F is for Furniture and More

 You may remember that we had difficulty finding a place to donate old items from our kitchen because they were considered too old even though they worked well. It was disappointing, but I understood that the thrift stores we tried couldn't afford to fill their space with things that wouldn't sell. Then our contractor mentioned Second Chance in Baltimore which takes building materials, appliances, etc. and suggested we check them out. A quick call confirmed that they would accept our items for donation, so one Saturday, when Wally was visiting, he and Ward took a van full of things there. They came back with great tales of how it was much more than a thrift store. It was like a Habitat for Humanity Restore on steroids. I was fascinated by what they had seen and said I wanted to see it sometime. However, it's about an hour away in a place we don't go to, so I didn't know when that would happen. But we made it happen last weekend. 

After our afternoon with Wally, Ward and I ventured into Baltimore to go to the Second Chance Store. The Second Chance organization was started in 2001 to provide job training and jobs for people in need. As part of that, one of the things the organization does is to dismantle buildings, including mansions, which gives them quite a variety of items to sell in the store.

The store takes up an entire city block in the old warehouse district, and there are fascinating things to see everywhere you look. If it's ever been in or around a building, you could find it there. We saw conference room tables, hotel couches, stone fireplaces, antique doorknobs, lumber, tiles, paving stones, kitchens, appliances, etc. And what made it so interesting was that there were grand things that had been rescued from mansions among the mundane. When I walked in the door, I was like a ping-pong ball bouncing from one amazing thing to the next. I was too busy finding new things to examine that I didn't get many pictures, but here are a few that I did take.

You can't see from this distance, but the entire front of the building was lined with building stones, bricks, outdoor sculptures, and more.

In the vast area, we actually found one of the things we donated,
this light fixture from our dining room, now office. 

Our light was quite the contrast to these solid mahogany carved doors that were priced at $17,500. There were so many beautiful doors that had been recovered from some fancy houses.

Or how about some friezes for your building?

I had to get a picture of this left-handed school desk among the sea of right-handed ones because it took me back to my school days. As a left-hander, I appreciated having a desk like this anytime I could because they were few and far between.

We will definitely be returning to Second Chance sometime, and I will try to get more pictures of its wares then.

But wait, there's more!

F is for Food photos.

In my D post, I mentioned that I didn't get pictures of Wally and Ward's meals. Well, they hadn't loaded yet, so I found them later. So for the sake of completeness, here are more food photos. :)

Ward had a steak with grilled Brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes, topped with onion rings.

Wally had shepherd's pie.