apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

An antique singer treadle sewing machine with a gorgeous cast iron base, pretty wood cabinet and it works!

Curbside find: A framed print of a Champagne ad featuring Grace Kelly. I probably wouldn't have thought to buy it, but the colors go great with my kitchen area.

Mission-style side table: had to be stripped and refinished, but SO worth it.

The only true dumpster divers we have here in DC are the homeless people.
Most people don't put their stuff on the curb like that. They usually have it hauled out of their homes and straight to the thrift store.
Too bad for us.

a couch in a decent condition on our curbside. all we needed to do was to get a slip cover. =)

a white children's rocking chair with ABC's painted on it

There's a reason it's called TRASH. To quote Judge Judy, ""You can't take garbage and turn it into a SAKS FIFTH AVENUE BAG."

- White shelf-size slab of Corian that is a perfect fit vertically across the kitchen sink. I'd never get rid of it (in this apartment, anyway).

- Plantation shutters waiting to become a project.

- Laminate flooring to cover the worn-out paint on the window sill. (Keeps the cats from trying to eat the paint chips.)

- Pharmacy lamp.

- Two other small white pieces of Corian that work well in the kitchen.

- Large leather rag rug. I had to ditch it a few weeks back after two years in my place, but I'll get one from Overstock.com in the future.

- Mint-condition footed, covered, and handled Longaberger magazine basket, in front of the same house with the rug. (Said house is three doors down and now on the market for $1.2 mil.) The basket was exactly what was needed to keep the cats out of the mags. Another Longaberger mention by a poster got flamed a few weeks back ... sad.

- Sterilite drawers. Most recently found set is huge like a very large nightstand and is serving as an Outbox and will go itself eventually.

- Fax/phone/printer stand (the little kind that you put the paper underneath and the machine on top).

- Tile.

These are a few that come to mind. Then there were the ones I had to leave because I couldn't use them.

DC pickings are probably good right now around the universities, as with other cities.

Nicest find, on my old block in Sunset Park: A giant, deep velvet chair, perfect for curling up with a good book, and miraculously free of bugs of any kind.

Weirdest find, years ago, in a blah neighborhood of Boston: An old man must have passed away, because there was a large amount of depressing, evocatively mundane stuff put out in the street - old clothes, half-filled cereal boxes, and such. In amongst the detritus of a dull life, we found a HUGE amount of ancient porn. The earliest example was a genuine Tijuana bible, and the latest was an issue of Oui Magazine from the early 80's, featuring creepy images of Ozzy Osbourne and Motorhead posing with drugged-looking, orange-skinned models. The 70's were also well-represented. But the bulk of the magazines were 50's and 60's "men's magazines", full of cheeky pin-ups, war stories, and ads for trusses and marital aids. There were also many black and white nudist magazines with an air of innocence that is lost now. I had an image in my mind of the man's daughters cleaning out his apartment, throwing away his stash in disgust before the rest of the family comes over, not knowing how interesting a time capsule it might be to a trio of college students down the street. This may not be at all what happened, but I like my story.

- Crate and Barrel bar
- Podium -- this was very funny to use during an argument
- Great wrought iron patio chairs
- armoire (the homeless guy who helped me lug it down the street stole a drawer then tried to sell it back to me the next day)
- bike -- just needed new tires and and oil on the chain
- books
- so much more...

If you are in college, the dumpsters around campus are often a gold mine. I wait with great anticipation for move out day for the dorms, when the kids have to basically throw away everything that won't fit in their parents SUV. I've found TVs, VCRs, speakers, chairs, fans, vacuums, computers, and there is always tons of carpet and a futon or two. Also, the dumpsters by the art building are usually awesome. I've found lots of great art projects just chunked in the trash.

Also, ususally after a yard sale, stuff that doesn't sell is on the sidewalk.

5

yes, a beautiful white 3-D acrylic number five... it was outside a neighbourhood sign shop, put out on the curb a few days after the owner died of a heart attack. it was one of the only businesses tucked in between houses in our residential neighbourhood... end of an era because its closed down now. it hangs in our kitchen. i love it because there's 5 people in our family.

antique kids wooden chair... needed some gluing and a paint job and customizing with a gold letter "G" on it, and it turned into a sweet chair for my son. found it on my way home from the doctor's office.

so many other things... its so nice to stumble on something when you're just walking down the street. last summer there was the most gorgeous art deco chest of drawers and i didn't take it... i STILL think about that chest and wish i'd taken it.

we put our 'junk' out on the curb a day or 2 before garbage day with the hopes that someone will come along and see it as a treasure. yesterday we put out a plain old wood ikea plant stand that we didn't have space for... it was gone in like 5 minutes. its junk karma...

A pair of black Knoll Bertoia side chairs with red leather cushions in mint condition. They were laying on top of a pile of trash in one of those huge construction dumpsters. That definitely tops the list.

a telephone chair and a bunch of other things that I really just need to get to...sigh...

My Steelcase desk chair. One of the wheels is broken, but it's served me well for almost ten years now.

My wife and I have done our share of curbside donations. We put things out all the time and wager on how long it will take before it disappears. Sometimes we can barely get back into the apartment before someone walks away with it. We've set out chairs, coffee table, end tables, all kinds of storage bins and drawers, lighting, lamps, etc.

It always goes fast.

I have found so many great finds on the curb. I live in a college town in VA and I have to say, some college kids really don't know what they are getting rid of! Or they are too lazy to donate. I have found a set of 4 wood danish modern chairs, a big 50s style mirror, a gorgeous coffee table, framed art, and lots of little collectibles.

Curb-side finds are the way to go! The finds are so much sweeter...but don't get me wrong, I do pay for most of my things. :-)

Breuer Wassily chair repro -sweeet!

5 years ago, picking up a table on the side of the road is how I became infested with BEDBUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr. D - it's not all trash, especially in our consumerist culture where sometimes it's easier and cheaper to dump perfectly good furniture and replace it than to cart it to the next destination. Living in a college town, we see curbs full of perfectly good stuff each year when the students clear out. My bf, who is not from this country, walks around amazed, and often muses aloud: "Only in America..."

My OCD-esque tendencies won't let me pick up random people's rubbish, you never know where it's been or what they did with it. Even the thought makes me feel nauseous. Bedbugs would be the least of my worries.

I wouldn't take anything I see on the street now, because of the risk of bedbugs. Years ago I picked up 3 unframed watercolor paintings of scenes in Spain. At the time I hadn't been to Spain but now I have so I appreciate them more.

I paid $350 for all the furniture in my 3 bedroom, 1 study house; =D and had heaps of fun doing it!!

A town near where I live has a once yearly big garbage day - where everyone puts out their old furniture and things that are too big for a regular garbage pick up. Everyone hauls out their "garbage" a few days before the pick up so that others have a chance to scavenge. It's amazing what's out there. Antique dealers drive around in pick up trucks each night.

they were renovating the Burberry store in Soho - most of the castoffs weren't great, but there were two long stainless steel consoles... myself and another woman stood guard by them while we went through every option of how we could get them (about 150 lbs each) home. One is now in my apt.

Brand new still in the box projection screen last week...Hurrah!

Bedbugs, bedbugs, bedbugs! Once you've had 'em, this cavalier attitude toward furniture of unknown provenance will change!