Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Adventures in Freestyling


I know I've posted about this before, but I truly believe that if you have a truck and even a modicum of ingenuity you could furnish an entire house for free in the greater DC area. We've had two "free" adventures that I wanted to share.

One night, a few months back I was perusing craigslist (shocker I know) and noticed a curb alert that had been posted about an hour ago that had some mid century and retro looking furniture. It was about...8pm or something like that and I was just sure it would all be gone, but we decided to be adventurous and ran over to look. A funny thing that happens when you're trying to get something free that is a curb alert, you get all paranoid and assume everyone in front of you is also going there or that trucks going the other way have gotten all of the good stuff. So you tend to drive a bit too fast.

Pretty much everything was still there! It took a bit of maneuvering to get it all in the back of the Mazda, but my husband is the king of figuring out how to get too much stuff into a small space.


Cute mid-century side table with wood veneer - there was a coffee table too that we left behind because of water damage :(

Mid-century chair - easy to freshen up and put with a desk

You know you want these retro-licious chairs!! Micheal was hesitant at first, but I think they're growing on him. Very loungey.

Then, just yesterday I went to an "estate cleanout" which was essentially the leftovers of an estate sale that a realtor ran for the family and she was now responsible for clearing out the house by the end of the week. It was a very old house that had been in the same family for generations and they had accumulated A LOT of stuff! There were clearly some folks there that had second hand shops as they were just grabbing anything they could get their hands on, but I tried to be a little more judicious since our storage space is dwindling quickly. I suggested a 1 in 1 out policy to Micheal and I thought he might pass out. It's not good when both of you have no will power for stuff like this...


Some books on tape to keep me entertained


Cute vintage baking dish, no chips or anything and two cool matching vintage glasses


I'm pretty sure I knocked someone over getting to this...I couldn't imagine how it was still here!


Okay, well that's why, but I can totally fix that and change up the colors


Beautiful 1920s mirror - burled wood veneer


Desk chair in excellent condition, not a single crack or tear in the vinyl!


Well worn folding table with a quirky cutout - any one know what this might have been for?


Put a little cushion on top and take out the old mesh - how cute would that be?


Vintage milk crates - pretty cool too

I spent some time chatting up the realtor, she was very nice. This can also be beneficial because she began showing me "cool things" like that gorgeous mirror that was on top of the mantle that no one had picked up yet!

Free in DC is so dangerous. Seriously.

6 comments:

Michelle K said...

OMG. Want those yellow chairs! This is my karma for posting all of my awesome MCM stuff when you were stuck in your apartment!

KLS said...

Too true Michelle! I have drooled over many a-find you posted. And if you were closer I'd totally just give them to you. ;)

Nemmie said...

I think the cut-out table might be for a sewing machine? My mom has an older table like that for the same purpose...

Awesome finds, I am jealous! You definitely have a gift! :)

Ashley @ Decorating Obsessed said...

I love that orange office chair!

KLS said...

Nemmie - I think that's a real possibility! When my new-to-me congrats-on-finishing-fellowship Elna sewing machine arrives I'll see if it fits!

Thanks Ashley! It's in amazing condition for it's age. It's going to accompany my mid-century desk that after searching the blog I realized I never posted about!

Bridget said...

You guys find the best stuff! I can't wait for the before and after pics!