

i have a "bad" habit of braking for those things too... in fact just last week there were some new people in the neighborhood and i guess there was some stuff in the garage left by the previous owner, so they put out stuff on the sidwalk, one of which was a nifty metallic table type thing with 3 out of 4 wheels intact and it had a drawer and two doors, kinda cool-looking, had a "shabby-chic" worn look to it... anyway i thought i'd throw it in my van (another thing i realized was that if i had a smaller car i wouldn't be able to load it up with "junk"...)

anyway my BEST finds on the side of the road have been:

a PAIR of WORKING Studio reference monitors from RSL (Roger SoundLabs)

and a vintage 50-60's hi-fi unit (record player AND radio in a nice wooden unit with door that opens "up")

i took it home and plugged it in... WORKED! i just needed to clean the inside because all the dust on the tubes would start to smell funky if the unit was on long enough to get hot....


anyone else have some luck just finding stuff???

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Eddie, can I pleaseeee see a pic of that wonderful hi-fi??? I am sooooo jealous!

My best free curbside find?  My four red vinyl and chrome chairs from the 50s, which now are my kitchen chairs.  Belonged to my late inlaws' neighbors. Took some work to clean up, but boy howdy! are they ever lucyandrickyfabulous!

SeSo

[Jay2TheRescue]

I cannot just pass by a large trash pile with furniture in it.  2 years ago a friend of mine started taking an interior design class and had a drafting table given to her.  2 days later I was driving by a trash pile and saw a vintage drafting table lamp in a trash heap (at 40 MPH!).  THe lamp has both an incandescent bulb, and is surrounded by a circular flourescent bulb.  Fantastic light.  You can turn either light on by themselves, or turn both on for a nice bright light that replicates sunlight.  Another time I got a small 50's console stereo that matched my other furniture.  I didn't even care if it worked, because it looked cool, but after the tubes warmed up it worked perfectly.  Another time we picked up this really cool black & red vinyl deco style beauty chair.  I almost wish I had kept that, it would have been really cool as an armchair in my living room.  Another time it was an orange armchair from the early 60's.  There's so much I probably can't remember it all.

-Jay

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

Oh, gosh, yes. In fact I did a page on my hobby blog not that long ago with all my trash-to-treasure dining/accent chairs... I've helped myself to quite a lot of them over the years-- many from an apartment building that's diagonal from my home.

You all can see that one here if you're interested:

http://web.mac.com/thriftshopromantic/iWeb/The_Thrift_Shop_Romantic/Trash_to_Treasure.html

The trick for me, though, is not to get caught by my neighbors.

Hey, at least we're keeping good stuff out of the landfills!

[secondhandnation]

Oh, gosh, yes. In fact I did a page on my hobby blog not that long ago with all my trash-to-treasure dining/accent chairs... I've helped myself to quite a lot of them over the years-- many from an apartment building that's diagonal from my home.

You all can see that one here if you're interested:

http://web.mac.com/thriftshopromantic/iWeb/The_Thrift_Shop_Romantic/Trash_to_Treasure.html

The trick for me, though, is not to get caught by my neighbors.

Hey, at least we're keeping good stuff out of the landfills!

The getting-caught part is tricky if you are in your own neighborhood.  As someone who is grateful for those passers-by who relieve  me things I no longer need myself, I still cannot quite get over the weird feeling of helping myself to someone else's cast-offs in plain view. 

I take lots of walks around my neighborhood (for exercise and to see what's going on - yes, I'm nosy!) and the other night I saw a great counter-top cabinet that I thought we'd be able to use.  I told my husband about it and he zipped over there and picked it up, no shame - man, I wish I could bottle that "no-shame" thing! 

Anyway, we intended to put in the garage, as my husband has tons of tools or tinkering projects and is trying to organize all of his junk things.  But now I'm thinking we might actually put it in our kitchen, as we're in need of more storage space. 

Another dilemma - I recently took a bentwood rocking chair from the Trash Stash of my elderly neighbors across the street.  But now I don't want it anymore, as I've found better stuff for my living room and the bentwood, while attractive, doesn't match this new style.  What to do - put it out on the street, in plain view, and perhaps another taker?  I feel silly about this. 

[Jay2TheRescue]

Oh, gosh, yes. In fact I did a page on my hobby blog not that long ago with all my trash-to-treasure dining/accent chairs... I've helped myself to quite a lot of them over the years-- many from an apartment building that's diagonal from my home.

You all can see that one here if you're interested:

http://web.mac.com/thriftshopromantic/iWeb/The_Thrift_Shop_Romantic/Trash_to_Treasure.html

The trick for me, though, is not to get caught by my neighbors.

Hey, at least we're keeping good stuff out of the landfills!

You're right!  Its the ultimate in recycling as you are taking something that someone threw out and putting it to use.

-Jay

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

I'm not sure WHAT you do about putting the chair to the curb, that you took FROM the curb from a neighbor... 

Is it good enough to put in a car and donate? Or call for donation pick-up?

[eddieb]

I cannot just pass by a large trash pile with furniture in it....    Another time I got a small 50's console stereo that matched my other furniture.  I didn't even care if it worked, because it looked cool, but after the tubes warmed up it worked perfectly....
-Jay

so funny... you found one too... i'd be blown away if it was a similar type unit, and i have a sneaky feeling that it is...

Seso, i'll get a pic up of the Hi-fi soon as i can... but i did remember to look at the brand... "Olympic" is the brand and it also said "Dual Stereo" or something like that... i'm about to do a little google image search...

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Eddie, I breathlessy await your pic--I would just faint-faint to find one of those!


SeSo (who's writing this while rocking out on "Pertienet Percussion Cha Cha's" by Enoch LIght and the LIght BrIgrade--dated 1960, Command Records #RS 814 sd--pristine, MINT condition. One of the "4 for a buck" BD gifts from hubby )

[Jay2TheRescue]

Its a mini-console up on black angled legs about 1.5 ft long.  The cabinet is kinda like a mahogany finish - you know that really dark reddish finish.  I don't remember the brand but I do remember that it was made in Japan.  I'll try to post a pic sometime.

-Jay

I cannot just pass by a large trash pile with furniture in it....    Another time I got a small 50's console stereo that matched my other furniture.  I didn't even care if it worked, because it looked cool, but after the tubes warmed up it worked perfectly....
-Jay

so funny... you found one too... i'd be blown away if it was a similar type unit, and i have a sneaky feeling that it is...

Seso, i'll get a pic up of the Hi-fi soon as i can... but i did remember to look at the brand... "Olympic" is the brand and it also said "Dual Stereo" or something like that... i'm about to do a little google image search...

[fifihex]

O yes in the Netherlands people throw out a lot and regularely. My mom loves to pick everything up they throw out. I didn't pay much attention to those piles of junk for a while now but there are definitely cool things to find now and then.

[moonie]

In my small community (around 4500 people), twice a year the city has a "community cleanup".  There is one in the spring and one in the fall.  People drag out all of the stuff that they didn't want to pay to have picked with their garbage up over the course of the year and the city cleans it up for free.  The entire town goes nuts for an entire week.  People even come from other towns to root through the giant piles that grow along each street.  My sisters and I call it "curb shopping".  The best thing I have ever found was a great patio table.  I used it for a really long time.  There is always tons of furniture and stuff. 

It's almost time for the next one......I can't wait.

-Angie

[Jay2TheRescue]

In my small community (around 4500 people), twice a year the city has a "community cleanup".  There is one in the spring and one in the fall.  People drag out all of the stuff that they didn't want to pay to have picked with their garbage up over the course of the year and the city cleans it up for free.  The entire town goes nuts for an entire week.  People even come from other towns to root through the giant piles that grow along each street.  My sisters and I call it "curb shopping".  The best thing I have ever found was a great patio table.  I used it for a really long time.  There is always tons of furniture and stuff. 

It's almost time for the next one......I can't wait.
-Angie

What town/state do you live in?  Sounds like fun.

-Jay

[moonie]

I live in Jefferson, Iowa.  Dead center of corn land...  Home of the Bell Tower.  It's quite nice.

[ChrisMiss]

In my small community (around 4500 people), twice a year the city has a "community cleanup".  There is one in the spring and one in the fall.  People drag out all of the stuff that they didn't want to pay to have picked with their garbage up over the course of the year and the city cleans it up for free.  The entire town goes nuts for an entire week.  People even come from other towns to root through the giant piles that grow along each street.  My sisters and I call it "curb shopping".  The best thing I have ever found was a great patio table.  I used it for a really long time.  There is always tons of furniture and stuff. 

It's almost time for the next one......I can't wait.

-Angie

My daughter lives in a rural town in IL and they have the same kind of community cleanup.  She had a cumbersome entertainment center to put out on the curb.  Broke it down into sections for easier handling, she and daughter put out part of it, rested and then when to get the rest of it to put out.  When she went outside the "partial" entertainment center was gone.