Beauty Farming Life

I have a new favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor of course and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that you can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoors) near the loading dock for people to put things they don't want.   I've come to find all SORTS of cool stuff.  The other night, I went down to check the mail and stopped by that area...and found THIS!!!! It's a cart, of some sort.  Serving cart?  Bar cart?  Outdoor cart?   Not sure... It's got great details, curves and a deep top... Even the wheels are neat, very industrial looking... It's got a great shape and two levels of use.   It rolls around very well too. Metal Rolling Cart It's distressed looking, not sure if that's "natural" or "man made".  In fact, it's hard to tell if it's old and vintage or new and made to ...

I went downstairs at the apartment to check out the trash area again (wait, that sounds creepy, let's just call it the "recycling area", ha!).   That's when I saw this potential treasure leaning up against the trash  recycling dumpster  container: It's a dry erase calendar board.   I immediately thought "SCORE!"  Then another guy walked by with his dog on the way in and said "I saw that earlier but someone used permanent marker instead of dry erase, that must be why they threw it away".  Having worked in offices for years, I knew that was something that happens occasionally and I knew exactly how to fix it.  I waited for him to walk on in and then snatched it up and headed upstairs... Removing permanent marker from dry erase board 2nd Man probably thought...."seriously?" but he never said anything.  Anyway, I knew that alcohol works best, but we didn't have any plain rubbing alcohol so I used what I...

Over the last few months, I've discovered some fun "treasures" downstairs in our loading dock area where residents put their trash.  Bag trash goes down the trash chutes into a separate area.  For large items, cardboard boxes, etc, we have large dumpsters to use. So when I can remember, I try to go check them out.  Saturday, I went down to check the mail and struck gold again! Someone in the building had something shipped from overseas.  It came in this crate.  It's awesome.  Solid wood, very well constructed... ...and large.  It has a heavy lid and it's big, about 3' wide, 2' deep and about 2 1/2' tall.   Wooden shipping crate It also has nice, heavy duty folding handles on each side.  I don't know what yet, but I have big plans for this. I was thinking that once I got it stripped of labels and cleaned up, it might make a great storage container?  It's too big (unfortunately) to become a piece of furniture i...

Busy weekend, a few projects done, more on those in the coming days. But this started out our weekend.   G uess what this is?  Besides another side eye roll from 2nd Man, LOL! It's my latest find, Friday night, downstairs in our building's trash/recycle area!!! Someone threw away these two metal chairs!  We can't tell if they "tried" painting them pink (or peach?) but if they did, we guess the outcome was less than perfect and they gave up.   Or maybe they were outside on the balcony and the color faded over time? Ignore the "watcher" cat at the end of the hall, he was worried about these two new additions to the apartment, 2nd Man probably told him to stare me down...but he got over it (the cat AND 2nd Man, LOL!). Either way, their trash is our treasure!  Here they are at the farm this weekend.  You can tell the odd color (whatever you want to call it) in these sunlit photos.  Seeing these photos, they really look like they j...

 Regular readers know that I  have a new favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that you can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoors) near the loading dock for people to put things they don't want. I've come to find all sorts of cool stuff.   And here are a couple more. One find I had a few weeks back was a large shipping crate.  Now I found another, smaller one.   These are so sturdy and well made.  I just know I can turn them into something sometime.  This one is perfectly sized for putting legs on it and and making it a table.  A table we can store stuff in.  No room inside the house but it could either be used outside, on the porch or in the barn. Then a few days later, I scored these.   These "Sunbrella" fabric pillows and cushions.  They are in pe...

 Regular readers know that I have a new favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that you can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoors) near the loading dock for people to put things they don't want.  I've found several cool items. And now I have something new to look for: Wood Pallet  Wood pallets!  This is our first ever.  I know there are about a million and one things to do with them.  Now I don't want to end up with a pile of 50 of them rotting away along the fence somewhere, so this first one is in the barn, and I'll get a few more as I find them.  I need to find a project (an EASY one to start). WOO HOO! I'll catch up with comments this weekend, feel a bit like I'm getting a cold, or maybe it's just allergies but after the post election, this cold, and the weather change,...

 Regular readers know that I have a new favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that you can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoors) near the loading dock for people to put things they don't want.  I've found several cool items. And last weekend, before we went to the farm, I stopped to see what I could find and I found this!  It looks to be some sort of child's room stand?  Or Laundry room storage perhaps? It has these lime green polka dotted pull out baskets.  I know some might like this style but it's not exactly "us", ha.  Fortunately, they were attached to the sliding part with Velcro and so they were easily removable.  I took them out and saved them.  Need to find a friend with sewing skills to make some replacements and we figured it would be easier to keep the old ...

Regular readers know that I have a new favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that people can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoor) near the loading dock, for people to put things they don't want.  I've found several cool items so far. And here is what I found the other night.  A wire magazine rack.  It's in perfect shape.  I guess someone just didn't want it.  They just tossed it in with a bunch of boxes and so I saved it from the landfill.      Not sure if I'll paint it.  It's a stainless color metal and I think with the wire design, it might be hard to get the paint on all parts of it.  Or maybe it would be cool and give it a distressed look.  For now, it's perfectly fine the way it is. We'll find a great spot in the kitchen to put some cooking magazines....

 Someone put this by the trash dumpster at the apartment and you know me, I snatched it up!  (2nd Man just shook his head, LOL!)  I took it to the farm and had to snap some pictures of it because I'm not sure what it is!   Some sort of evergreen I'm guessing.   Norfolk Pine. I tipped it on its side so you could see it in more detail.  I want to plant it in the ground but need to know what it is so I can make sure I do that correctly, i.e. soil, future size, light, water etc. You see the glistening on it?  It's not water...it's glitter!  I think this was used as a Christmas decoration and someone just decided it was time to dispose of it.  I'm hoping I can plant it somewhere and add a new plant or tree to the farm.  And it will, for a while anyway, sparkle in the sunshine.   Nothing wrong with that! UPDATE:   We can always count on people from around the world to help us out with things like...

OK, so this wasn't a trash find, but it was dirt cheap.  I stopped in a thrift store at lunch the other day and found this.  It was nice that it fit in my car too, ha. It's a large wooden tray.  I'm not sure of its original purpose, if it was part of something else or what, but when I saw it, I knew it could be useful at the farm. There are some scratches and scuffs and water stains so it is not mint condition.  Heck, I'm not even sure if it's old. But it is made from a good solid, sturdy wood and has handles on each side to make it easier to carry. Large wooden tray Did I saw it was large?   These porch steps are 4' wide so the tray is probably a good three feet.   I'm thinking a paint job will be in order.   Maybe cork in the bottom?  A mirror?  Glass with something decorative underneath?  Not sure how we'll end up using it but for $6 (yep, you read that right, only paid six dollars for it!) it's worth trying...

We wish we could say this was a trash room find but we bought these...but a  person in our building posted an email to the residents that she had some items for sale and among them were these.   When we saw saw the picture, we immediately said YES! Assorted Apothecary Jars A set of five apothecary jars.  Or maybe not so much a set, since they are all different but they are beautiful.  The skinny one is more than two feet high. We've never had these types of jars but know they are wildly popular in decorating now.  And the best part?  $10 each.  I'm pretty sure that's a good deal, I've see the tall for for $39.95 or more in stores.  Not sure how many we will keep in town at the apartment and how many will make their way to the farm, or even how we'll use them for that matter, but we think we scored a most excellent deal on these!

Regular readers know that I have a new favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that people can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoor) near the loading dock, for people to put things they don't want.  I've found several cool items so far. And here's another.  I love that some people just sit items at the side so they don't get lost to the trash forever.  Case in point, this was leaning up against the dumpster in the building's loading bay.  I knew immediately what it was and snatched it up.* *(cue 2nd Man eye roll) Flower press A flower press!  And from the looks of it, probably homemade. It still had some cardboard in it and even paper towels between sheets of paper and thinner cardboard.  I was hoping there might be some flowers still inside but alas, they were all gone.   Ho...

Regular readers know that I have a new favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that people can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoor) near the loading dock, where people can put the things they don't want.  I've found several cool items so far. Galvanized tub And last week, I found this when I checked the area right before heading to the farm.  A great, large, galvanized tub!   It's nice and "worn" giving it that old look but it's still solid and intact.  Now we just have to figure out how we'll end up using it.   Old galvanized tub Sure there is the obvious, a planter, but we have raised beds everywhere, flowerbeds around the house and random clay pots in every shape and size. Plus we don't really want to drill holes in it in case we want to use it for something else later that need...

Regular readers know that I have a new favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that people can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoor) near the loading dock, where people can put the things they don't want.  I've found several cool items so far. And here is yet another free find.  Found this basket sitting on top of some boxes inside the dumpster.  Seriously!?!?  It's perfectly fine! And really cool! It's hinged on one side... With these neat little beads tied on.  On top is this face surrounded by fur. Alaska basket It's a nice large size basket.  We're guessing Alaskan based on some brief online checking.  As for it's purpose, while we don't know what the original purpose is, we're thinking of putting the feathers inside that we are finding at the farm. Some...