Trashy Tuesday, What the Junk? Happy Trashy Tuesday! It's been some time since I have share some of my amazing Dumpster Finds and Road Side Rescues! I haven't stopped my trashy ways, I have just been BUSY! As Retail Director for DIY Paints, Retailer of DIY Paints at Consignment Envy in Brentwood, CA and a full house with College kid home, it's been awesome, but a little nutty. Oh, and did I mention we also got a new dog? Enough about my junk, let's get to the real junk, as in what the junk have I found recently? I actually saw this chair dumpee heading towards the Dumpster with this chair. I pulled over in the parking lot and just waited.....As soon as it left his ...
dumpster diving
How To Turn A Farm Table to A Plank Table
Did you recently see a well loved mini van pulled over on the side of the Highway, a woman in skirt and heels, risking life and limb to pick up a filthy pile of wood planks? Did you think "that woman is nuts", or that poor woman, "look a load of wood fell out of her minivan and she has nice clothes on, and now has to get all dirty to pick them up". ......Well, that woman was moi! I found the planks through a hot tip I had received from a friend and client. Email comes in, just prior to running my car pool to dance, "pile of wood planks off Hwy 4", on gravel, enough room to pull over and pick up". My heart started beating like I was gearing up for a race. You never know, someone ...
Turn Trashy Books into Treasured Items
Before I share pictures and this post with you I have a disclaimer. No literature was harmed in this project. All books that were altered were not only dumpster dive finds but were the probably trash for the mind as well.....Not that they were THAT kind of trash, I go to the Dumpster not the Gutter! But don't they look gorgeous now! Painting and antiquing books that were not serving much purpose in their current state could be my new favorite project. This is the kind of project where you see Debi's Design Diary DIY Paint make magic Gold Patina and Dark and Decrepit Patina. I (painful part here) tore the spines off the books. Just like pulling off a bandage, do it all at once and it ...
Dumpster Nightstand Makeover
Dumpster Nightstand Makeover This post contains affiliate links. I am extremely opinionated, so you won't have any problem seeing that all the opinions are my own. I practice what I preach, and every product I recommend I love. It's not what you think. A one night nightstand. I am just not that kind of girl. I like to Dumpster Dive at night sometimes, but when I do pick something up. I am committed to it for the long haul. Truly. My junk stays in my garage for months at a time before I decide I am going to try "change it". This Nightstand was found quite a while ago. It was the early morning hours when we met. It didn't look like it had been around the block too many ...
How to Decorate your Home With Free Furniture
How To Decorate Your Home With Free Furniture Seriously? Free Furniture? To Decorate your home? Where would you find enough of it? If you hang around here, you will see how I easily find free furniture every month! No matter where you live, I guarantee, somewhere near you, even if you have to drive a bit. There is free furniture to be found. To start your Free Furniture hunt, I suggest you check out my 3 Part Dumpster Diving Series HERE and brush up on How to Develop Your Junk Network HERE. To decorate your home with Free Furniture, you have to be able to look past what the piece may have originally been. Use your imagination, check out some of my Furniture Makeovers ...
Trashy Tuesday Trashy Makeovers
Trashy Tuesday Trashy Makeovers It's been a while! And oh my, do I have a lot of junk to trash talk with you. Do you remember Actually, it's a twin. I found 2 of them a few months ago when someone in my neighborhood was moving. They so nicely left a whole bunch of trash in a Giant Dumpster and these 2 buckets were things I pulled out. I painted them using the The Turquoise Iris method. At DIY Paint, we call it #Do The Dionne. Dionne of The Turquoise Iris is a master at blending DIY Paint with a water bottle and a few tricks. I painted this bucket with DIY Paint in Summer Crush, Marquis and Queen Bee. I used a Water Bottle to make the paint blend, while it was still ...
7 Surprising Tips for Finding Free Furniture
7 Surprising Tips For Finding Free Furniture! 1 Tip for Every Day of the Week! Imagine how much you can pick up, RIGHT NOW! Seriously. How did I go from this? Clean, orderly garage, car fits in nicely. To this??? Packed to the gils, furniture everywhere. I can squeeze my van in there but only enough for myself to get out and then have to actually enter my house through the front door. I did this in only about 1 week. Yes, you read that right. I found ALL this stuff in 7 days. With barely trying! Ready to fill up your garage on free furniture without spending a dime? Because you know you want to save money.....Here are my top 7 tips: Free Furniture Tip ...
Trashy Tuesday Upscale Junking
Trashy Tuesday Upscale Junking What is Upscale Junking you might ask? It is actually looking for junk in a "reputable" business establishment. One where a form of currency changes hands between the junker and the junkee. I just made that up, but it explains the difference perhaps between Dumpster Diving, which you can read all about in my 3 part series HERE. And actually "going junking", that is, frequenting junk stores. I recently had the opportunity to do some upscale Junking with some fabulous DIY Paint retailers from Alaska! Sue Mann of Artzy Junkin and Abbey Ulen. Abbey works with Sue and has her own amazing artwork, check it out HERE. Abbey and Sue came down to the San ...
Trashy Tuesday Digging for Junk
Trashy Tuesday Digging for Junk Happy Trashy Tuesday! I have been Digging for Junk. Literally! About a week ago I got a text from friends who have recently relocated to "land" in the country from "suburban home" in my neighborhood. Along with having more space, they also inherited a lot of Junk. I was invited to come pick through their stuff. And oh my goodness, was it amazing. Piles and Piles and boxes and boxes of surprises. One whole section of the yard was FREE! Most of it was junk beyond junk, but how fun is Free? In exchange for the Flat Bed Trailer that the previous owner was going to remove, they bought the trailer and all the trash that came with the property. And ...
Trashy Tuesday Free Furniture
Trashy Tuesday Free Furniture Yep, you read that right. I found a whole bunch of Free Furniture. Or, some may consider it a whole bunch of junk. Perception and attitude is everything right? Want to know something REALLY WEIRD? I found this Memo board. I MADE and sold at least 5 years ago ....in a DUMPSTER last week. What are the odds? It's weird enough to find your junk in a thrift store, but hello, the garbage???? Wow, that's just a head scratcher from the Universe from the Junk Cycle to Me. I think I found that frame for free too! If you are not up on where to find the good stuff, read my 3 part How To Dumpster Dive Series. And then, read THIS post. It takes practice, ...
How to Make a Door Chalkboard from a bunch of junk
How to Make a Door Chalkboard from a bunch of Junk (This post was originally written in 2012, but the instructions remain the same, paint brand has changed) Do you remember this thing I pulled out of le garbage? My client had texted me the night before I found this, asking if I could make a "door" sized chalkboard for her kitchen. The next morning, doing my rounds of looking behind businesses for their good "trash". I saw this lying on top of a bunch of boxes. It was there for moi! I knew with a little reinforcing and some foam core board, it would be perfect. If you are not so lucky to find this frame in the trash, you can easily duplicate this. Here is what you ...