If you have followed Hunt & Host at all you have heard me profess my love of curbside shopping. I mean I REALLY love it. When I drive around it’s like following the Easter Bunny on Easter morning. I just find little treasures hidden in piles on people’s curbs. I feel the same way as back when I hunted those Easter eggs. Giddy with excitement, I can’t wait to see what will be left out for me every day. If you haven’t shopped curbside it can be daunting, intimidating and possibly feel embarrassing. Plucking junk out of a debris heap is not for the faint at heart. Watch out though, like a fish you will be hooked. I mean- it’s free stuff, always unique and always a new project. You can’t believe the stuff you’ll gather if you travel with your eyes open. I have found beautiful wood, cribs, baby mattresses, cools chairs, a couch, shutters, doors, a double rocker, iron gates…all destined for a transformation. The joy comes for me in the unexpected, never knowing what or when I might roll upon something.
One week we were on our way home from church when I had to stop and pull a door out of a trash heap. My mom was with me, she got out and helped. When we got back in the car the kids were cracking up. They said they thought we looked so funny in our church clothes climbing on the trash. My mom’s response was, “well, you know your mother.” They do. I am just glad they all humor me and even point stuff out when I fail to see it.
Sunday find
Now, here are a few things to ponder on. The best way to find stuff is to travel different paths. By this I mean cut through a neighborhood instead of taking a bypass. Go to the store one way and home another. Be on the lookout the evening before or early morning of bulk trash day in your area. Drive through neighborhoods you wouldn’t normally. Not sure if you really can use that item you see roadside? Guess what – you can put it back out on your curb as easy as they did. I say go for it. Take it home and if you decide you don’t want it, leave it out for someone else to find or haul off. If you are looking to update, decorate and DIY on the cheap, free is a pretty good place to start.
This type of hunting gives the ultimate meaning to One man’s trash, another’s treasure. Let me know what you find!
Here is what I found in the pile above and transformed into below…
BEFORE
After
Love the chair and the sign! What did you use the sign for?
haven’t used the sign yet! Any good ideas for it???