Surplus Sale Map Cabinet

Most of my friends have already endured my long and enthusiastic monologues about the virtues of the Salt Lake County surplus sale. Lisa and I discovered it while she was a librarian for the county and were hooked. In the past, I've purchased many typewriters, but I wasn't looking for anything in particular when we went to the latest sale. But I was excited.

Not many things at the surplus sale are in pristine condition, but it's all bargain priced. I once almost won an auction for a pallet of plastic "Vote Here" signs for $0.25. Luckily, someone outbid me and took them home for $0.50. See what I'm talking about here?

Anyway. I've been eyeing these IKEA drawers for a while:

I love long, skinny drawers that are waiting for stacks of paper. But I couldn't really justify the $120 price tag for something I didn't technically need. Lucky for me, the surplus sale knew my heart's desire.



I got a big 10 drawer map cabinet for $25, you guys. It has a few scratches from years of use, but it's sturdy and has tons of space. I was even a little charmed at first by the smudges around the handles. (But then I got over it and cleaned them off. There's nostalgia, and then there's dirt, right?)



I like imagining who used this cabinet before me.



And what exactly got stored in "Sub Limbo" or "Subs with Problems".



The key to finding a treasure at a surplus sale is that you don't go with plans to buy anything specific. Then you're sure to be pleasantly surprised by something like the perfect map cabinet. Even if you did have a slight meltdown when trying to visualize where it would fit in your home.

Since taking these photos, I've added new labels to the drawers I'm using. If you peek behind my paper labels, though, you'll see the labels that someone somewhere in a county office added. It seems right this way.