9.04.2008

It's Amazing What One Can Find in a Dumpster

we knew we had upgraded when we moved to our new apartment in May, but we didn't know how much until we drove by the recycling bins in our apartment complex on our way home from church on Sunday.
the tale begins with a small desire in a girl's heart to have a dresser for her baby's room. she was willing to spend about $30 on a used dresser and was keeping her eye out on Craig's List. nothing had come up and she was starting to think she might as well go buy some plastic bins to house the baby's clothes come november. but wait! what is that she sees next to the recycling bin? could it really be a big beautiful mocha stained dresser?
i couldn't believe the piles of discarded things next to the bins, the best of which was the dresser. i told a very tired and worn out Byron (he had taken care of Connor for two hours of church because Connor refused to go to nursery that day, but that's another story) i was going to go check it out after we got Connor in the house. i looked at it and i couldn't see a think wrong with it. who would throw away such a treasure!?! i came back and told Byron if i had a dolly i would have brought it home with me. so Byron went to check it out and confirmed, yes, indeed it's a great find. we wanted to snag it before anyone discovered the beauty, so we did what any other family would do after coming home from church on a Sunday...we all walked outside in our nice church clothes (i was still wearing heals) and Byron and I hauled the dresser back to our apartment while Connor ran ahead of us exclaiming, "yeah! new dresser!" upon inspection at home, the only thing we found amiss in the dresser was a broken middle drawer. there was a slight scare when Byron opened up one of the drawers and we found some silky leopard print material. i was about to take the dresser back when Byron started laughing and found the material to only be harmless jewelry bags. whew.
the next day (Labor Day) byron got some wood from Home Depot, and made a new runner. All the drawers work perfectly now. what a guy. the dresser ended up costing $5. um, we'll take it. we're slowly but surely furnishing our home one free item at a time.

8 comments:

Jill said...

That is how we have furnished our house! We just got a free computer desk this past weekend and realized that we have paid for about 3 things in our house.

You gotta love dumpster diving!

Katie Rod said...

Wow, that's quite a find. We just have old couches in our apartment complex's dumpsters. :( You might just have to give the baby your old dresser and keep this one for yourself. He/She will never know!

P.S.--Did you find out what you are having or is it a surprise?

Blackner Family said...

Nice find!! I'll think I would think about the leopard print everytime I saw it! Even if it was just a jewlery bag thing!! Hilarious!! Glad you guys have found a great new "store"!!

boneyfingers1183@gmail.com said...

you are doing a great job of recycling! Your're my kind of girl. So glad you found a practial use for the material---looks really cute on is bed. The chest of drawers looks like a REAL find.

Ashley said...

honestly, how do you guys continue to get so lucky? :-)

Kate said...

I love it! It's beautiful. That is one of those "tender mercies" from the Lord! I am so excited for your new baby- you guys are such amazing parents, that is one lucky baby.

Misako said...

Leopard print material?
at least it wasn't some worn out underwear (aka G) that the elders left. Ha!
It's so exciting that the bun is almost ready to come out of the oven. ganbatte!

Geoff and Janene said...

That's true dedication when you do it in heels. I would have loved to see that little family event!