Fans of the Bend Area Habitat for Humanity ReStore, take note: The third-annual Furniture Flip Design Challenge is just around the corner. Appropriately enough, the annual fund-raiser coincides with Earth Day: Saturday, April 22. And, no, that wasn’t a coincidence: The event was designed, in part, to serve as a reminder of the ReStore’s commitment to “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.”
This year’s Flip is the largest so far, with the most diverse group of artist/designers to date. It’ll feature the handiwork of a dozen area designers, plus teams from Stemach Design & Architecture, Ascent Architecture, Junque in Bloom, Art Castaways, Grizzly Ridge Upcycle, Handstitch Studio and Jeanne’s Junk.
For the uninitiated, the ReStore is Habitat’s nonprofit home-improvement store/donation center, which sells new and gently used furniture, home accessories, building materials and appliances to the public at greatly reduced prices. The goal of the Furniture Flip is to challenge local artists and designers to take furniture and household goods that others have discarded – – items that are ReStore’s stock-in-trade — and transform them into distinctive artworks and furniture pieces. Those creations are then presented to the public and sold (with the proceeds benefiting Bend Area Habitat’s efforts to enable homeownership) during a celebratory Earth Day-inspired event.
Bend Area Habitat Sales and Marketing Manager Paige Shull explains the Furniture Flip rules.
This year, Bend’s premier maker-space, diyCave, and artist collective Stuart’s of Bend are hosting the event in their back yard at 9th Street Village. Having the design challenge at this new communal artist space is a real coup for Bend Area Habitat.
What’s more, DIYcave has once again generously partnered with Habitat to provide its workshop resources to all the Flip teams during the month that they’ll be creating and assembling their projects.
The Flip process actually began back in February, when Bend Area Habitat staff issued an open invitation to designers and creative-types in Central Oregon to apply for the Challenge. Then, each participant (or team) that was selected was given the option of creating up to three home-design projects that address three different themes (which vary each year). The designers were given one month to “flip” those items into a memorable new project, which will be sold via auction during the live Flip event on April 22.
Earlier this week, all the artist/designers gathered at the Bend ReStore to learn what this year’s three themes would be. During the reveal, Bend Area Habitat Sales and Marketing Manager Paige Shull reviewed the guidelines for the competition with the group and then unveiled the themes. Then the participants were given an hour to shop the store in search of potential treasures to transform.
Here are the themes:
- Oregon-ize It: Design a creative yet functional storage or organization piece and/or give it a Central Oregon-specific twist.
- Out There: Create an unexpected addition to a welcoming outdoors space –- perhaps a potting table, lawn game, patio lighting or furniture piece. Think outside the (planter) box!
- Odd Couples: Shake things up by pairing two objects that work seamlessly together to create a new whole but that most folks wouldn’t think to combine into a single object.
All the finished works will be for sale at the Furniture Flip event via auction, with the proceeds benefiting Bend Area Habitat for Humanity. A panel of judges will present several awards for each theme:
Award Details
- People’s Choice Award: Attendees vote on their favorite piece by placing their event ticket in a box during the show.
- Judges’ Choice Award: This award, which is given for best overall designer/team, will be decided on by our panel of judges. Each piece will receive a score; the score sheets will be added together to calculate the grand total and overall winner.
- Trashy-to-Classy Award: This award will be decided on by the Furniture Flip committee, who will determine which up-cycled piece underwent the thriftiest transformation. (The receipts will help the committee evaluate who was the most resourceful in their work by reviewing the new material receipts and ‘before’ pictures.)
Theme awards will be determined by the panel of judges and be presented to the Designer or Design Team.
- Top ‘Oregon-ize It’ Design
- Top ‘Out There’ Design
- Top ‘Odd Couple’ Design
Here are a few more photos from the Flip Reveal:
To find out more about the Furniture Flip, visit the Furniture Flip website or call the Bend ReStore at 541-312-6709.
Event Details: Saturday, April 22nd from 4-8 pm at 9th Street Village (behind DIYcave) and Stuart’s of Bend, off 9th and Wilson. $5 entry, plus $5 cup for drinks (or bring your own mug and have your first drink on us). RestoresFurnitureFlip.com.
About the Author
Lisa Broadwater, GRI, CDPE, is a Central Oregon-based real estate professional who specializes in listing and selling homes, especially in Sisters, Tumalo, Bend and Redmond.