Free Money!

Here are a couple of examples of free stuff that I've sold to earn the little smidge of money that's in the FreeSourceFull budget. This money is for supplies and thrift store purchases. Supplies are things like paint, paint brushes, a new belt for the free vaccuum cleaner, stuff like that. Thrift store purchases are most often fabric. I try to shop the 25 cent section at the thrift stores as much as possible but every once in a great while I'll splurge on a $17 set of china or a $4 sewing machine or, my biggest splurge of all, a 100-year-old dining table for $50 (that I almost got for $30 - darn it!). See post to come.


This antique bed is just gorgeous. I found it with the junk behind the furniture store. One of our local furniture stores delivers and will remove your old mattress, sofa, chair, table, etc. for free. They dump the old stuff in a pile behind the store and let us vultures pick through it. That way, when they haul the residual off to the dump every couple of months, there is just the bare minimum, the true dregs, to dispose of. The only thing wrong with the bed was a broken connection between one of the rails and the footboard. A $2 brace from Lowe's would easily fix it. In a flea market, I would price this bed at $150. Price on the corner: $75.

This kitchen table has a fun story. My neighbors had a dumpster in front of their house while they were doing some improvements on their house. One day I saw one leg and the corner of a tabletop sticking out of the debris. I wasn't at all sure the table was complete or in good condition. I waited until my neighbors were gone and climbed in. It took me over an hour to dig it out. In the process, a couple were were neighbors (that I didn't know previously) wandered by and started asking me questions. He ended up climbing into the dumpster with me and helping me dig for the fourth table leg (that we weren't sure would be there in the first place). She cheered from the sidelines. In the end, I had a table with FOUR legs and we all had a bonding experience!

So, that's how $105.00 came about in the FreeSourceFull budget/game!

I have boxes of stuff that I culled from dumpsters and curbside all ready to sell at an upcoming garage sale. I'm hoping to make $200 so I can put slate tiles on the floor of the enclosed front porch. That's the plan! The last garage sale I had was small but I made $55 selling free stuff at that one!

The Evolution of the Stove

Let's just admit it. This stove is UGLY! (I use that word alot on this blog, don't I?) Ok, so it's a little retro kitchy but not very. It's mainly just ugly. This kitchen is dim and dingy and depressing and dated and dinky and certainly not the least bit appetizing!

And the wall paper isn't doing the stove or anything else in the room any favors. I understand it's cheerful intent. But I just plain hate it.

Below is an ugly mid-stage of the kitchen that's not much better. I took the cabinet doors off and really like the open shelving but it's a long way from finished. The dumpster anemone lamp is purely for light, I assure you. It has already moved on to other seas!

I found four pieces of corrogated tin beside the dumpster at the mini storage and asked the manager if they were for a project or up for grabs. He almost begged me to take them! It wasn't fun to cut them to size but I LOVE the way they look behind the stove! Now, if I can only remember to secure them a little better so they wall paper doesn't peak through! But I think things are finally starting to come together and the stove wall is looking MUCH better! Sorry I don't have a better, more-expansive picture but I'll add one in when I can!

I also love this little still-life! On the stove are some small dumpster items that I gathered together: a glass luncheon plate (once a staple in ladies' world that no one ever uses anymore -- in my hometown, chicken potato chip salad was the most likely topper!) , a glass sugar bowl, metal salt and pepper shakers, a glass vinegar bottle, another glass bottle, and a milk glass container the perfect size for toothpicks. I LOVE this little gathering. I always recommend coralling small items on a tray of some sort. It just looks exponentially BETTER! It transforms "clutter" into "still-life"! And here it can hold useful cooking supplies like salt, pepper, vinegar, olive oil, sugar, and toothpicks.

The "2" and "3" seem to be cake pans or molds or cake cutters or something along those lines. I paid $2.99 each for them (which is a lot out of the freesourcefull budget) because numbers and letters are just good graphically.

Stay tuned. I have LOTS more plans for the kitchen! And you've only seen one wall!