1176 Reduce, reuse and resell

That seems to be the latest in decorating for rich people according to an article in today's WSJ. "Architectural salvage" is the fancy name of this decorating style. Big deal. I've been doing that all my life. Last night I ironed a white table cloth I got for a wedding present in 1960. It fits the glass top dining room table I bought in 1993 to go with the six chairs I bought at a yard sale. I knew when I opened the gift 45 years ago that it couldn't match the quality of my mother's linen table cloths. Those were government issue and of exceptional quality. When my father's ship was decommissioned after WWII he noticed that things were being dumped. So he brought home a very long linen table cloth--I think if you looked closely at the woven design you could see either a Navy or Marine emblem. Anyway, my mother cut it up and hemmed it into three very nice full size linen table cloths. She also cut up my father's uniforms and made clothes for my little brother. That was in the days of "use it up" values.

As I look around the house I don't see much of what the article described, except I'm using a South Hannah Avenue street sign in the guest room as a childhood memento and some children's books from the 1930s as artistic displays. My brother-in-law Bob is a dumpster diver. On trash day he rides around the neighborhood and picks up small appliances, old bicycles, lawn chairs and boom boxes, takes them home and fixes them, and usually just gives them away. I wonder if he's ever thought of selling anything?