SEEKING SIMPLICITY

UPDATE: CHAIR GONE!

5:00 pm, chair taken. However, now there's a quite nice pink play kitchen there.

SAVE THIS CHAIR!

Walking Theo to school today, I made a effort to hit all the usual very-important neighborhood landmarks between here and not-that-far-away:

1. Miniature Brooklyn Bridge around the tree base, lovingly crafted by someone out of plywood,  wire and nails. Kudos to whomever did this, it's not even the only one - and the kids love it. 
2. Giant dead tree completely covered with ivy that is constantly in motion from the thousands of birds it houses. We call this one 'the bird airport' since they are forever landing and taking off.
3. Dentist where Olivia goes and Theo will someday have to go. Not so much fun, but better to get used to the idea now....
4. Front yard fish pond with three medium-sized very coy koi fish in it. (Yesterday spotted parts of all three, today only one tail).
5. Fairy garden. (If you live near nere, you know what I'm talking about.)
6. Any of the diggers/dumptrucks/dumpsters/cranes that happen to be in action in the neighborhood at any given time. 
7. Mindboggling Smart car often parked on President Street that turns from purple to green and back again as you walk past it. Today was a banner day, because just as Theo was wondering where it was, it DROVE PAST US changing color all the way. The small coincidences and joys of a little boy's morning are what makes it fun...

Anyway, on the way back, I passed down Clinton Street, and between President and Carroll, about the middle of the block, where someone has put a bentwood rocker out with the trash.  It's not the most beautiful chair in the world, as is, and would not match just any style of decor, but it's not broken, very solid, and certainly is not ready for the landfill. 

THIS MAKES ME CRAZY.

I tend to come up with these great schemes for how I can reclaim things, or fix them, and used to invent any excuse to drag home something that I thought was still good. I've learned that this is just a way to bury myself in more things than I have time to fix or even use, so I've learned to resist 'rescuing' anything but those things that don't need work. And I'm really not that great with paint, and don't want to be around chemicals for stripping varnish. HOWEVER, I can imagine this chair as a beauty. Though currently nondescript brown bent press-wood, with old tan worn velvet seats, I can picture it stripped, and repainted with a bright eye-popping color of varnish (orange?), reupholstered in a funky bold print fabric (Marimekko?) - it would be modern, fun, and an incredible room accent. (Did I mention that it was solid and seemed to be rocking just fine?) Someone should rescue this chair and make it a centerpiece of their living room! The right person could possibly turn it into a very marketable piece of furniture.

I know my limitations, both in craftiness and in amount of storage space, so I had to walk on by and leave it there, but I could not resist letting others know that it's there...just waiting for a new life. 

This brings me, I guess, to the point of this whole story, which is that I think we all need to make more of an effort to think before we throw away things. Because I believe in keeping down clutter and not having more than is needed in your space, I do think it's a positive action to get rid of things, but simply getting rid of them without being mindful of how is not quite the same, is it? With a fairly small effort, the owner of that chair could have not only put it into the hands of someone who wanted it, and could make it lovely again, but also had them pick it up and take it away for them.They wouldn't have even had to carry it to the curb!

There are numerous obvious resources available to help us accomplish this, especially in a large urban area like Brooklyn. Two very good methods that work incredibly well for me are my neighborhood family listserv, my local area "Freecycle" group (a Yahoo user group) and school or classroom listservs are also good. These kinds of groups are easy enough to join, and I find that with minimal effort you can post information about the items you are looking to get rid of (or sell), and there will likely be more takers than you can accommodate. It is NOT without some occasional inconvenience, and you have to be willing to communicate and interact with strangers, but this is the price I think we should all be willing to pay to reduce, reuse and recycle instead of mindlessly contributing to the growing piles of waste. In addition to those community-based listservs, I've found that simply asking around in your own close circle of friends and acquaintances (class list, your apartment building, FB friends) is another great way to find homes for your no-longer-wanted or needed items. 

Another really fantastic website, Krrb, allows you to buy, sell, giveaway, and trade. I'm reposting a terrific video from their blog about stripping paint. (See...takes me back to that amazing bentwood rocker!...someone please do it!)

Link here: http://krrb.com/

Earlier today I found that there is also a website called "Curbalert" and I got very excited because that would be PERFECT, right? However, I don't think the site is working very well, or at all, so I'll reserve judgement on that. Perhaps I should start my own?

I would not recommend Craigslist as an ideal method of getting rid of stuff, because I believe it's gotten a little watered down in its effectiveness. It might be great for some things ('best of column', 'missed connections'), but anytime I've tried to sell or give away anything on Craigslist, there's a little too much crazy-factor in the responses for my taste. If that doesn't bother you, I'm sure plenty of people will ask for your stuff for free from Craigslist too. But please, don't let them into your house. (Joke?) 

Happy recycling!