By the side of the road

Since I'm on the topic of furniture, I thought I would finally share what I found by the side of the road a week or so ago, that I hinted at here. It really isn't worth the leadup, but I'm pretty happy with the $0 price tag!

While Tom and Daniel were busy sawing up VJ boards to attach to our West Wall extension, I was sent on an errand to collect our lawn mower from my mother's house. Don't ask why, it's not an interesting story. On the way, I spotted a pile of junk on someone's footpath, and what looked like some reasonably nice pieces of furniture amongst it. I made a mental note to stop by on my way back and check them out. Which I did.

One was this little desk with two filing cabinet drawers:

The other was a matching drawer unit the same width as the desk (although nowhere near as tall).

They looked a bit heavy, so I decided to go and retrieve one of the boys to help me load them into the ute. And so I returned with Daniel. Just as we pulled up, another guy pulled up behind us in his station wagon, while I mentally cursed. I'm really not cut out for fighting for pieces of junk on the side of the road.

I jokingly said to the guy "I hope we're not after the same thing!" He didn't appear to have a sense of humour. He looked a lot like the guy on the left here:

As it turns out, he was after the drawer unit that matches the little desk, while I was after both it and the desk. He immediately got pretty distressed, saying he was a flood victim and that he had nowhere to store his clothes, and that he'd borrowed the station wagon from a friend for the sole purpose of coming and getting the drawers. I backed off immediately. No way I was going to fight a flood victim for an old piece of furniture! The boys reckon he might have been lying to me, but he certainly looked more needy than me, so my conscience is clear.

So... Daniel and I loaded the desk into the ute and got out of there quick smart. And now the desk is sitting in the shed waiting for some attention. I'm thinking I can incorporate it (or at least the file drawers) into my eventual home office once I paint it white. It's reasonably sturdy, so not a bad find! Wish I'd got the matching drawer unit too!!

And that's it for my scavenging for the moment! A good wash and a few coats of paint and I might just let it into the house - who knows where it's been!