Five Great Reasons for Repurposing Furniture

Reclaiming furniture is a lovely way to avoid waste, make something unique, get exactly what you want, preserve a sense of history while saving money!

Reason 1: Being Green! It has become all the rage to be Green. Every piece of wood furniture you reuse is a tree that sighs in relief. Any acrylic or man-made material that you salvage is one less chunk of plastic or debris in our landfills. So, salvaging furniture is bigger than you and me, it’s about the planet.

Reason 2: Creating something Unique! Of course, our motivation is still us. After all, we need to express our creative selves and while it can manifest itself in singing, writing, or making paper hats, most of us have an inner desire to make something. Reclaiming furniture makes it feasible for us to remake something we need. There is a great pleasure that is brought from reclaiming old furniture and anyone who has managed to do it, will tell you how much joy it can bring. Also, it can become quite a conversation piece.

Reason 3: Matching Your Needs! Let’s face it, sometimes you go to the store and can’t find what you are looking for. You can’t find the right dimension, the right finish, the right texture, the right shape, well, in reclaiming your furniture. You can paint furniture, refinish and stain it, cut the legs to make it shorter, screw additions to make it taller, upholster it, bejewel it, add appliques, decoupage it, you name it, you can change it!

Reason 4: Preserving a sense of history! Sometimes throwing away grandma’s old table is unfathomable, but using it as your kitchen table is even more inconceivable, so what do you do? Remake it! Maybe just re-using the legs of the table and placing a glass top on it, to match your contemporary décor. For many people, having a sense of history is important and creates character in their home. Recreating a family heirloom can now incorporate you in grandma’s story!

Reason 5: Saving Money! Let’s face it! This is a great reason to reclaim furniture. Furniture that might otherwise cost you hundreds of dollars can be found at your local thrift store for a few dollars. The structural integrity of a lovely, heavy wooden desk can hardly be matched with the pressed wood look-alikes that come out of a box. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve bought plenty of furniture that comes out of a box, but to know that you can get a beautiful desk for around $50 at a thrift store that will only cost you a little elbow grease and a lot of inspiration, well, that’s pretty magnificent.

Check out some of Compartment Life’s great before’s and after’s or as we like to call it a furniture facelift’s here, here and here.