The Trash to Treasure Phenomenon By Dorothy Foltz-Gray HGTV Ideas magazine Pick any Saturday morning almost anywhere.
Cars line up at garage sales.
Parking lots transform into flea markets. Neighbors file past neighbors carrying old doors, baskets of dusty keys, embossed tin roofing. Americans are scouring for trashy treasures the way our forebears panned for gold. In fact, the pastime has a toehold on the American imagination that almost defies logic. Here we are, the richest consumers on earth, combing through salvage yards to furnish our living rooms.