You don't have to remind Lisa Martin that one man's trash is another man's treasure. She's filled her house and garden with treasures that others were done with and had set outside for the trash man to collect.

BOBBY SANCHEZ/Special Contributor

This bench found a second life as a plant stand.

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The Dallas woman regularly hunts for gems on the curbside ahead of bulk trash-collection days. And she's hardly alone.

"When you pull up to a pile of stuff at the same time as someone else, you just both end up laughing knowing that you're both doing the same thing."

Martin knows what she's doing. She's made a habit of salvaging pieces over the past several years.

"It becomes a bit of an obsession," she says. "It's the hunt that's fun. There are times you think you'll just drive around one block, and the next thing you know it's three hours later."

Among her favorite finds is a buffet from the 1940s that she came across in Oak Cliff in front of a house that was being demolished. When she originally found the piece, she had envisioned refinishing it, but once it was in her dining room she liked its beat-up, worn look.

"I love it for its age and its history," Martin says. "It's fun to think about who used this in the past and what they used it for."

But it's not just big pieces that Martin brings back to her White Rock-area home. Her backyard is full of plant stands, garden statues and old windows she found while scouting.

"All of my planters came from someone else's trash."

She's hung the old windows, which she says she looks for at the site of teardown houses or when homeowners are replacing theirs, along her fence to create a unique look.

BOBBY SANCHEZ/Special Contributor

When she first spotted this buffet, Martin planned to refinish it. But she grew to love the dings of age.

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And nearly every year, Martin hauls home a new wooden bench to put in the back yard. "Every spring, there's always lots of benches and lawn and patio furniture to be had."

Some of the benches she's brought home have had to be shored up and painted, "but when you're getting them for free, what's a little work?" Martin says.

Martin doesn't get too worked up when something breaks or needs to be replaced.

"Some of this stuff is so old that it just doesn't last, but that just means you go out again and see what kind of stuff you can find on bulk trash day to replace it."

Next week: Janis Adams puts some elbow grease into renovating her curbside treasures.

Check out your city's Web site to find out when bulk-trash collection day is and how early residents can start setting out their discards. Dallas picks up by neighborhood, and residents can set out items almost a week ahead of time. Lisa Martin's favorite Dallas neighborhoods to scour are in East Dallas, where bulk trash pickup is the third Thursday of every month. Dallas' collection days are posted at www.dallascityhall.com/sanitation/sanitation.html.

BOBBY SANCHEZ/Special Contributor

A birdhouse: Still good enough for birds.

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Leave things the way you found them. While people can't be surprised that others are checking out their castoffs, be careful not to make them mad by leaving a mess. Pile things back up in stacks after you make decisions about what you'll keep for yourself.

Don't be so quick to judge. Give items a thorough once-over before making a decision. Consider an item's potential with a new coat of paint, a use beyond its traditional purpose or at least a good scrub-down.

Be realistic. Don't haul items home with ambitious rehab plans that you don't have the skills or time to complete.

Don't give it a second thought. If you spy something that looks interesting, stop right then and there. If you drive off to think about it and leave it, chances are it won't be there when you come back. The good stuff always goes quickly.

Pay attention to garage sales in the neighborhood. Often what doesn't sell gets set out on the curb, free for the taking.

Spring is prime hunting time, experienced treasure-hunters say. The spring-cleaning spirit inspires jettisoning items that still have plenty of life left. Although spring is busy season, people set old pieces out year-round.