DIY Monday: Habitat ReStore

I'm not a "super green" girl, but I try to do my part to recycle everything I can, re-use or re-purpose things other people may throw away and I take it as my personal mission to "rescue" furniture that's been designated as trash... as long as we have room for it in the house. Now, you could be thinking "trash picker" when you read that last bit. I prefer to think of myself as a treasure hunter. My husband is slowly moving toward the "treasure hunter" side in his opinion of my activities. It's been a long discussion and thankfully he still loves me.


There's a place that helps me accomplish my re-purposing goals when doing home improvement: The Habitat ReStore. The ReStore takes donations of building supplies, appliances, furniture and some housewares from folks who are doing a bit of renovation or replacing old with new. Proceeds from the sales at the ReStore go to Habitat for Humanity - so it's a win all around!


I mentioned in my bathroom renovation taking out our old sinks and base cabinets. The base cabinets we re-purposed for our kitchen, but the top with the double sinks went to the ReStore. We looked for months to find the perfect wall cabinets, and sure enough they eventually showed up! You can find building supplies, doors, toilets, sinks, shutters, tiles, light fixtures, cabinets, sliding doors, furniture and even books, mirrors and housewares at the ReStore. And the inventory changes every time you visit.

The last time I went they had apparently gotten a shipment of wall cabinets new in the box! Cabinets ranged from $5 to $1,000 for a whole kitchen of high end Cherry cabinets. There was also a lovely green cabinet to house a TV and assorted "stuff" for only $55. I've seen about 30 TV armoires that had come out of a hotel somewhere. My best find was the federal style buffet that holds our TV that only needed a little Old English and Briwax polishing. It was only $150!


The Alexandria ReStore is a bit difficult to find the first time because the entry is in the back of the building. You should turn into the parking lot when you see the signs for Gold's Gym and then follow the signs.



If you're thinking of redoing something on a budget, check the ReStore first!

Inspiration Thursday! Imogen Heap.

In my many, many years of schooling I found the best way to get myself to concentrate was to put on some music. Quite honestly, if I didn't have that music going in my head, I'd be distracted by the many other things I could be doing instead of say, writing a paper or reading that last 300 pages or whatever. I'd procrastinate like crazy. I'd even ~gasp~ clean the house to keep from sitting down to get the studying done. Music definitely provided the distraction that became the focus.

It seems the more complex the subject, the more complex the music needed to be. Just as most art has many layers, so does music. And the best music will inspire art. I suppose that's also true vice versa!

In recent years, the artist I tend to go to for inspiration is Imogen Heap. She layers her music like an watercolor artist layers color. Sometimes it's delicate, wispy even. Other times it's slapstick fun. Sometimes it has a biblical reference complete with samples of locusts. Other times it reminds us of a cause. And there are not many of her pieces I would not listen to every day of the week over and over again. She just doesn't get old for me.

Her newest CD starts with First Train Home, which she says is about being at a party but wanting to be home:

Temporal deadzone where clocks are barely breathing, Yet no one cares to notice for all the yelling, All night clamor to hold it together. I want to play - don't wait - forms in the hideaway. I want to get on with getting on with things. I want to run in fields, paint the kitchen, love someone. And I can't do any of that here, can I?

Her words paint pictures in my mind - what creativity to describe clocks as barely breathing! What about Hide and Seek's, the dust has only just begun to form crop circles in the carpet? Glittering Cloud gives locusts who are about to obliterate more vegetation a voice of reason: Save me, oh save me, save me from myself, Before I hurt somebody else again. And The Walk comes to mind many times in my life (usually when shopping): I feel a weakness coming on.

In recent days, I've been thinking about the "Upcycled Movement" and how we use things others discard to create art. "Immi" has an interesting take on our treatment of this Earth - and it's from the point of view of a mother:

The cold shoulder, folded arms, the looking up. You've never listened and carry on, careless, regardless. This is not a fire drill and if we hold any hope, It's harmonic connection, in stereo symbiosis. These Legoland empires choking out mine, Now you're everywhere, everywhere multiplying around me child. A strain on my heart, This rock can't tolerate anymore. Stop this right away. Put that down and clean this mess up. End of conversation. Put your back in it and make it up to me now.

This really does remind me we've got to be stewards of the resources we've been given and need to be careful to clean up our messes - and I mean that in a purely NON-political way. I love seeing artists who are taking that concept and making art with that in mind. The other day I saw an Anthropologie store window decorated with cut up, spray painted 2-liter bottles that had been shaped into flowers and strung together with old bicycle wheels. From far away, it looked like flowers. Up close, you could see the bottles. How clever!

For me, it's taking buttons that have been pulled off of clothing for generations and making them into wearable art. It's finding the textures and designs that will create a new whole. It's finding colors that are striking and appealing. And I love it. But I digress....


Inspiration can be found in many ways. Music is a wonderful way to find inspiration. Imogen Heap is an amazing artist who often inspires me. And let's face it, who doesn't love someone with the chutzpah to show up at the Grammys with a lily pad and Gary the Grammy Frog? Oh yeah, she's THAT girl!