ReStore a Treasure

This past Sunday was one of my favorite project days in weeks. I woke up in the mood to treasure hunt. But on a cold January Sunday, that is hard to do. The Iron Chef and I decided to make our way to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, a long over due trip but worth the wait. Many cities have Habitat and if yours is lucky enough to also run a ReStore, you can find some amazing items.

First things I spotted were these ClosetMaid components. Various colors and sizes, not even out of the boxes, you could probably put together a great organization unit with these on the cheap.


On the end cap next to those were these letters. You see these all over in home decor and craft stores now. It looked like one woman in the store was buying a whole alphabet. Neat idea for a classroom or kids room.


They also had all kinds of tile. At $1 for a 12"x12" these are an amazing deal. Of course they don't have an endless supply in each color, but you could certainly redo a small bathroom floor.


They had various light fixtures for vanities or for outside by a door.


And fixtures for towels, curtains or other things.


But my favorite section is the furniture. I loved these chairs. The backing make me think of picture frames. There were two and I almost took them home.


They had a nice variety of file cabinets that could make great storage with a bright coat of new paint.


I loved this mirror and would paint the frame white and hang it against a dark wall. It was probably around $8.


The Iron Chef spotted these and said "What could those be good for?" I turned to him surprised he didn't think of it himself and said, "Storing art." He's a painter/illustrator/graphic designer and is always looking for ways to preserve mat boards and canvases without damaging them. Kind of like I'm a blogger/decorator/photographer. We call these slash skills. Anyway, he almost kissed me when I thought of that great idea and took them home for a mere 30 smackers for all three pieces.


I thought this chair had potential, with a new fabric of course, but left it there for someone else to find.


But my treasure of the month was sitting just 2 chairs down. This blue chair grabbed my attention much like the blue mirror did (must be the color, even though I'd change it) so I bought it. Originally $15 dated September 15, 2008, the items at the ReStore are marked down 15% every 15 days it sits in the store, up to 60% off so I scored this beauty for $6.00! I love the square lines and the frame felt good.

There's my little yellow sold sticker on it before we came back to pick it up. I will reupholster it of course, how yet I don't know. I haven't done a full chair, only seats and a stool. But I am so excited. We loaded it in the car (after taking the shelves home first) and were off for a great rest of the day. I will certainly be back to the ReStore soon for more treasure hunting.