A new partnership between Habitat for Humanity ReStore Comox Valley and Red Living is working to stop used furniture from going to the landfill.
To show what some donated furniture can look like with a little “tender loving care,” artist Ali Spry spent over two weeks repainting an old hutch in the front window of Red Living on 5th Street in Courtenay. The hutch had been donated to the ReStore, and on Wednesday, Spry and Red Living owner, Tony McCloskey, presented that upcycled hutch back to the ReStore to be sold in a silent auction.
“[ReStore has] lots of fantastic pieces of furniture, but where they maybe fall down a little bit is that they don’t have the opportunity to repurpose stuff and to give it new life,” said Spry. “So the design was kind of inspired by the community partnership between the two of us.”
Manager of the Comox Valley ReStore, Debbie Bowman, said she loves the idea of upcycling because it cuts down on unnecessary waste and gives good furniture a second chance. The partnership with Red Living is meant to inspire people to buy used furniture and creatively transform it to suit their own needs.
“Our goal is that people will come in and see these pieces with a new set of eyes — seeing what it could look like with a bit of work,” she said. “A big part of what Habitat does is we divert tons of stuff from the landfill each year — people are taking and bringing things here instead of just putting them in the dump.”
Habitat for Humanity is currently building a 10-unit affordable housing complex on Lake Trail Road in Courtenay and all money raised at the ReStore goes to fund similar projects.
The hutch will be up for auction at the ReStore with all proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity’s work in the community. The silent auction will close on Aug. 15 at 5 p.m.