repurposeful.com

Step it Up and Furnish Green, NYC

I stumbled across this company via their inventory on craigslist  and I fell in immediate love, not least of all because of their great, under-inflated prices. Upon further research Furnish Green is a "rescue and recycle showroom" out of this dude Nathan's dance studio on Broadway and 32nd Street in Manhattan.

Says he in a post: There are many ways to be green about furniture but we believe that by re-cylcing, re-purposing and re-using furniture that already exsists that this the best way to furnish your home. Much of the pre-1970 mass produced furniture was extremely well made and will probably outlive you and any illegitimate children you might have.

Wine Coolers

My friend Gizelle hosted some friends over in the backyard of their beautiful Clinton Hill (Brooklyn) pad. Thought this was clever and repurposeful. She keeps a couple of her wedding centerpiece vases on hand to double duty as wine coolers.

Magazine Makeover

Trekking through Chelsea the other day, I noticed an interesting storefront renovation cover-up. Turns out, pages of mags are much more pleasant to the passers-by than brown craft paper or yellowing newsprint.

Freecycle it!

My future S-I-L has discovered the joys of "freecylcling", most recently after having  bequeathed their grill 1.0 to some SF State kids who came and took it off their hands. She posted via Craigslist but there's also a huge Freecycle network, birthed in Tucson (LOVE), but available nationwide.

I, too, benefited from this when I gave away an old office desk. In my post, I also requested that the new owners tip my super for operating the freight. This helped me get more points with one disgruntled Eric (a.k.a. the Puerto Rican Schneider). There's something appealing about reverting towards a barter  economy.  Maybe hitchhiking will also make a comeback amongst folks other than smelly, hackysacking hippies?

Comments Needed! Why'd You Stop Wearing Something?

I recently surveyed my closet to find at least 30% of the clothing in active rotation (hanging up) was not in use. I am a nut about streamlining, so it's rare that I have 'stuff' lying around. I keep one 'purgatory basket' handy, which consists of clothes I am not ready to give up, but that I definitely haven't worn in two years. I keep these around because they are made by great designers or have some sentiment attached to them. But the 30% of stuff I haven't worn...?

Here are some specific reasons why I stopped wearing ____:
1. 8 Shirts: I don't like the way they make my upper body look. The shoulders look a little mean in them.
2. Beige Pants: I can't seem to find the right color combination
3. Cocktail Skirt: How do I seemingly have nothing black to wear with this? I have 10+ black tops?

What are some of your reasons? Please post amongst yourselves.
"Why I stopped wearing ____: {insert reason}"

Baby Shower Decor

It's so repurposeful I could cry, or maybe that's just sentiment I have around babies these days. Sharon, the hostess in a baby shower some friends helped organize, suggested we get a clothesline to help thematically decorate her apartment. So guests were asked to bring clothes and baby gear for the boy's first year of life. Genius! No balloons or bad paper decor, and a clear help in minimizing the whole wrapping paper ordeal.

Luke Dukes?

Yes, apparently, cut-offs for men have arrived. I think this is an absolute gem for men, like my fiance, who are on the fence about shorts, but as the Styles section (NYT Thursday 7.10.08) reporter (paraphrasing designer Michael Bastian) writes: The trick, should you care to make your own for the price of a razor blade, is this: Cut just the seams and lightly score the fabric with the blade, first in front, then in back; carefully, firmly, tear along these lines. The resulting frayed edge should, Mr. Bastian said, come out perfectly after a wash. But be warned: without subtle stitching above the fray, the shorts will unravel with each wash, so you had better be happy with your quads.

Weirdly, the men interviewed in this piece had purchased theirs. What have you done with those Gap khakis of yesteryear? Pull them shits out and Luke Duke it up.

Reader Tip

Another cool stylistic repurpose. The pages of a book as wallpaper. Courtesy of Apartment Therapy.

Burnt Out

Problem: no desk drawers

Solution: a repurposed candle-turned-caddy

OK, so a console table is not a desk, but I have a 12" Mac Powerbook that luckily doesn't take up much surface space. It's NYC and already impractical. I debated buying desk caddy, but how cute are you going to get at Staples? When my black candle burnt down to nil, I discovered a perfectly good solution to store pens and the like. Martha has some nice ideas. This is kind of a no-brainer, I know, but a nice way to add a personal touch.