It’s finally here! I look forward to this day all year, where the city comes by and picks up anything you want to get rid of off your boulevard and brings it to the dump for free, because it is FINALLY the chance to get rid of all the project waste we’ve collected over the year. It is always the first full week of May, and it’s only once a year, so we take full advantage of it every year.  Here’s what made the pile:

Carpet: We replaced all the carpet in the basement with laminate over Christmas break, and stored the rolls and underlayment outside in the snow since then. I have been diligently buying two boxes of flooring at a time (that’s how I afford big projects) for the main living room, so that carpet had to go too! Since most projects snowball, we also took out the carpet on the steps,so the balusters went too. Lastly, we found this gem under the linoleum and carpet, SO glad 70’s décor that resembles peas and carrots is dead.

The basement ceiling: there was a pretty dated dropped ceiling with black rails and white acoustical tile that had to go. Not only was the black and white combo making it feel dark and busy, the ceiling joists themselves are only 7′-6″h, instead of a standard 8 foot ceiling. By taking away another 4″ for the dropped ceiling, the room was dark and dungeon-like, especially with no natural light. We took out the tiles and tracks, and will be replacing with something lighter and brighter this summer:)

Wood: I have done a fair number of projects since last May, many consisting of wood, MDF, plywood, flooring, and all the bits and pieces that go with it. We try to burn the actual wood in our fireplace, but plywood and MDF have tons of chemicals that don’t do well when burnt. I seem to be always cleaning out the garage, but this time was particularly good. Once I unearthed the workbench, I realized I needed a different system for both my cutting board wood and clamps, since those always disappear at the bottom of the heap. I took some extra scrap and created these systems, all for free. Who says wood hoarding is terrible? (Ha! I have, many times)

All in all, with a bit more of an assortment of old furniture and pieces of garage stuff, we had a decent pile. Schenny gets a bit embarrassed by how big our pile is every year, because who wants your neighbors to see all your trash? I agree to some extent, but it’s an opportunity I can’t resist:)