The Highboy

I love NY! Sloan are I text the night before our job. We are excited to be working together for one of our favorite New York City real estate brokers. The three of us meet under the awning in front of the building. It is a pretty nice address off of Park Street.

The real estate broker lets us into the apartment. Her close friend, Mrs. Fahey, had lived in the apartment for decades. Mrs. Fahey passed a few months prior. She had two adult children who had already gone through the entire home, taking what they wanted. Sloan and I were tasked with emptying out all of the contents of the home, except the furniture, so that the home could be listed for sale.

After showing us the home, the broker bids us ado. Sloan and I get to work. We ordered some small and medium sized cardboard boxes, packing paper and moving tape which were sent to the building ahead of time. We will use the boxes to pack up the breakables that will be donated.

I start in the kitchen. The first thing that I see is a copious set of Ralph Lauren crystal high ball and old-fashioned glasses. There must be eighty of them! I wrap these up delicately with packing paper and I place them gently into a small box. Three sets of china. Lots of wine glasses. Red wine glasses, white wine glasses, champagne glasses. A life well lived! Cheers!

Straws, old ketchup and mustard packets, and the stained Tupperware sets all get thrown out. We usually employ the Junk Team, a nationwide hauling company, to collect all of the true garbage and the donations from our projects. They are great to work with as they sell anything that has value. The proceeds from the sales go to Habitat for Humanity. Win-win!

I get bored in the kitchen. I head over to one of the small bedrooms. The fading and tired wallpaper is coming apart in some areas. A pair of twin beds with pale pink duvet covers are covered with clear plastic bins of boxed sets of stationery. There is enough Crane and Smythson of Bond Street stationery to write notes for months!

I open up the custom built-in drawers along the interior wall. Instead of clothing, the drawers are filled with pretty tissue paper in every color. Grosgrain, satin and velvet ribbons. Small gift boxes. More card sets. On the floor of the bedroom closet stands rolls and rolls of gift wrap. I quickly place everything into large, clear plastic bags for the Junk Team.

I am able to clean up the bathroom in this bedroom pretty quickly. I throw out the old soap, toilet bowl scrub brush, and the shampoo and conditioner that are in the shower. I save the Matouk bath mat with the pretty pink ribbon detail and the white wicker waste basket for donations.

I join Sloan in the primary bedroom down the narrow hall. Sloan is packing up all of the paperback romance novels in the bookshelves. There are quite a few Danielle Steele books.

I gather the multitude of sweaters in the closets. One entire wall of the primary bedroom is made up of custom built closets. There are shelves upon shelves of sweaters. A lot of solid colored cardigans.

The smaller closet in the primary bedroom is full of glamorous, full length dresses. Sloan and I concur that Mrs. Fahey must have been an opera lover. There are also Belgian Shoes in every color and fabric. Black leather Belgian shoes, black velvet Belgian shoes. Several new pairs remain unworn, asleep in their boxes.

The only remaining area to clear out in this bedroom is the handsome, wooden highboy. I begin removing all of the pajama sets. The undergarments and slips come out next. I come across small Ziploc bags of gold jewelry. Sloan! "Look at this!" I exclaim. I dig deeper into the drawer. I am up to my elbow in rolled up stockings. I pull out Ziploc bags of foreign exchange, US currency and more jewelry. Passports, checkbooks and coins are also buried in this one drawer.

We cannot believe what we have found, hidden amongst the nude brassieres and nylon stockings was a hidden gold mine. We gather all of these valuable items and place them neatly into one of the small boxes. We place the box in the corner of the dining room.

We are so thankful that we took the time to carefully go through all of the undergarments and stockings. Otherwise, lots of valuables might have been thrown out! I suppose the Junk Team crew would have been content to encounter the hidden treasures.