So
last night I had high hopes of finally procuring the elusive Tall Skinny Shelf for a price even better than cheap. It's Spring Cleaning time here in the 'Lou, and Big Trash Day (week) to boot, and I thought I had spotted the shelf in a garage that was getting cleaned out for what I assumed was the bulk trash pickup, but when I went back by there last night, it was only the dumpster stuffed to the gills. Possibly with great stuff, but most certainly not with a Tall Skinny Shelf, so I moved on, and can I just say that I drove around for about an hour up and down various alleys in my fair city, and WOW are St. Louisans cleaning house. I saw at least a dozen couches, chairs, ottomans (ottomen?), patio furniture, TVs, computer monitors, a Little Tykes playhouse and picnic table, doors, windows, various bits of lumber, a really lovely small buffet that I tried in vain to stuff in the back of Chester, and all sorts of short fat shelves, entertainment centers, etc. Here's what ended up coming home with me:
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A mysteriously home made not-quite-ladder, the chair I mentioned yesterday,
a long skinny shelf since I couldn't find a tall skinny one, and a child-sized chair, plus... |
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| Don't forget the disco ball! |
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| This child-sized chair is missing a spindle in the seat back, and the paint is chipping all over. |
Can't you just imagine a backyard tea party, all scabby knee'd kids in grass-stained dressups with half-broken chairs and chippy tea cups and a patchworked tablecloth and probably a sheet-fort built under a big old tree. Man childhood was cool, wasn't it?
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| Detail on the weird not-ladder. |
Can you see how the 2x4 crosspieces were sort of carved into notches and stuck into matching holes on the side pieces? And the whole thing is oddly painted silver. I have no idea why I picked it up, but I am determined to figure out some way that it's totally useful in the booth eventually.
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| And another shot of the disco ball because, let's face it - that's just cool. |
The long skinny white shelf in the first picture that is sadly not a Tall Skinny Shelf is coming with me to the booth tomorrow, along with lots of little tchotchkes to display upon it.
Can you believe I picked up all that for a whopping zero dollars?
So glad to have you over at #magpiemonday.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of a Big Trash Day, but seriously wish we had them here! Sounds like my idea of heaven driving round seeing what goodies people have chucked out!
I wonder what that strange ladder thing is/was?
Thanks for having me! Big Trash Day is very fun, although it makes me sad because whatever crazy people like me don't pick up is probably going to a landfill. All the more reason to cruise the alleys and pick up odd not-ladders and things. I still don't know what that thing was for originally, but somebody went to all the effort to notch out the ends and make the holes and that's just cool to me. Plus, silver paint on an odd 2x4 structure is just interesting!
DeleteYay free stuff! I'm all for the disco ball (I mean, how can you resist?) and that mysterious ladder. Also, I love the idea that the plural of ottoman is ottomen... it made me imagine a little group of anthropomorphic ottomen hanging out and maybe walking around in row on their ottoman legs. Hard to explain, but awesome in my mind :)
ReplyDeleteHee! Love it - and I just Googled it and apparently there's a band called the Ottomen from right here in St Louis. Coincidence!
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