Poplarves to offload stuff

I found these placemats at the tip shop. We had the exact same ones when I was growing up. They remind me of brussels sprouts being covertly concealed in napkins. Aaah, nostalgia.

And this sweet little pot. I found that in an op shop.

My father brought some figs around and I'm going to make this which I saw over at chez MMMC. And I have to copy everything she does.

This wall hanging was retrieved from father's garage. It used to hang in my childhood kitchen. I love it. For many reasons.

And this! This was also retrieved from puppah's garage. (Note the crepuscular light in this shot.)

It (and the two armchairs) will require new foam and fabric. I have no idea what kind of fabric. Maybe I'll sew some child smear-hardy calico just for the interim. From what I've seen people reupholstering Fler suites tend to remain faithful to the era's muted hues - greys, greens, blues.


image via

image via

But I'm tempted to go for something bold. Husbandido has suggested cerise. (I know! Who knew?) Any other suggestions?

Autumn in onkytown is rather stunning. The light, the turning leaves, the sunshiny days. There are quite a lot of poplars in these here parts. I love poplars.

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And my mind is turning, as it does at this time of year, to cashmere and US ebay.

I think I may buy these:

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Can you think of anything more luxurious and snoogly than cashmere knickers?

And socks. Some cashmere socks.

Playing along with Sophie

Tip Shopping in Canberra

I have recently posted in my blog about my experiences at Canberra's Tiny's Green Shed tip shops.

There are 2 tip shops in Canberra:

• Southside at the Resource Management Centre, Mugga Lane, Symonston, Canberra
• Northside at the Mitchell Resource Management Centre, Flemington Road, Mitchell, Canberra

They're open daily 7.30am-5pm except Christmas Day and Good Friday. For more information and maps, see the Tiny's Green Shed website.

My blog post on the Mitchell tip shop (including photos)

My blog post on the Mugga Lane tip shop (including photos)

Jindabyne tip shop

A late start on a trip to the snowfields resulted in Taph and I being able to visit the Jindabyne tip shop.

This is because it is only open on Sundays from 10am to 3pm.

That said, if you are in Jindabyne on a Sunday, it is well worth visiting.For a tip shop in a small town it has a good collection of stock, and was not as disappointing as the tip shops in some other towns.
We did not see the mobile op shop while we were there, but if it is still going, then Jindabyne has two occasional op shops.

If you are searching for it, the turnoff to the tip, and tip shop is here on google maps.

Yass tip shop – Epic fail

We paid a visit to the Yass tip shop. Usually you expect the tip shop in a country town to be a small operation, but make up for their lack of size with a good management policy, and friendly staff. Yass however was an epic fail. The photos below will show what I mean.

That being said, they did have a full on paper, glass, metal recycling facility, that I had a quick look at. And they have a nice stack of computer desks there, either assembled, or still in boxes, for $10 each.

If you look long enough ...

They say that if you look for long enough you will find anything at an op shop. On a wet Sunday Taph and I took a trip through the tip shops of Canberra.

We could not believe it when we saw this at Tinys green shed.

Looks like a coffee table, right.

That is want we thought, until we wondered why it would have three pairs of handles and screws on top.

Yep, it’s a coffin. We will add this to our list of things not to buy second hand.

Coastal Tip Shops

Taph and i have been down the coast researching op shops and other second hand dealers. We may put up a travelogue of our trip, but here is a quick post about some things that struck me.

Most of the op shops we visited were fairly neat and tidy inside. There was one we visited that looked like a bomb had hit it, but it was not aligned to any organisation.

Recently Vinnies and Salvos have been engaged in a corporate branding of their stores. This seems to be having an effect as most shops we visited were neat and tidy, and had a similar pricing, as they all wanted around $5 for shirts. I also noticed that Vinnies in Bega were attaching a coloured tag to the sleeve of their shirts. This maybe to enable them to turn stock over in a similar way to the coloured tags at Salvos stores.

We visited Shoalhaven, Eurobodalla and Bega Valley Shire areas. While we were not able to visit every tip in the region, all the tips we did visit had a tip shop attached to them. About 18 months ago we stopped at Cooma Landfill, and asked if they had a tip shop there? We were told that they did not, and when we drove past on Monday we saw nothing to say this had changed.

The links below will take you to the webpage showing the tip shops details for each Shire.

Shoalhaven Shire Landfills and Tip Shops

Eurobodalla Shire Landfills and Tip Shops

Bega Valley Shire Landfills and Tip Shops

Jindabyne now has a tip shop at its landfill. while i cannot find anything on the locals councils website about trading hours and location, they are looking for a better name for it, then the Jindabyne tip shop. The competition to name it closed on February 1 and when i hear what it will be called i will post something here about it.

This also means the next time i go skiing i will have to report back about it!

Tinys' Green Shed at Mugga tip.

I made a quick to Tinys' Green Shed during the week. He is still in the process of setting up so he has limited stock. However his prices seem reasonable, as he charged me $5 for an armful of stuff i was carrying and i heard I say $40 for a Fulton Sofa to another customer.
But one thing caught my eye. Stuck on a wall next to the cash register was this sign:
In case you cannot see the text, it says,
Tiny's Green Shed Ebay policy

• As you are aware, some items that we find only have a limited localmarket here in Canberra.
• The items chosen for Ebay will stay in the shed for one week, with an estimated price on them. If you would like to purchase the item, you may do so at the estimated price. If you think the Estimated price is too high, then you are most welcome to bid on it on Ebay: Tinysgreenshed.
• If you are the successful bidder you may collect the items in person from Tiny's Green Shed.

So Tiny is open about it. He will be selling the better bits on Ebay. This was a claim that was made against the previous Tip Face Salvage operators in Canberra, but I could never find any proof.

Mugga Tip shop to reopen

I paid a visit to the Mugga Way tip shop, and saw this sign outside. I must put January 6 in my diary.

Bywong tip shop

Taph and I headed out of town on Saturday. As we were driving along Macs Reef road I noticed the sign for the landfill (Garbage tip) there. I remembered that years ago there was a tip shop there, so we swung the car around and went to check it out.

Their range was fairly limited (it is only a small tip) and we have no idea as to what their prices are like as the attendant was up at the tip face (once again, it is only a small tip and we could only see one guy working there).

It is open Thursday to Sunday and keeps the usual tip hours (7:30 am to 4 pm).

It is the Bywong local tip and is located 5 kms along Macs Reef road (from the federal highway end). The turnoff is just before Banker road. According to Google maps the GPS coordinates are -35.184191,149.299393