found

found (or) on the side of the road #1



If you have been enjoying my thrifty finds posts, but don’t like to actually pay ANYTHING for stuff …. then today is your lucky day.  

Because I am starting a new ‘thing’.  A free ‘thing’. I think I’ll call it ‘found’ or perhaps ‘from the side of the road’. Or perhaps you have a suggestion for me?

Here’s post #1.  Subtitled ‘the weber table’.

Elise and I found this table on the side of the road.  Just up her street.  We were driving past and  I insisted she pull over, despite the potential embarrassment of neighbours seeing us picking up things.  Not that I actually EVER get embarrassed by picking up stuff.  I think it’s responsible and good for the planet to recycle … and so wasteful to just chuck useful stuff out.

Anyway, we bought it back home and Nick had just got a new weber Q … and it needed a table … and voila!

Who would possibly want a swanky plasticky weber trolley when you could have the neighbours perfectly weathered folding aluminium and hardwood table instead?  Lovely.

my new red lampshade

On Saturday afternoon Jemima and I took an emergency trip to the $2 shop on Station Street to pick up some prizes for party games. I’d forgotten to buy any when I did the supermarket run earlier in the day. We went on our bikes.  Down Rushall Street.  I spotted a red lampshade on the side of the road, and said to Jemima,

‘Remind me to pick that up on the way home’.

And she did. And I did.  It was a little awkward to ride with, but not too bad (I am still on the lookout for a cool bike basket).

It inspired a bit of reorganising/reusing/redocorating.

I pulled out an old lamp base (which I have had forever.  Really.  I think I got it in my student days from somewhere). And added the shade to it.  I was happy enough with the combination. And when it was on the base you could see that the shade was actually in good nick. It sits straight.  The fabric is clean.  There are no underlying watermarks when the lamp is in use.  Perfect.

Then I hunted around for a home for it.   I tried it in a few places before settling on the bookshelf in the corner of our loungeroom that stores board games and videos (we still have them because we don’t scratch them) and DVDs and other bright and annoying stuff that hangs around and needs an accessible home in a house with children.

IMG_5791

And then I moved this print by Monique Keel over the bookcase.  Because it was red too.  And I thought it would look good with the lamp shade.

It’s been in place a couple days now and I am very happy with the new arrangement.

Another corner sorted.  All thanks to a little red lampshade and a kind person who put it out on the street for someone else to use when they didn’t need it any more.

six wooden boxes

I love a wooden box, and the other day I picked up six. I particularly like these ones because the stencilling is still legible on most of them.

I have taken them to school to be used in the shop at … you guessed it … Art4All. It starts tonight.

This post is brief because yesterday I worked non-stop from 9am til 9pm. And I think today’s going to be the same.

Poor Scarlett … happy birthday anyway sweetie …