(Photo above provided by Restore)
Have you ever spent all afternoon on the couch watching home improvement or DIY shows like HGTV’s Flee Market Flip or History Channel’s American Pickers? It’s not your fault, it’s the antiquing. It’s the before and after reveals. They are so addicting. This Earth Day April 25, you can get off of the sofa, and watch a design show LIVE.
ReStore’s first annual Furniture Flip Design Challenge is prepared to wow you. Eleven local artists and designers are ‘upcycling’ three pieces of furniture and home accessories each. That’s 33 pieces to browse, admire, and shop. Best yet, all of the proceeds will benefit Bend Area Habitat for Humanity.
In our community, Bend Area Habitat has built 106 homes and repaired 60 others for families and individuals over the last 25 years. This seems like a large number, but there is still work to do on the front of affordable housing. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, in no state can a full-time minimum wage worker afford a one-bedroom or a two-bedroom rental unit.
In Oregon, an individual would have to work 72 hours a week to make rent affordable. Bend is no exception to the issue of housing affordability. The ReStore is here to help as a major funding tool. Not only does the ReStore redirect two million pounds of materials from the landfill annually, but it also funds over 75 percent of Habitat’s operational costs.
By shopping the Furniture Flip Design Challenge, you are supporting the arts, the environment, and local families in our community. Choose reuse this season. Come see the works of Stemach Design & Architecture, Natural Edge Furniture, Connell Hull Company, and many more local designers during the Last Saturday of April at Armature in the Old Iron Works Art District.
Bend Area Habitat for Humanity
www.bendhabitat.org, 541-385-5387
Bend ReStore, www.restorebend.org, 541-312-6798
Furniture Flip Design Challenge
Free to attend, donations welcome.
Last Saturday, April 25, 7-10pm
Armature, Old Iron Works Art District
www.restoresfurnitureflip.com.
