Whenever we rent or buy a new home, there always seem to be plenty of problems to inherit — terrible paint colors, damaged wooden floors to be refinished, tacky light fixtures — but occasionally we might get lucky and find something wonderful left behind by the previous residents…
In a post entitled "More Ours", Elisabeth Dunker of Fine Little Day wrote about the many household good left behind by the previous owner of her summer home. The inherited goods (such as the leather hangers and the Moomin pillow in Elisabeth's lovely photo, above) are so in tune with her family's own style, they find themselves asking each other where they acquired such cool objects. They were just there, waiting for them! I find that so sweet, that the pillows and pitchers get to stay in the home they've grown used to.
On the How I Met Your Mother episode, "No Tomorrow", Marshall and Lily buy a new apartment, only to find it has a major flaw. Fortunately, they also find a colander and a skateboard left behind by the previous tenants, and the sport of "Apartment Roller Luge" is born.
The only thing I can remember finding in an apartment were two tiny crystal birds, on the top shelf of a bathroom's little linen closet. How did they get there? Crystal birds are not generally my style, but when one was sweetly epoxied to a clear plastic ring for me, it became a treasured (but very fragile) accessory.
Do you have any beloved possessions that simply came with the place?
Image: By Elisabeth Dunker of Fine Little Day
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The previous occupants left so much stuff behind that we had to hire a junk hauling service. We're not sure what to do with the entire cabinet and shed full of paint and chemicals. Not so sweet, eh? They did, however, leave us a working lawnmower, which I can't complain about.
My current piano came with an upright piano, but since I can't really play, it migrated down the block to folks who put it to good use.
I have an orange plastic measuring cup that I found in my first apt (oh, 30+ years ago) -- I still use it all the time, even if it's not exactly an heirloom!
oops - "current apartment came with an unpright piano"!
Shop vac and ladder! Not exactly design inspiration, but very practical.
A little tiny box of 1/2-inch nails. Still have them.
I put my grandmother's old silver tea set (which I have no use for and is really beat up) behind the fireplace - for the next owner to find.
oh maaan I have come so close to buying that Moomin pillowcase so many times. I wish my apartment came with Moomin stuff, I would save so much money!
The only things I have ever found in my apartments are a Playboy (college girls edition) and a horrible ceramic music box with roses and bible verses on it. I had no use for either! I wish I found those cool hangers instead.
My aunt got an insane cat with her house a few years back. :-P
We inherited a sweet ride-on lawn mower (which they tried to use to negotiate up the price, but ended up just leaving anyway), a couple pooper scoopers, and a few unused shotgun shells in the attic, which I turned over to the town police.
My last house came with horrible window curtains in 2 rooms - a testament to the previous owner's lack of taste.
It was obvious that both curtains were purchased just for the showing, they still had creases from how they had been folded and the original packaging was in the closet drawer.
My last rental had a basement full of treasures... it was a colonial house in Ipswich that had been rented continuously for years and occupied by the landlord previously.
Some of the gems I got out of that basement: Hairpin desk legs. A cute Heywood Wakefield esque chair. A whole bunch of quite old mason jars.
The place I'm in now came with less (and junkier) stuff in the basement... there's a fishing rod and some busted up bicycles. A lot of old paint, and scrap wood.
Gas clothes dryer! Mine was electric, but the new place had only gas hookups. It was a little beat up, but dried just fine and saved me from shelling out as soon as I moved into the place. Still using it two years later.
A vintage Best Foods mayonnaise jar, paper label intact, full of vintage crocheted shade pulls and window and drapery hardware. (It looks like this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theclassicfarmhouse/3663555672/
and though I have no use for it, I keep it because I find it charming.)
Six faux-etched champagne flutes, not my style at all, but very appreciated to supplement glassware at parties over the years. (All gone now, after 20 years of parties.)
When I was very poor & moved to Huntington, the apartment carport had a storage cupboard full of garbage bags. It ended up being full of nice clothes and shoes all in my size. I checked with the management that the former resident had moved out weeks earlier and never called back asking for their stuff.
In addition to an ever-present smell of garlic in the kitchen and a garden I lacked the skills to properly maintain, the previous owners of my first home saw it fit to leave behind slew of random items. The most notable are:
• a pair of foot-tall chintz ceramic cats
• a garden tiller with no kill switch
• potpourri sachets in every closet
• a set of brass, horse head fireplace tools
We found a small parcel wrapped in newspaper and tied with string in the rafters of our house. When we unwrapped it, we discovered a deck of pornographic playing cards with images from the 1900s-1940s. The best part was that it wasn't a full deck! The previous owner must have kept a few of his favorites (ace of clubs? ahem!). We keep them in our china closet and pull them out at parties as a conversation piece. They crack people up.
I moved into my apartment 2 years ago, a few months after the previous tenant of over 40 years passed away.
He was in his 90s when he died, and had been a frequent traveler to various Asian countries. He was also a collector and had A LOT of stuff. The apartment manager took what was left from the estate sale and tucked it into a storage room.
When I moved in, he offered some of the pieces to me. I scored two small inlaid tables (one of them is numbered...I haven't yet been able to figure out its origins, though), a blue crystal elephant, and a curio cabinet.
When I hung the curio cabinet and called the manager over to see, he stopped dead in his tracks...I had put it in EXACTLY the same location as the old man had.
I love that story. I feel like I have a little bit of a connection to the man who slept in those same rooms from the time I was just a little girl.
we inherited a small garage full of very old pool equipment including buckets of treatment chemicals. not cool.
however, we also got a bunch of old wood fruit baskets, and a big ass shop vac ($$!). the best: the original blueprints of the house and every manual for every electrical thing in that place, even the 30 year old solar hot water heater which still works...most of the time.
too bad none of us found a stack of bills tucked somewhere eh?
My first place in Mtl came fully stocked - the last dude had skipped town after bailing on rent for 6 months! I managed to score a HUGE cast iron pan that I use almost daily. This time around we got a cute little coffee table, a bike & a BBQ.
free cable.
and nail holes.
Moomin, I love you!
I found a cute silver child's cup, with pale blue enameled interior, and the handle in the shape of a rabbit in one apartment. Sometimes I think I should name my first child something to match the initials engraved onto it...
My parents bought a house that came with a nice dog whose previous owner had died (not in the house!). And I have a set of colored glass liquer glasses that I found in the basement of a 100-year-old house.
I have some great oriental rugs that were shoved up in the attic. They also left a bunch of paint and crappy shelves that I ended up freecycling. We found a couple neat old things in the yard that now live in the house. They also left their hideously ugly curtains but at least I didn't have to buy curtains right away.
I found 1950s birthday candles in our wall while renovating the kitchen. They came complete with little birthday cake decorations. Adorable! We use the paper decorations for every birthday now.
oh, dear, now i reallyreallyreallyreallyreally want that moomin pillow, and it looks like finlayson no longer makes it. oh, dear.
My family bought a house packed with furniture; the woman who owned it had passed away and her family, who lived on the other side of the country, took only what had sentimental value.
My parents still use quite a bit of the furniture, but the thing we still laugh about was a seriously well stocked collection of liqueurs from the Mad Men era bar in the basement. Creme de Menthe, Creme de Cacao, Creme de you name it. We never did find a palatable use for Creme de Banane.
The cutest and smallest ever 60's gas oven, an old wooden beer box and a dozen of ashtrays, that's about it (all in the same kitchen).
Wow, this totally hit home for me. My family rented the same cottage every summer of my life until it went on the market when I was 18. My parents bought the place and all of the furniture, decor, accessories stayed -- the hampers where I hid as a kid, the chests of drawers that have never opened properly... I couldn't be happier that my kids will probably be living with a lot of the same furniture and bizarre decor when we come back to visit years from now. Decorating the place ourselves just wouldn't have felt right.
Our 1929 house came with a bunch of ugly window treatments (gone on the first day); the original wall-hung sink (replaced in the 1980s when they added a dishwasher); the original second floor leaded glass windows (which we intend to get framed for hanging in the much better insulated second floor windows) and a freestanding closet that was clearly original to the house (same style as the other cabinetry--it was in the basement when we moved in and is now used to store stuff that we want to keep tidy). We've found a full flagstone path in the yard (about 50 linear feet of stone under two feet of dirt which is now outlining part of our garden beds) and several dozen marbles. For a house this old, not a bad haul (we won't talk about the two hideously redone bathrooms that have been totally renovated because there was nothing left to restore).
While moving into one rental house I discovered a VHS videotape tucked far back on a high closet shelf. Naturally I had to watch it immediately, and what I saw cannot be unseen, as they say.
People, make sure take your sex tapes with you when you move!
The former owners of my current house were much more apropos, leaving only paints, surplus building materials, and menus for local take-out. Very thoughtful.
love the Moomin pillow!!! i grew up on that cartoon...
For more Moomin please check:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Moomin/185958374788084
http://www.moomin.com
http://www.moomincomics.com
My house was packed to the rafters with everything that the elderly lady who'd lived in it owned. I "inherited" rooms full of antique furniture (most of which I sent to auction, because it just wasn't my style), closets full of clothes and shoes and saved used wrapping paper and bows, the pantry and cabinets in the kitchen were full of canned goods (one had exploded! Botulism ATTACK!!), and the floors were littered with the dead carcasses of palmetto bugs that had met their doom. It all cleaned up pretty well, though, and now I have a lovely older home with hardwood floors and arched doorways and a ton of charm.
@orbit...years ago, a man was acquitted of murdering his girlfriend because the prosecution couldn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he'd done it. He sold his home, and the new owners found a video tape hidden in an air duct - he'd taped the murder and forgotten to take the tape with him when he moved. He couldn't be retried, sadly, because of double jeopardy.
I got the original blueprints to my 1952 home. They still have the build slip attached. Black and white square/rectangle bathroom tile is original. And I am glad someone replaced the steel kitchen cabinets it originally came with. And every room had wallpaper, so glad I didn't have to remove it, but there is a piece of cowboy wallpaper visible under a vent in the spare bedroom that I think is neat.
Other than that, the old bag I bought it from just left her cigg tar and odor behind (she had owned it less than 2 years), as well as about 12 gallons of dried up paint in the garage.
I love that you cite a "How I Met Your Mother" episode here. What a great show!
I've never had this happen, other than the previous tenants just leaving a huge mess for me to clean up.
My dream house's former occupant left it FULL of unused stuff. I'm both excited and terrified for when all of it finally gets cleaned out.
A button box full of really neat old buttons and a tiny sewing kit and a thimble - the box is an old tin box - very cool. Extra sets of door hardware (two of the original interior doors have been removed). And about 20 or 30 unremarkable vases - the kind florists use - which I donated to the ladies at the church who take flowers to shut ins.
Ooo! The best thing i ever found (not counting holes in the wall — hi yo!) was a romance novel. Should've read that
*happy sigh* so agree potpie :)
I found a walking cane with a silver top and base... it is engraved with "1926" it is very elegant and beautiful
I found a cute silver child's cup, with pale blue enameled interior, and the handle in the shape of a rabbit in one apartment. Sometimes I think I should name my first child something to match the initials engraved onto it...
free standing closet