Here are my musings on skip diving, and junk restoration!



Maybe it all stems from the fact that i'm a little old school, or at least i like the idea of old school, I really enjoy the flavour of old! Dont get me wrong, i'm not completly retro, i just really dig the way some stuff is still cool after centuries or decades, to me it shows real design. I also like that i have old stuff next to the new, showing that we have moved on, but that there is something to be said from the past, something about remembering, something that has stood the test of time! I think it's healthy to have things around me that were here before me and if i look after them properly will be here after i'm gone! Helpful reminders that my life here is but a blink, hopefully edging me on to make the most of every monent! I've blogged about this abit but old stuff tends to be well made, mostly becuse the consumer society was different. I like that, i always have! . . . . .  ok, thats the explination for why i like old stuff.

Old things in todays culture are'nt treated with much respect (people and products alike) are efectivly put on the side discarded and dumped for the new faster and better looking option! Thus . . . . . . . . . .  Great old products can be found in skips, second hand stores , ebay and charity stores. After a few years on the shelf, with no respect and no TLC these fine items of yester years begin to fade, loose there luster and are thrown out or sold for really cheap! unfortunitly by this stage they have been treated badly, left outside, thrown around, and are now chipped and damaged

And so here we are, I'm walking down the street and see an old discarded Gem. In that moment i try not to see what stands before me but instead, i look for the potential, thats right, you have to think about it, sqeeze the imagination a bit and all of a sudden !!!!! Oh my word i get all excited and think of the possibilities, dream of what it would look like when it was finnished or restored! It's not not very expensive to restore things but it does take time! It also takes alot out of me, i've spent days sanding and polishing things before, and people always thnk i'm crazy, they cant understand why i would pour all this effort into some old piece of junk. I've learnt now that you just have to keep going, keep sanding beacuse in a few weeks time they will ask you where you got your cool lamp.

I have lamps and tables and many more things that i have rescued. And every one of them is special, i'd be sad to to see them scratched beacuse i've sanded them myself, i'd be sad to see them thrown away after all the time spent polishing them. And i also find  that when someone complements them i get ten fold the satisfaction knowing that they're around becuse i saw the potential and put in the effort.


Why?

I suppose God is the ultimate restorer, he takes somethinng of little value and by the time he's done with it everybody marvells and steps back in wonder, you wouldnt think it possible but the project actually looks better for all its old scars, it's shows it's history and adds to the flavour. If i get this much enjoyment from sanding a table think of how much God enjoys restoring a life!!!!!!!

Challenge time, what was the last thing you fixed, mended or restored and how didi it feel?