Digging for Dumpster Treasure with Redoux
Welcome Karan from Redoux Interiors!
She’s the go to girl for bringing new life to old furniture.
And, who can resist a gal who holds an 80’s prom party!
Her tetnus shots are up to date (hopefully) and she’s ready to roll …
Hi there, I am Karen from Redoux Interiors, aka, “Good Time Charlie”
I am so honored Kelly asked asked me to guest post for her here at Eclectically Vintage. I first met Kelly when I saw her AMAZING kitchen reveal. I poured over the details like an art appraiser pours over a work of art. I was so in love. Then I noticed we had the exact same sink, and well, it isn’t a mass produced sink, so I thought that was quite fun…..after this, we realized we had so much in common. I even have a matching set of twins to go with Kelly’s!
Kelly and I both have a love for restoring old things, and even more, just junk in general. If you have been by my blog before, then you might know I have penchant for dumpster diving (this is a massive understatement). No, let’s say I have a bit of an addiction, like I need a fix several times a week. When I say “Dumpster Diving”, I don’t mean actually climbing in the dumpster. Which I am proud, to say, I have never actually done! There is almost always something really good on top, around it, or even nearby.
In all the times I have been scouring for “free” stuff, I have found some amazing things. Furniture, doors, Lots of Cabinet doors (great for making chalkboards), and most of all, scrap wood. SCRAP WOOD? Now you might be asking yourself, why would that be appealing. I love scrap wood because I use it to make signs, top old furniture, build out something, use for sampling paint colors, etc. My favorite thing to find is reclaimed wood, like this pile I found yesterday. There was so much of it, it took me a good half hour just to put it in my car!
On one of my really successful junking adventures, I came across this:
Now as if that wasn’t good enough, there was a HUGE pile of wood, 2x2s, 2x4s, and lots and lots of boards. Of course, I took them all.
Why do I find so many building materials? Beats me, but they seem to find me. Just tonight, on a quick “research” trip for this post, I swung by my favorite dumpster in town. Mostly it looked like someone had ripped out their yard and thrown it all in the dumpster, but on top, there was a big cardboard box. I of course had to look inside:
Good thing my flash was working on my camera phone, BUILDING MATERIALS!!
This is what I ended up taking home:
Now, back to that pile of 2x2s, etc. I have had an old sewing table for some time now that was ear marked to be used as my new nightstand. I have a chair for a nightstand. I don’t know why, I put it there 5 years ago, and now it has become one with my room. We are in the middle of slowwwwwly redouxing our Master Bedroom, so it was time for a real bedside table.
Here is sewing table before (picture is old too)
I had the idea to use a selection of my scrap wood to make a mini “plank topped table”. If you want to see another version of this I have done, you can click HERE.
Here is what I started with: 
I arranged them on the table until I had the right “fit”, then cut each piece approximately the same length. I left a little variation to add character. I didn’t want it to look too perfect. I adhered them to my table with Gorilla Glue Wood Glue and evenly spaced wood screws to hold them in all place, then I went back over the screws and filled them in with wood filler.
Now for the fun part. After sanding them all smooth….
I applied three coats of Antique Walnut Stain. When this was completely dry. I painted one coat of CeCe Caldwell’s 1/2 Seattle Mist and 1/2 Vintage White, to get the perfect light grey I was looking for. Once this was dry, I waxed the top with Myland’s Furniture Wax (very dark wax), and the body of the piece with CeCe Caldwell’s all natural wax.
This is the result of how my “free to me” planks look up close:
I added some fun knobs I had on hand….
Not bad for almost free! The moral of the story here is, don’t turn your nose up at a dumpster, it probably doesn’t smell, and even better, it probably has something good inside it!
For more information on how I did this in detail, check my blog Monday for the complete tutorial!
Thanks Karen for stopping by!
For Dumpster Diving tips and tricks, read Karen’s post here.
Gotta love a junkin chic! I know I love to junk and thrift too! She does some awesome work! Have a great day ladies.
that desk is awesome! love the color, planked top, hardware! i think karen is a genius and i want to dig in trash with her.
Let’s all have a trash digging play date! I’ll bring the tetnus shots!
That sewing table upgrade is totally awesome. I love the mismatched glass knobs. Now, I feel like I need to just drive around looking into dumpsters. Picture me on my scooter with piles of building materials balanced haphazardly at my feet. 🙂
I just picked up an old sewing table (with machine) at church rummage. Now I am wishing I had picked up the other empty table as well. Could have had both for $5 total. Almost as good as dumpster diving.
(and I am not afraid to climb in, if I am with someone I trust to help me back out.)
$5!! What a deal – I’m sure next time you’ll buy first, question yourself later!
I’d be afraid my hubs wouldn’t help me back out of that dumpster – if it meant I was bringing more “stuff” into the house!
I am slowly converting the husband’s thinking but, yup, there are times I think he would leave me there.
I’m a dumpster scavenger from WAY back and this sort of thing just confirms I’ve been on the right track all along! I love it. Beautifully done!
Thank you so much for having me here Kelly! I love that there are so many dumpster devotees out there! And yes, let’s have a dumpster play date soon. We just won’t plan on doing lunch there. -K
Wow, I totally didn’t see that coming – Karan’s “new” table looks nothing at all like the original sewing machine table! Love how she re-purposed the old wood scraps to make a new top for the table, and the wood top looks great with the grey that she painted the rest of the table. The new knobs are the perfect finishing touch 🙂
That’s really cool! I love dumpster diving too! 🙂
The pixie ninja strikes again! FANTASTIC table Karen. It looks so good! Awesome score on the wood scrap too. Those chunky pieces are expensive!! I swear, that is the dumpster that keeps on giving. I can’t wait to see what you do with that aged wood. THAT was a great find.
Awesome makeover 🙂 it looks great! You are the queen of dumpster diving!
Debbie
What a great idea..how many sewing machines have we seen over the years…100’s I’m sure. I’m looking for a way to take my granny’s old singer machine table and add a new sewing machine to it…not going to be so easy. 🙂 If anyone runs across a way to hide a new sewing machine in an old table please share.
Oh man! She has found so much good stuff! Maybe I need to start dumpster diving!
That is a WONDERFUL Night stand! We LOVE scavenging our building materials for re-purposing….When my boys were little they used to collect ALL they could and had a birdhouse business…
I LOVE,LOVE,LOVE you ingenuity and know how to be able to envision a future for scraps.
Keep up the GREAT WORK!
Have a wonderful fun weekend,
Donna
Wow, love that table! I definately have got to do more dumpster diving. I never see anything cool outside of one. Maybe I am not looking hard enough. Great job!
Hugs,
Jann
LOVE that trunk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So fabulous, great finds!
Oh my gosh I pretty much adore this !! I am totally not going to be passing up sewing machine cabinets anymore 🙂
I’ll be on the lookout right along with you – hopefully we don’t spot the same one at the same time!
Nice saves…I too save all the wood I can…you never know. I love the redo on the sewing table…great job!