Category: collect
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From garbage to gorgeous – transforming a three panel screen
I stumbled across this rattan screen about 4 years ago. It was 7.30am, I was driving to work… my attention was drawn to a skip sitting outside a house in our street. Sticking out the top of the skip was a small portion of this rattan screen/room divider – It looked promising! So much so, if stopping to check it out meant I was late to work, it was a risk I was willing to take. With years of experience under my belt, I would call myself a seasoned collector of junk from the footpath or skips. Even with that label clearly tattooed to my forehead it doesn’t make me feel any more comfortable about fossicking through other people’s junk. This morning was particularly awkward with a spectator sitting on the front porch of the house next door… monitoring my swift stop, reverse, park, inspect, grab and squeeze!
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My Footpath find – trash to treasure (chair transformation)
My husband and I were driving home after a lazy Sunday breakfast when he was hit with ‘Stop, reverse the car’. I had spotted 2 potential outdoor chairs (which we needed to complete our new deck). These chairs were sitting on the footpath (hard rubbish for anyone who is game), about 30m down a side street we were driving past at 60km an hour…. I have a finely tuned sense of judgement when it comes to assessing junk placed on the footpath. I can usually determined at any speed if it is worth stopping and going back… and these were worth going back for! They were not in very good condition, weather damaged, stain/varnish wearing off, screws falling out – but the potential was there, I could see it (lucky for me, so could my husband… because I was about to ask him to open the boot of his car so we could squeeze them in the back to take home).
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The Junk Company… where you can find a hidden treasure
I only stumbled across The Junk Company recently, and have now placed it on my (long) list of places I must visit frequently to check for any new items. Visit their website here. I can’t explain the feeling I get as I approach an antique shop, or any kind of junk/vintage style shop. It is excitement, anticipation (the feeling you would get the night before Christmas as a child)… I feeling like I am on the verge of a major discovery – quite sad really! It’s the mystery of the unknown, you never know what is sitting inside the store, and more often than not there is only one of them in there, so you are thrilled when you discover it.