The Oscars trash is another person's treasure. The red carpet may be rolled up after the award show, but one Los Angeles woman used a piece of it to give her apartment a touch of Hollywood flair.
Paige Thalia said the inspiration to go dumpster diving the morning after the awards show came pretty soon after moving into her apartment a few weeks ago.
"Rugs are so expensive," Thalia said. "I was walking my dog a couple of nights before the Oscars. They were setting up. I just had an idea that maybe they need to get rid of the carpet at the end of the day."
The morning after the Oscars, the production assistant walked about half a mile from her apartment to about a block past the Dolby Theatre and noticed rolls of carpet in a dumpster.
"I just asked the first person I made eye contact with, 'Can I take a piece of that?' She said, 'Sure,'" Thalia said. "She probably thought I meant a very small memento."
Thalia had no idea that the carpet would become one of the funniest days of her life.
"I was taking videos of myself because it was the most bizarre thing to be walking down the street with a carpet in general, let alone the red carpet," Thalia said. "I thought it would get 1,000 views and that was going to be cool, but one of the videos is over 5 million."
Her hunt for a new centerpiece for her apartment turned into a story that tons of people have seen, including an Oscar winner at the most recent ceremony.
"Someone from 'All the Empty Rooms' reached out and he wanted a piece for himself," Thalia said. "Then he also asked if I had some extra pieces. Pieces he could send to the director and some of the other teams, and I think of all the productions, that's a pretty important one that I would love to share."
Thalia said it will always make for a funny story to tell at housewarmings and dinner parties, but for the lifelong Oscars fan, it's the kind of only-in-LA moment that makes the city feel a little more magical.
"Hopefully, one day, I'm standing on the red carpet where it's installed, not in my house," she said. "But, for now, this is good."
The Academy said the Oscars red carpet is made from recycled materials and recycled again after the event. They added that about 95% of the carpet was returned to the vendor while the remaining material was set aside for waste diversion.