Spilling my secret

I've got a secret to share! I've been bursting at the seams, but decided to keep it in til now.

And this is the part of the post where you have to promise not to judge.

Cmon, put your three fingers up (Girl Scout Honor) and repeat after me... 'Chelsea, I will read this post and not think any less of you for you and your famililes' actions'. Oh, and you have to promise not to tell the authorities.

A few weeks ago, I got this table....

Well actually my mom got me this table. And technically it was just the top of the table. And it was out of a dumpster. (hold your gasps in!)

It's big too... like standard dining table size (hah is there even a standard size?). And heavy! Real wood for sure. I am gonna check out Lowe's for a base! I tracked it down online and found out it retailed (no longer in stores) for $350!

Ready for me to explain? My mom's salon is in a strip mall about 4 doors down from a home goods store we will call Dock2 (because, honestly, I don't want them tracking me down!). They are bitter, nasty, snooty people who work there (honest) and when they (for whatever reason) throw perfectly good furniture and other home things out they purposely break/scratch/spray paint them. Probably so people like us don't walk out the back door of mom's salon and see all these wonderful things sticking out of the dumpster and take them. Oh, and if you get caught... they will start locking their dumpster and then you have to pout around for a year until they get a new manager who doesn't know people, like us, recover things from their trash pile!


Also pulled from the glorious waste bin of delectable home goods...

This three tiered shelf (it's a little messy right now!)

This bookshelf holding my Jamaican wood carvings and board games (two things I love!)

This lamp next to my reading chair (although my dad had to run a new wire through it -easy fix)

This big wooden patio table (that you can sorta see in this photo) on my parents deck. They had scratched it all up so my dad sanded & repainted it

And this white pedestal table that now lives at my brother & sis-in-law's kitchen. Seriously. This whole table... in a dumpster. It's got a few knicks in the side but besides that, it's fine!

Now, I'm not telling you to go jump in every dumpster you see behind any furniture or home furnishing store... I don't know if most do this? But ours does... and you better believe I'm taking advantage of it! I can live with a scratched up table knowing that it retails for $400some and I got it for free! (plus that just gives me more practice in refinishing furniture!). And if you do... don't get caught. They get mad ha!