Trash to Treasure

A benefit of being a constant "redouxer" is that people are always calling you for "free" things they either have and want to get rid of, or something they saw on the side of the road.  I have not been above piling my children into the car at the crack of dawn to score that free child's antique chair someone saw the night before on their way home from a party!  Recently I had to have two doors made for my home and when I went around to the back of the warehouse, there was a free to me conference chair for my son's room, to go with his "free" desk.  Here are some before and after pics of my "free to me's".  There are more "frees" awaiting my attention in my home, will post as they get ready for their close up. 

This was a "free to me" table from someone that was moving, this piece was left in their garage.....waiting for someone like me to pick it up!

Now it is our outdoor dining table! 

PS The chairs were free too! 

This table was given to me by an old friend, they had outgrown it and wanted it go to a nice home. 

We gave it some red love and now it lives in my kid's play room

This dresser lives in my bedroom, came from the same "I am moving and left behind" furniture collection in someone's garage

PS it was Broyhill brown before

My neighbor loves me and gave me a set of these chairs from her husband's aunt's house when she passed away.  The leather wasn't looking too hot, so we "gussied" it up and it has a nice home in Living room, next to my free to me piano.

One of my dear friends gave me a set of her furniture she had as a child, she only has boys, so we made good use of all of it.  Here is the mirror from the set:

I have one of those "open" living room/dining room/entry way type of floor plan so I needed to create some sort of entry.  This worked perfectly to create the "illusion" of an alcove.

Note, the bookshelf was also a "freebie", my friend Floyd the contractor calls me to see if I want things he tears out before they go to reside at the dump.  This is now a bookshelf, it was someone's old kitchen cabinet.

Here is the other side of my entry, the back of the mirror is a chalkboard, my daughter provided the artwork:

Also, the before pic of the bookshelf:

When we bought our current home, my friend with the boys had a friend who bought a piano for her grandchildren to play when they came to visit her, they didn't take to the piano and she didn't want to just give it away, lo and behold, it came to us, we have two talented piano players in our home. Sadly, I am not one of them.

This piano was an old 70's laquer brown before it got the white treatment

We have friends that moved to New York city from the suburb where we live.  They ditched 99% of their furniture.  Guess who was 1st on the scene for the "free" stuff?

I took out the top two drawers because I wanted to make a combo bookshelf/storage unit

Several coats and many layers of glaze and colorant later, I got the look I wanted.  Put down a piece of MDF for the shelf, secured it into place.  Yes, you too can do handywork if you have the patience.  Used up the last of my toile stash, then aged it with my favorite dark furniture wax.  Now our scriptures are kept there, and kid's art supplies in the drawers.  There is a table nearby for creating masterpieces.

My closing thoughts?  One man's trash is Good Time Charlie's Treasure!