Interior designers in Virginia used a Habitat for Humanity ReStore to create amazing room displays for the Home Show at the Dulles Expo Center in Metro Washington, D.C. Shopping exclusively in a local ReStore, which sells gently used and donated household material, designers crafted an urban-chic loft room, a British Colonial/West Indies-inspired master bedroom suite, and a beach room to rival anything in the finest resort homes.
In Kansas City, customers snapped up western décor from a ReStore when the Darden restaurant group began modernizing more than 300 of its Red Lobster, Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse locations and donating items to Habitat ReStores around the country. Hostess stands, art, furnishings, “western-themed” stuffed animals and more found their way into the homes of residents looking for creative and discounted ways to decorate.
You get the idea: Again and again, Habitat ReStores are proving to be a treasure trove for interior designers and their clients who want quality that doesn’t break the bank and who want to be environmentally responsible. ReStores are the place for reusing and repurposing.
Most ReStores carry furniture, building materials, counter-tops, windows, paint, shutters, doors, paintings, armoires, art, mirrors, washers and dryers, microwave ovens and just about anything else one puts in or outside a house.
Bridgett Wilson, publicity chair of the National Capital Area Chapter of IRIS, gives this example of what an interior designer can do with items from a ReStore: “I love how we turned old lighting fixtures into lanterns, which are incredibly trendy right now. We took the wiring out of old light fixtures, painted the metal, left in the glass and put candles inside. We made lanterns for very little money. I made two for myself; they are on my front step now.”
Invite your clients to visit the ReStore with you, see what catches their eyes or has that nostalgic appeal. And let them know they, too, can donate, shop and volunteer at the closest ReStore. In most cases, Habitat ReStores will gladly arrange to pick up donated goods.
Habitat for Humanity builds homes in partnership with low-income families who urgently need them – helping a family improve its housing every seven minutes. Since 1976, Habitat has served more than 500,000 families around the world. With some 750 ReStores operating across the United States, Habitat increasingly relies on revenue from those stores to help more families and strengthen more communities worldwide.
ReStores promote reuse and repurposing – all advantageous for your clients. The proceeds fund local Habitat for Humanity house construction.
Please visit Habitat.org or contact Heather Sandoval at hsandoval@habitat.org to learn more about how you can get involved to take advantage of tax deductions and support your clients and local community with Habitat for Humanity. To find out more about Habitat ReStore, visit www.habitat.org/restores/default.aspx.
