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Neighborhood: Williamsburg
“Recycling was just something we did growing up,” explains design junkie Tiffany Threadgould. This childhood habit led her to start RePlayGround (replayground.com), a company dedicated to turning discarded materials into new and useful objects, and write a DIY recycling book series, This Into That. We got up in the wee hours of the morning to rummage through the trash with her in a race against the garbage truck.
Score No. 1: Conselyea Street near Union Avenue
Clearly on a mission, Threadgould walks slowly, scanning trash piles for anything interesting and reusable. She’s immediately drawn to a wire children’s bed frame. She picks it up and examines it more closely. Threadgould deems this find great for organizing notes, bills and important papers. “Hang the frame on a wall like a corkboard and intertwine the pages between the wires,” she suggests. Genius!
Score No. 2: Conselyea Street between Union Avenue and Lorimer Street
“That’s great fabric,” Threadgould says, pointing at an old, rust-colored armchair. It looks pretty gross, but she assures us that, after a good washing, the fabric would make a custom seat cushion to go on top of a nearby milk crate and, voilà, extra seating.
Score No. 3: Conselyea Street at Lorimer Street
Threadgould spots a shiny chrome dish rack peeking out from an open trash bag. ῠYou can use this as a mail sorter.” She suggests reserving the area where large dinner plates normally go for envelopes and using the flat surface as a place to keep catalogs and magazines in check.
Score No. 4: Union Avenue at Leonard Street
People throw out a lot of crazy stuff but it was still sad when we stumbled upon an entire library of unwanted books. Threadgould came up with a stellar solution: a waste bin. She opens two books and stands them up facing one another, creating a rectangle. ῠWith a little bookbinding glue to attach the books and a base at the bottom, this makes a perfect place to throw paper to be recycled,” she says.
Score No. 5: Conselyea Street at Manhattan Avenue
Threadgould spots an oscillating desk fan coated in thick dirt. Clearly psyched about the find, she takes off the wire cage and pulls out the three fan blades. ῠThis would make a great clock! Paint each fan blade, throw some numbers on there and hang it on the wall.” And don’t forget about the wire cage that can be painted and used as a fruit bowl. The fruits of our labor include a fruit bowl! This pun is way funnier to us than it should be. Worried we’re losing our minds, we switch the hunt from garbage to caffeinated coffee.
Tina
Tue, Sep 23, 08, at 10:44am
What about the bedbug problem? I used to love picking through furniture on the street, but have been wary with the bedbug explosion. Advice?
