I've found a few pieces of furniture on the street and dragged them home. A big fear when you acquire furniture this way is hoping that, along with a great mid-century find, you're not also bringing home a load of bugs. So, when my brother told me the following story, I immediately got it. And I also knew I had to pass it along. This takes place in NY but it could work anywhere...
What would you do if you saw a couch plastered with signs warning it was full of bedbugs? You'd steer clear, right? That was what my brother did and he warned his children, who love to play on street furniture, to stay away. Later, he passed the same couch, only now it was being loaded onto a skateboard.
"You don't want that couch, it's full of bedbugs," he yelled frantically.
The skateboard owner grinned. Turned out, the guy (pictured here) had plastered the signs all over the couch knowing that they would keep his find safe while he went home for his wheels. We thought it was a pretty clever trick, one that we'll keep it in mind for future use!
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Even more clever is using his skateboard to get it home. I wish I had thought of that before I went out and got one of those carpeted platform on wheels.
Take the cushions on the first trip.
Removing a drawer from a chest works too.
The other trick is to take the cushions, or a couple drawers, so that it is no longer a complete item and you can go get help to retrieve the whole thing.
The bedbug sign is a pretty ingenious method too, though I don't think most people who are throwing out infested items have the decency to post signs (thus the continued spread of bedbugs), so hopefully this couch didn't actually have bedbugs! Be wary of the particularly nice looking items that you can't figure out why it's being thrown away.
Very clever! And great transportation device! :)
Laura
http://www.grafxnerd.net
clever.
good point about being wary. My sister grabbed a nice looking lamp off the street, plugged it in, turned it on and it caught on fire.
Clever (especially using a skateboard), though AT has made me so paranoid about bedbugs, fleas and other creepy-crawlies that I don't think I'll ever bring home an upholstered piece of furniture from the street.
Hmmm, I should have put a bed bug warning on that couch before I threw it out.
Depending how clean your sidewalks are, an office chair makes decent transport for street-find furniture. I once bought an office chair at a yard sale in order to get home the bookcase I also bought . . . only to have a letter carrier pull over and offer to carry both in her van for me?
NICE SOCKS BUDDY
I think people should spray paint huge XX's and bedbug warnings on their furniture to make sure it really doesn't get picked up since signs can blow away or are hard to see at night.
Paranoid in NYC.
Black Socks?
A nice thing to do is post "good - works fine!" signs on items getting thrown out that have nothing wrong with them. We did this in our apartment building and the decent items rarely even made it out to the street - taken to a new home in the same building instead. There was an unspoken rule for an area near the garbage cans that items put there were to be thrown out, but were of possible value/interest to someone else. It was a great method of recycling.
It reminds me of the story of the man who wanted to stop people from stealing melons from his garden. He put up a sign - "One of these melons contains poison". The next day, someone wrote on the sign - "Now there are two".
Genius.
I think that black socks are totally appropriate with neon painted vans and an old-school Transformers t-shirt.
"I think that black socks are totally appropriate with neon painted vans and an old-school Transformers t-shirt."
How about with Madras plaid shorts, a white guayabera and a yellow Coupe de Ville?
I love the black socks. I think this dude has a great urban look. They're tongue in cheek. Not everything has to be perfect and ideal. If they're poly-blend, not so good. But the look is working for me. Dude: Call me!!!
omg I have to show the sock comments to my fiance because I razz him about wearing socks like these all the time!
ARE YOU MAD! THESE DAYS ARE OVER! BED BUGS BED BUGS BED BUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
never mind "the early bird gets the worm."
now it's "the clever dude gets the filthy loverseat."
I once found a beautiful wooden chair on the street.
got it home, cleaned it up, but once it was in my house,
I realized it reeked of cat pee. NOTHING could get that smell out.
though I did get a six drawer malm several years ago on the street.
can't remember how I got it home, but it was worth the
effort. I still use it!
Weasle-y. Why not just write a note :"claimed please don't take."?
mskk -- then someone is more likely to take it even if they wind up putting it in a dumpster - people can just be like that.
I go with the idea of taking a few cushions, drawers, legs, etc on the first trip - then the furniture is therefore "damaged" and it will still be sitting when you get back.
"Weasle-y. Why not just write a note :"claimed please don't take."?"
Because people don't care about other people - they'll just take what they want if you're not there to stop them - some malicious people will even take it just for the pleasure of knowing someone will be disappointed when they return and find it gone.
The best way it to make it appear unwantable ...
good idea... except, if it really does have bedbugs or roaches or any eggs or larvae of the same. *shuddering* i wouldn't do it.
i once purchased a fantastic MCM console table from good will, even talked them down on the price (still paid $50) and thought i'd died and gone to heaven until... i got it home and realized it had a dead bedbug in on of the drawers and a sack of eggs behind same drawer. immediately trashed and put out multiple signs. it was still gone the same day.
Warning! This love seat has genital warts!
I think standards for men have gone downhill if this guy could be classified as having a "great urban look". I would say he's cute in spite of his outfit- not because of it!
nice!!!kudos!!!
i once found this on the street and was determined not to leave it... so i flagged a kid riding on his skateboard down the street and paid him $20 to bring it into my apt. priceless!
BEFORE:
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs030.snc1/2585_1042468703830_1288977970_30151139_3119233_n.jpg
AFTER:
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs030.snc1/2585_1042468743831_1288977970_30151140_4321225_n.jpg
@chrisvilayke, what a score. Magnifique!
This reminds me of this guy who wanted to get rid of a couch, so he put it on the curbside with a sign that said "FREE". Days passed and the couch was still there. He then replaced that sign with one that said "$50". The couch was gone almost immediately. Needless to say, they didn't pay for it...