Andy Duncan, ReStore Development, shares the variety of DIY styles found in our ReStores this year.

The ReStore is not an antique store necessarily, just a modest a thrift shop that serves a great mission. However, every day we see a number of remarkable furniture pieces that are donated to us, so if you’re a savvy thrift shopper, you can find a great deal on a variety of styles.

Since my wife and I purchased our first home a few years ago, most of it has been furnished with great finds at the ReStore. (By the way, as a ReStore employee I’m not allowed to buy anything until it’s been on the sales floor 24 hours, giving the intrepid regular customers an advantage.) Everyone who comes to visit us will inevitably have to sit through me pointing out all the decorations and furniture that came from the ReStore. I can’t help it – it’s just such an amazing operation, if I can toot our own horn for a second. When at its best, the ReStore is a win-win-win: we take unwanted (but still good, usable) items from generous donors who may otherwise send them to a landfill given no other options, sell them to the public who get great deals on anything used to furnish or build a home for their DIY projects, and raise funds to aid our mission of eliminating poverty housing in Greater Indianapolis.

The secret to the ReStore’s success, the reason we are able to provide upwards of 45% of funding for the Greater Indy Habitat affiliate, is volume – a steady flow of donated product. To that end, we put a lot of thought into the our pricing of merchandise, making sure it’s fair and will move out the door within two weeks or so. If a given item, particularly in our furniture/decor section, doesn’t move in that time, we typically price it down and give it another couple of weeks until it does sell and make room for the next donated item on the sales floor.

Here is a little spin around some of the treasures the ReStore hosted this past year.

We often get brand new items like these contemporary dressers that still have their hardware packed in foam. 

Or, nice contemporary furniture with only light usage like this tufted couch originally from Urban Outfitters.

And this Ethan Allen dinette set.

These types of items show up in other sections as well, like this chandelier from our lighting area. 

But of course the real deals are the truly vintage finds like this bedroom suite with the clean modern-esque lines.

Or this romantic secretary desk.

Or even this hand-carved bookcase that looks like it may just be covering a doorway to Narnia. 

So if you want a crack at the best stuff and some truly unique, contemporary, and antique styles, come by our ReStores often – it’s our job to make sure it’s a new store every week!