Chic Decor for Cheap

Students on a budget can decorate their residences by turning recycled materials into functional and visually pleasing furniture

Molly Cooney-Mesker
Freelance Reporter

Old furniture is no longer ugly. It is fresh, hip and aesthetically pleasing, not to mention beneficial for a college student. Furnishing a home or apartment no longer involves a maxed-out credit card and a Pier One catalogue. Today, furniture "shopping" can be an adventure, a project and an expense-free endeavor.

Making furniture out of recycled material doesn't require a degree or carpentry expertise. According to an April 17 Oregonian article, "The recycle aesthetic," this trend "is not just using old stuff, but transforming it, often deconstructing it, giving it new life, and ultimately new identity."

Collecting materials for furniture does not call for Dumpster diving or digging through curbside trash and recycling. BRING Recycling Warehouse in south Eugene may be the final destination for unwanted bicycles, broken plumbing, cracked windows and forgotten children's toys, but students who take a closer look will see it is really a collection of reusable items begging to be made into tables, chairs, shelves and art pieces. It is organized chaos, separated into a workshop full of doors, another full of jars and vases and yet another packed with old light fixtures. More…