While we have had to purchase many things since buying this crazy place, we’ve also managed to get rid of a lot of things left here by the previous owners. These are some of the items that did not end up in one of the 20+ dumpsters we’ve filled.
Regular readers will remember one of the first things to go was that manky old kids playground that sat at the far end of the north garden area. It and the plastic chairs were given away via Craigslist. And the picnic table in that picture did recently go into a dumpster, as did the sandbox next to it.
Then there are the mowers left to us by the POs. The little red one on the left was sold to a neighbor as we replaced it with Cha Cha Mucha, while the silly little push mower was Freecycled.
On to more humorous giveaways: Toilet seats. We liked our first bidet seat from BidetKing.com so much, we now have one in the master and guest baths. I still have two unused seats to rehome, but a friend claimed the third a few months back. The other two are awaiting new owners; I need to post them up on Freecycle but the mods for that site want you to either post just one thing every now and then or multiple items in a single post, but managing all the responses for a single post gets annoying. Plus you cannot edit your post to mark a single item from a group as taken without it retriggering their silly moderation process, which often means the post gets rejected because the mods think it’s a duplicate. I’m hoping they fix that issue sometime soon.
In the meantime, below are a few other bits and bobs that have been Freecycled, recycled, or Craiglisted. Things like old furnace register covers; some brackets for the flatscreen TVs the POs had; a couple of old tube TVs they left in the garage; an abandoned ironing board; some random fabric scraps; the old shelves from the pantry; a crap-ton of tie racks we pulled out of the master bedroom closet (seriously, who has THAT many neckties?); a crap-ton of plant pots we pulled out of the stables; speakers we carved out of the walls of the studio; and some random shades and blinds squirreled away in the upstairs closet of the studio.
But wait, there’s more! All the old lighting fixtures we’ve pulled out, including the original sconces from the studio, were given away. I’m currently trying to rehome the godawful red pendants that once hung in the kitchen.
We also pulled out the original lighting that was installed in the great room atop the lintels. They were pretty primitive.
Then there are our own failures. Things we have purchased that didn’t work. Like the squirrel trap that only occasionally caught ground squirrels and then required we either let them go or shoot them at very close range. Or perhaps the garden shed that managed to walk itself across the patio and onto the pool during a windstorm. Not to forget the wireless furnace thermostat we installed early on but was no longer needed once we pulled out the entire old diesel setup. Or how about a bit of decor from PopChart (https://popchart.co), purchased thinking it would help us make cocktails–only it was way too hard to decipher, so when I revamped the bit of decor in the butler’s pantry area of the kitchen, it went into the pile of stuff to rehome. Another fail was the giant ladder we purchased and the rolling trellis planter that was too flimsy for what I had hoped to use it.
While one of the fridges that came with the house eventually ended up in a dumpster, the original fridge from the kitchen was still a perfectly nice appliance. (We ended up replacing it because you couldn’t actually get the door open.)
"Lightly used GE Profile Refrigerator (GSHF6HGDBCBB): The previous owners of our house remodeled the kitchen to help sell the house in late 2014 and they bought this fridge, but opening the fridge door was nearly impossible due to it being installed in a corner of the kitchen. We replaced it in late 2015 and it was used in our garage for a bit. We've decided we really don't need it. It needs a good cleaning but other than that it runs just fine. Includes a spare replacement water filter. Approx. Product Dimensions (WxHxD) (in.) 35 3/4 in x 69 1/2 in x 34 3/4 in"
I managed to get $200 for it! Normally I give stuff away, but the fridge was a special case.
Other items that have gone to good homes: a couple of our old Dyson vacuum cleaners went to friends who could use them.
And our old beloved dish drainer just found a new home. This is the one item I was particularly sad to part with. Back when we lived in SF it was an integral part of life. Sadly, our kitchen here was designed by the idiot POs and there is just no space for it near the sink. (Which has led to several iterations to find a solution that would work; you can read those tales here and here.)
An odd item not found in most homes: a stand for the boys we had back up at the house in SF. They really prefer something they can climb up upon from floor level, so this was donated to Mickaboo, a local parrot rescue organization.
And there is the door–something that I have had no luck finding a use or a new home for. It was originally the fourth entryway into the studio building, but we removed it because it was badly installed and superfluous. It has been sitting in the old tack room for the last few years, along with the original “windows” that weren’t actually proper windows–yes, another one of the previous owners’ stupid bandaids.
And finally, an item I tried to recycle but failed and thus will probably end up in a dumpster. When Agent Smith and I cleaned the studio building a few weeks ago, I made the suggestion that we pull out one of the wine racks. Here are the results, and as you’ll probably agree, the extra space in the wine/server room is rather nice. I might even have to find something to hang on the now-blank wall to liven up the space.
