Seat of a rocking chair colorfully painted by Trashmagination - decorated with vegetables - called the Vege-chair

Furniture Upcycling

When you see furniture curbside, do you wish you could bring it back to life? In this episode, we’ll explore stories of people who are building community through discarded furniture.

You can listen to my original podcast episode on furniture upcycling from November 2019 in this YouTube video:

Here’s a photo of a rocking chair that I painted with my then-boyfriend, now-husband. We called it the “Vege-chair” – a play-on-words for “vegetable.”

Rocking chair colorfully painted with vegetables - called the Vegechair
Rocking chair colorfully painted by Trashmagination – decorated with vegetables – called the Vege-chair

Community Builders

Grumpy Old Men Enterprises in New Zealand

Senior’s home in North Wales where people with dementia fix up furniture

Finished for Good – a volunteer who refinishes furniture to donate to Habitat for Humanity ReStores

Perennial – a community workshop that made public seating from salvaged furniture in a program called “Sidewalk Seats”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm6Fb8FHqMF/

Creative Reuse of Pianos

Zeke Leonard

New York Times article about pianos ending up in landfill

Making a desk from a piano

Making a coffee table from a piano

Making a headboard from a piano

Making a place to hang your keys from piano keys

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1pEvptHUTN/

Creative Reuse of Armchairs

Donating to animal shelter in Illinois

Adding doilies over ripped sections of armchairs

Reupholstering with clothing

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvJJvDRH3aB/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgP1717h482/

Creative Reuse of Cribs

Inspirational Upcyclers to Follow

Tanglewood Sue

Sadie Seasongoods

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