Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Old Habits Die Hard

There is something to be said about having a good eye for other people's garbage, and being able to turn that garbage into a brand new treasure. This past weekend, we got up early and headed to Home Depot to pick up some stuff for the DIY projects we had planned. On our way home, neighbours down the street had some furniture placed on their boulevard, presummably for the garbage. Greg stopped and said that he thought some of the tables looked like teak. (We happen to have a lot of teak furniture that we are very fond of.) I jumped out of the car, took one look, and piled them on the hood of the car without another word. I did kind of hope that nobody would see me as it was broad daylight! Although very scuffed up, stained and plastered with a few stickers, I thought I could fix them up with steel wool and teak oil.
So far, I've managed to refurbish one very nicely, and it only took two hours worth of a little elbow grease. Here is the result: looks like new, doesn't it?

When I get the other one done, we will finally have matching nightstands. I'm quite proud of myself!
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3 comments:

Pez said...

Love them! I think my fondness for teak is due to my parents' house and the teak dining room table, chairs, buffet, coffee tables, dressers and just about every other piece of furniture, don't you think? ;)

I think you should make copies of those pictures and drop them off at the neighbour's house where you got the tables!

Anonymous said...

My goodness, this is wonderful! You did a fabulous job on this. Taking the furniture off the street is a popular thing here and no one cares. In fact, people often do it and hope that someone will pick it up and put it to good use.

Mitey Mite said...

You are so clever! It really does look like new. It reminds me a bit of my first coffee table, which was teak and had a little shelf under it, and the edges curled into a lip in the center. My flirtation with modern furniture did not last long at all, but, you know, I still miss that coffee table.