Use What You've Got

A very dear friend of mine works for a group called Families Free. They outgrew their tiny office space and needed a new place to work. As luck would have it, they were able to gain access to a former medical office, and it was HUGE! Not only did it have tons of office space, it also had a large waiting room...
a large waiting room with ZERO furniture.
 
Families Free is a nonprofit organization, and there was not much budget to work with. There was nowhere near enough money to buy (even secondhand) furniture. But as I searched, and searched, and worried and wondered how in the world I could furnish this room....donations were made. Wonderful donations were made in the form of a sofa and an over-sized chair!
 
I generally don't recommend second-hand upholstered furniture; but these came from a church lobby and showed barely any wear. Now I had something to work with. This became an exercise in using what you have.

The Immovable Object

No one was a fan of the big chair's upholstery. The problem, though, is that the inexpensive, off-the-shelf slip covers do not come in this size. Yes, you could buy one to fit a loveseat, but then you have too much fabric and the look is sloppy. So, since the upholstery was still in good condition, I felt the best choice was to leave it as is, and make it the jumping off point for the entire room. It became the Immovable Object, and every single choice and purchase was made to make this chair look it's best. I'd also like to note that every single purchase was found at Big Lots!.

Not only was the sofa in great condition, it was the perfect shape to fit into a Sure-Fit slipcover. This bright red one was a nice complement to the Immovable Object.

Inexpensive place mats & sticks make pretty accessories.

Next I turned my attention to the vast, vacant space above the sofa. It needed some filler, but large scale art was not in the budget. At Big Lots, I scored seven, brown, woven place mats for $1 each. It took some time and lots of repositioning to get them artfully arranged. It was no easy feat, but I'm very happy with how it turned out.


For the Families Free Thanksgiving dinner, I made these centerpieces for their tables. This was one that was left over, so I placed it front and center on the (donated) coffee table along with a fabric-lined basket for magazines. The how-to's for the centerpiece will be coming soon to my crafty page.

I also bought an area rug to anchor this section of the lobby. It was an indoor/outdoor rug on end-of-season clearance.

This beautiful hutch was relocated from a back office, and filled with accessories from Big Lots. The books were in the clearance aisle for 50 cents each! Removing the paper jackets revealed nice looking hardbacks. The pine cones were discounted Christmas decorations, and the pretty box they sit in is a cardboard Christmas gift box spray painted bronze. Not bad!  



This very cool bench was also swiped from another room. It features the Families Free logo on the back. It and the hutch were made by the director's husband, who is clearly a very talented fella'. I brought it out to sit front and center in the lobby, and added a bright red pillow and knitted throw blanket to cozy it up.


There was no signage letting people know that this was now the new Families Free lobby, so I pulled this beautiful sculpture out from a back office, and placed it on a shelf directly in front of the entry. Pretty AND functional.

So, this is how it looks now when you walk in. Cozy. Welcoming. Pulled together...
Proof that you don't need a huge budget to create a lovely room. 

Families Free Lobby