Tag Archives: nostalgia

It’s a Book Case My Dear Watson

We’ve got to have those.  Dump them in the garage.  From cherished find to not quite ready to throw away item, so goes the story of some of life’s possesions.  This is the tale of one of them.

Fruit crates similar to ours

Fruit crates similar to ours

Sometime after we moved to San Clemente in early 1970, we found a number of wood slat fruit crates behind a market.  My wife had read somewhere how these trash dump bound items could be converted into home decor items, evidence that upcycling was happening before the term was ever coined.

After getting the stores permission, the crates became ours and soon found there way into our home.  Over the years, we used them as book cases, display shelves, a place to store record albums and much more.  They changed colors and moved around the house but were as much a part of the family as our cats…only they didn’t require food or visits to the vet.

When we moved to Hercules, seven homes and over 15 years later, they made the trip with us but no longer as furnishings.  We may even have sold a few at the pre-move garage sales we held but we certainly didn’t prize them anymore as classy (or even quaint) items.  They ended up in the garage and have lived there ever since.

Me and my son and our fruit crates

Me and my son and our fruit crates

Every once in a while, we’ll get a nostalgic wave and think about re-utilizing them inside but then ‘common sense’ (?) kicks in and they end up remaining where they landed over 30 years ago when the moving company unloaded the truck.

What’s your story of treasure to trash?