Wednesday, June 06, 2007

The Garden Table

Patience is a good thing when you refuse to shop for goods that aren't really of vital importance. Until recently I never owned a proper garden table. The thing is, plastic staple chairs are available in abundance (I have six of them), but the matching tables are always broken when I see them on the curb. The legs always break off. I think people just go out to buy a new set every two years or so. Now I like stuff that lasts. So knowing from my street experiences how shitty these plastic tables are I would certainly never ever spend money on them (and they're ugly at that). So I improvised with all sorts of found tables, end tables, mini tables, old office tables, that after a year in rain and cold would really be good for the trash, and I had to find something new again. Up until a couple of weaks ago. After delivering a found side table to a friend that he'd asked for, we took an unusual turn and my eye spotted this:



The frame's all iron and the top's a mosaic inlay, so it weighs a ton. It stood two blocks more far away than we usually go and my boyfriend said that's too heavy, but I had my mind set on it. After two streets I was totally out of breath, but then we were close enough to home for me to go for our trolley, while he guarded our trophy of the evening. This was really worth the effort and it even matches the green plastic chairs you see stapled up in the picture. By the way, when I found those they still had the bar code sticker of the shop on them. Totally unused.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The US has always had a hidden subculture of people who reuse or recycle trash. My grandparents did it but my parents not so much. I've always taken whatever I wanted from curbs and bins and other waste areas. Not much different in picking up a seashell or a scrap of lumber or a set of Legos in the box.

I applaud you for finding such great stuff and making it beautiful and unique.