Restore your drawers: an upcycling challenge in support of the Furniture Bank

​Sometimes items that arrive at our Furniture Bank warehouse don’t end up finding a home. Either they are a little rickety, too big, or just a wee bit out of style. One of the exciting things we are working on is establishing an upcycling space where these items can go from Broken to Beautiful (longtime Redwood supporters will recognize this theme from our United House construction efforts.)

Eventually, we see opportunities for Training and Employment, as well as a social enterprise component where pieces that haven’t been selected or are not a fit for families can be upcycled and sold to help sponsor furniture kit delivery for families.

In Toronto, they even rent these items to production companies for use on movie sets! Now that’s creative thinking! 

While we work on setting up our Upcycling Centre (with support from our friends at the May Court Club of Barrie!), we'd like to challenge you to try your hand at upcycling at home. Back in June, we invited folks to “Drop Your Drawers”, a physically distanced furniture drop-off event.
So this month we want you invite you to “Restore Your Drawers” (oh dear, where will we take this next…) 

Do you have a piece of furniture that needs a new lease on life?
Do you have a creative mind and a little spare time this summer?
What about a heart for social responsibility and a slightly competitive spirit?

​If so, we want to invite you to upcycle an item and donate it to our Furniture Bank. Don’t forget to take before and after pictures! There might even be a little something in it for you!

Watch our socials (Facebook, Instagram) for details in the coming days. We are always looking for dressers, coffee and end tables, and kitchen tables and chairs for our families. The piece our summer students upcycled in the photo above is making its way into a local social enterprise flower shop to display items for sale. So be creative!

Questions, email us at [email protected] ​.

Happy upcycling!