Dumpster Diving

My friend Aisling posted about her "dumpster diving" aka "gleaning" experience and asked for similar stories so I thought I'd share mine.

As much as I love treasure hunting, I have rarely found anything in the trash that I've felt worthy of dragging home, or when I do I'm simply to embarrassed to do so. Silly, really, because I think it's awesome when other people turn trash into treasures! I have one experience, though, featuring the chair in my bedroom.


My neighbor once put out a lovely wooden chair that I admired so I went to her and asked her permission to "dumpster dive" from her swale. She was more than happy to give me her trash, said that it had been her favorite chair but her husband was insisting that it had to go. (Her husband was quite happy to carry it across the street for me, guess he really hated that chair!) The only thing wrong with it was the color (a burnt orange) and a little crack in the wood, nothing to hinder it's true quality. I think it might be Ethan Allen as it is the same wood and similar lines to my own bedroom set!

9 years later, I still have that chair in the corner of my bedroom. I've never reupholstered it, just toss a colorful throw over it and am pleased with that look for now. It's become such a part of my bedroom, of my life really, it's where I sit to read, to chat on the phone, and often to work through a problem. My girls will sometimes walk by my room and say, "uh-oh, Mom's sitting in THE chair, what's wrong?" That's their que to check in with me and make sure I'm ok, or that they aren't in trouble!

Does anyone else have such stories to share? After seeing Aisling's beautiful find, I'm suddenly inspired to drive around my neighborhood in search of other goodies!