Monday, June 29, 2009

My Junk and my Jewels

Ever since the city forced everyone to use city-issued garbage containers, it's become a lot more difficult to get good junk in Toronto. Before revealing the chair I found on the curb last Saturday, I thought I'd show off my favourite find - a wooden chandelier. I used to work in a garden centre and one night I was biking home and discovered this treasure out with someone's trash. I was so excited. I'm hoping that I can convince my husband to re-wire it one day.
This chandelier wouldn't look out of place in a guest house in New Orleans. I enjoy looking at it and inventing stories about its history. I have a very rich internal life. Click to enlarge the photo for all the cracked-wood-and-chipped-paint glory. You can almost smell Storyville. Scratch and sniff.

I grabbed these chairs two summers ago. I somehow hooked them onto my son's stroller and wheeled Duncan and the chairs home. My neighbour gave me a tut-tut when she saw us pull up on our walkway. I'm not sure if it was a tut-tut for compromising the structural integrity of the stroller, or a tut-tut for garbage picking. My goal this summer is to finish sanding them and painting them a fresh colour. They'll look fabulous.

Here's my little wooden deck chair I scored on the weekend. It matches the chair pictured below, which I bought from an eccentric English lady for $5.00 at a yard sale last summer. The chair was battleship grey, so I stained it. I'm interested to know what would Grunge Queen do; strip and stain the white chair, or paint the stained chair white? I'm thinking that the latter option would be the way to go. GC, if you're out there - please help a thrifty sister out.

My $5.00 deck chair decorated with Duncan's nature objects.

These perfume bottles don't really fit with this post, but since I didn't make it to any yard sales this weekend, this blog seemed naked without treasures from a sale. I bought these for a lousy quarter back in the fall at a church rummage sale. I think they are beautiful. The blue bottle says Lou Lou in fancy script on the label. They're not vintage, but they're still full of charm and mystique. Thanks for stopping by. Erin

1 comment:

  1. Erin I love the chandelier and your imagining the stories; thinking of the stories behind pieces is one of the many things I love about thrifting!

    Thanks for asking the Grunge Queen what she's do with the chair, but know that I'm a lazy junker and normally leave things AS IS. I like the white; it's crisp and clean for the summer. You can always strip it later in the season if you need a change, what do you think? .... Happy Canada Day!!

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About Me

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I'm a slightly off-beat Toronto-area teacher who enjoys writing and photography. I come from a family of collectors and now I'm dragging my own family around to yard sales. It's just a bit of fun. Enjoy the scenes.