Ever picked up furniture from the street?

I've never found furniture on the street but I'm sure should such an opportunity present itself I wouldn't hesitate to load whatever I found onto my pick-up truck should such an opportunity present itself. Even if you don't need it, you could after doing any repairs needed, resell it = Free $$$

 

I'm surprised that people don't try to sell their good pieces of furniture instead of just unloading them on the street. Well, it's great for the rest of us who get to score some free furniture. I would only do it if the furniture had a hard surface that I can sanitize, not like a couch that may have bugs in it or something. Who knows where it's been.

 

A couple of years ago the frame of my sette broke and was beyond repair. We continued to use it as we had no money to buy anything else. A week later, a couple moved into a fully furnished rented house down the street. They had also been given a new settee by their parents. They just dumped one of them on the street, waiting for garbage collection day. I knocked on the door and asked if they minded if I took it. I got two years of good use out of that settee.

 

Yes, I have found several nice pieces at the curb-side! My best "found" piece is an solid oak side table with nice rounded edges and a little drawer underneath the top piece. It's hard to describe and it looks home-made, but it's lovely. I found it on the side of the road about ten years ago. It was placed at the curb next to the home's garbage can and had some small boxes of junk sitting on top of it! I couldn't believe someone would just toss such a nice table. I use it to this day!

I live near a college town and I have also found a desk and a desk chair and several book cases over the years. It pays to drive around at the end of the semester in this area.

 

Yes, I have picked up furniture that people were getting rid of. My mother had a couch for 7 years in her living room and we all spend entire summers sitting on it. She got it off the side of the road when the neighbors were tossing it. My girlfriend recently found out she was going to get rid of it and buy herself a new one and she came and picked it up for her house! One mans junk is another mans treasure.

 

I did when I was younger and was living in a village. We never had good expensive kind of furniture those day so finding one we thought was good really made us happy haha!

But nowadays I rarely see anybody dumping their unused furniture outside, most of them just sell it right away to earn half of the money they spent on getting the furniture.

 

People dump furniture outside and put a "Curb Aler" on craigslist for it. Personally, I would never pick up furniture that was outdoors. Especially if there is rain or snow it's almost certain to have mold or mildew. Not to mention there would be a lot of bugs and other critters that I would not want inside my house.

 

I am always on the lookout for furniture on the side of the street! I am a bit wary of bedbugs and things, however, but if the house looks nice and the furniture looks decent, I don't really care. "Curb alerts" on Craigslist are SUPER common around where I live, so that's how I find out about a lot of good steals.

 

We have found some usable items on the street as well. We do not get anything that is like a couch or mattress, because of the bug situation, but all wood items are great to haul home. My husband likes to putter around in the shop and build things out of some of the wood that we find and bring home.
Recently, we came across a headboard and footboard for a twin bed; and he was able to use the pieces to make a pretty little garden bench with.

 

So far I have never seen any unwanted furniture that was dumped on the street, if ever I did, then I would probably get it so that I could use or resell it. I think people in 3rd world countries don't just dump valuable stuff on the street unlike other 1st world countries. I know in Korea or Japan people just throw away perfectly working phones just because it's not a new model anymore.

 

My wife is a bit of a Thrift Store / Garage sale shopper and in time I sort of picked up on it myself. So I really love keeping an eye out for gems.
I certainly take an extra look when I see free items on the street, but rarely do I pick something up. The rare instance that I have was actually for a bissel vacuum. Took a small minor repair, but works great every since.

As for furniture, I wouldn't touch a mattress or a couch more-so in fear of bed bugs and alike. However, wooden tables or something of that sort may be worth grabbing.

 

Yes. I have picked up some tables, shelves, and desks. I would never pick up a couch or bed. Too scary!

 

I picked a lot of furniture pieces from the street. I'm mainly interested in tables and old closets that I re-purpose for my garden and garage. In some I store my tools or unwanted stuff, on others I place potted plants or design elements to make our garden nicer. Most times the things I find need no fixing but sometimes they're in need of a little paint here and there to look nicer. So yeah, picking old furniture is a great way to save some money and a few trees!

 

You have to be incredibly careful with this sort of thing. Those things might have been thrown out for good reason, so be careful that you're not picking up bed bug or termite infested furniture while you're getting these supposedly amazing deals

 

Yup, that's exactly how you get bed bugs. I've had bed bugs before when I lived in the last apartment. Of course it was not my doing but I'm pretty sure that's how other people infested the complex. They are a living nightmare. I'm getting itchy just thinking about it *shudders*
I guess I can see the point for furniture with hard surfaces like dressers or tables because we have gotten things like that before and have been fine but I would still not take these items lightly.

 

Also, we have picked up several yard equipment pieces. We picked up 2 lawn mowers, a weed eater, a leaf blower, and a chainsaw. They were not running, but my husband fixed them up. Most of them just needed new lines or a good cleaning.

 

I'm with Mayvin. I'd also only pick it up if it were the type of furniture I can sanitize properly and I can be sure won't be filled with germs or bugs. I've never really had an opportunity to pick up furniture off the street, though, as the closest I've seen second hand furniture was at a discount / surplus store, in which case I'd also pretty much have the same rules. As long as the surface can be wiped clean and there aren't too many nooks and crannies where germs or bugs can fester, I wouldn't be too against picking up someone else's furniture.

 

I would be weary of picking up furniture from the streets.A friend picked up a nice desk off the street about nine months ago. He worked at the desk every day and night for the whole nine months and never had any bites or itches. But, recently, he found out the house that the desk was in front of had bed bugs now. Now it dawned on him that the previous tenant who put the desk out there probably had the same problem. He talked to a pest control company and they said that it is most likely infested. Just because he hadn't had any bites yet, doesn't mean that they aren't there. Once they checked, they found a sizable infestation. He got his house fumigated last week. He spent more on pest control than he would have than just buying a new desk. Not to mention the amount of time he wasted.

So, be careful when you pick up things from the street. If they are on the street, then there is probably a good reason why someone put it there, than just being 'old'.

 

One of my favorite tables was picked up from the curb on trash day. My mom washed it. Then she used Murphy's oil soap, since it was a solid piece of wood. It dried in the back yard for a few days. Then she painted it fire engine red. I have an expensive Ethan Allen set that I placed in my study. That red colored table fits in nicely with that expensive furniture.