Corie Ball & Larry Heath

Some folks just seem to have a knack for creativity.

Take Corie Ball, winner of two Furniture Flip awards last year: Her professional background is in retail; however, she definitely has an artist’s mind-set.

“I just get ideas in my head and then google them and think, ‘I could make that,’ and then I do,” she says.

She’s also an avid recycler.

“I love repurposing things,” she says. “I probably started recycling seriously when I bought my own home about six years ago; I’d go to estate sales and say, ‘Oh I can make that into this or do something different with that.’

Watching DIY shows on TV had a similar effect on her: “I’d look at things and think, ‘Oh, I could do something different with that.’ It just started in my brain, and I haven’t stopped.”

This year, she’s once again partnering with Larry Heath (whom she’s known since high school) for her Furniture Flip projects. Heath’s experience as a painter and carpenter are invaluable.

One thing you’ll find in much of Corie’s work: a bit of whimsy.

“I totally have a sense of humor,” she says, chuckling. “I have to. How else am I gonna get through the day?”

She’s looking forward to this year’s Flip event.

“It’s just fun, watching the creativity of other people and being able to be creative,” Corie says. “And being able to support Habitat, which is fabulous, is always a great thing.”

Bend Furniture & Design

In their popular Bend showroom, the design team from Bend Furniture & Design (Heather Cashman, Danielle Groves, Holli Stubblefield and Sophie Cashman) provide a more personalized design focus -– what they call a “boutique experience” — in contrast to the large big-box retail stores. Their focus is on Northwest Modern, with clean, simple lines and warm, friendly colors.

Before opening Bend Furniture & Design, owner Heather Cashman was involved in fashion design (she designed and manufactured a women’s accessory collection that was sold all over the world). She and her sister Holli grew up in the furniture business; their uncle owned a large furniture manufacturing company back in the Midwest.

And although you might not expect to find an upscale furniture design outfit eager to tackle an up-cycling project, sustainability is a prime concern of this team: The store carries a full line of eco-friendly furniture pieces.

They also welcome the opportunity to repurpose something for another use.

“A lot of times, our clients have nice pieces that maybe need to be freshened up,” Heather says. “I like combining some of the older pieces or found objects with new things. I don’t feel like you should just get rid of everything and start over. It’s more of that collected feeling — more personal.”

For more info, contact Bend Furniture & Design at 541-633-7250 or www.bendfurnitureanddesign.com.

Lynne Cahail

Lynne Cahail may not have had a design background professionally or educationally, but she has had a lifelong love of art.

“I’ve just always been interested in art since I was a little girl,” she says, “and I’ve always been very crafty.”

She also has had a lifelong love of thrift stores. She grew up with her grandparents, and her grandmother would frequently take her to the Salvation Army to shop.

“We had the mindset that If it’s good, why do we need to buy something new?” she recalls. “And that’s what I’m teaching my 2-year-old son, Kaysen: “We don’t need new things. There are plenty of things already out there. Why not use that and turn it into whatever you want?”

“Thrift store shopping is my obsession,” Cahail adds. “I love to find something and redo it or reuse it and make something new of it and just make it better.”

By day, Cahail is the wedding coordinator for Tate & Tate Catering. In her spare time, she also loves to host “crafter-noons,” where friends gather to socialize and work on craft projects together.

Tackling a project for the Furniture Flip seemed like a natural fit.

“I go to ReStore all the time,” she says, “and I go to other thrift stores all the time, too. Basically, there’s nothing new in my house.”

For more info, call 541-390-9958 or email Lynne.cahail@gmail.com.

Lisa Fetters & Jill Byers 

Lisa Fetters is a home design veteran: She was the lead designer at Northwest Home Interiors in Bend (formerly Mountain Comfort) for almost 15 years. Even so, she says she’s always been a “junker” at heart.

“I love vintage furniture and I love to give new life to something that someone discards,” she says. “I think I can always make something look better.”

About a year ago, Fetters opened her own design company, called “Soulful Interiors.” She also runs a business known as “Turquoise Tailgate” (named for the distinctively hued vintage pickup truck that serves as its mascot), which takes faded and chipped vintage treasures and repurposes them into revamped furniture pieces and home décor.

Her partner for much of her work is her sister, Jill Byers. “Jill does it with me because she can’t get it out of her blood, either,” Lisa explains.

The duo, longtime fans of the HGTV show Flea Market Flip, jumped at the chance to participate in the ReStore event.

“When we heard there was something similar locally, we thought, ‘We have to do it!’ We just love to do this. I can’t let something go if I know it could be made into something new.”

For more info, call 541-610-8316.

Chris Gorman, Richard Nesslein, Dee DeAngeles, Kevin Colussi and Kathy Parenteau

Chris Gorman has been creating things since she was 5 or 6 years old. But it was her involvement with the Bend Area ReStore that kick-started her passion for repurposing.

“I started about five years ago as a ReStore volunteer,” she recalls. “I did merchandising for a while and I worked on the register, too; and I’d see people come to the register with all these neat things. I kept thinking, ‘I could make something with that’ or ‘This could be made into that.’ I had all these ideas.”

Since then, Chris’ ideas have translated into countless design projects produced by the ReStore CUP team (Creative Upcycle Program), which Chris heads. The CUP team takes broken, discounted or outdated ReStore merchandise, and then adds paint, fabric, hardware and more to produce funky home furnishings and décor. The team has a dedicated workspace in the ReStore warehouse; the finished pieces are sold at the Bend Area ReStore.

Joining Chris for this year’s Flip are four other CUP team members: Richard Nesslein, Dee DeAngeles, Kevin Colussi and Kathy Parenteau.

“Our team is very creative and innovative,” Chris says; “They really think outside the box; that’s what makes CUP work.”

For more info, call the Bend ReStore at 541-372-6709.

Grizzly Ridge Upcycle

Rhonda and Don Barney, owners of Sisters-based Grizzly Ridge Upcycle, couldn’t be better suited to taking on the Furniture Flip challenge.

“We’ve have been do-it-yourselfers forever, and we both love to up-cycle stuff,” Rhonda explains. “We’ve always had one project or another going. I like to paint furniture, and when I couldn’t find a place to sell it, Ron and I brainstormed and decided to open a shop of our own.

“Because it’s a consignment store, I thought I would have to do antiques or vintage things and slowly build into the up-cycle genre. But instead I was able to connect with a lot of people who wanted to sell their stuff, and it turned into a really cool art gallery with up-cycled pieces. I have about 50 different people contributing, so it’s very eclectic. And it’s really fun.”

As for their own up-cycled designs, Rhonda says, “I like painting furniture and putting things together; and my husband is better with power tools and that kind of stuff.

“We’re really a team,” she adds. “We brainstorm projects together. It’s great because my weaknesses are his strengths and his weaknesses are my strengths. By the time we put something together, it usually turns out pretty cool.”

For more info, call 541-588-3070 or visit www.grizzlyridgeupcycle.com. 

Jeanne Keith

You could call Jeanne Keith the Junk Queen. I don’t even think she’d mind. She is, after all, in the business of selling ‘junk.’ Actually, she has so much ‘junk’ that she’s launched three different businesses: The Garbage Gnome (a property cleanup company that specializes in doing the work no one else wants to do); Jeanne’s Junk (an eclectic collection of items from The Garbage Gnome that are reclaimed and recycled); and Industrial Reclaim (mostly industrial-style furnishings that Jeanne refurbishes and resells).

Her goal: “We just try to keep things out of the landfill,” she says.

Jeanne’s passion for ‘junk’ goes back to her days of handling construction cleanup.

“I thought it was ridiculous to fill up the landfills with perfectly usable stuff,” she says. “So I started donating a lot of it. I still donate to all the Habitats and also the Humane Society Thrift Store. A lot of the building materials – the bigger stuff I couldn’t donate—I would bring out here (to her home in Powell Butte, which is also home-base for her three businesses) and started selling it on Craigslist. It’s grown from there.”

Boy has it. Not only is Jeanne often invited to participate in juried shows throughout the Pacific Northwest, but two episodes of the TV show Flippin’ RV’s has been filmed at Jeanne’s place. It is, Jeanne says, “a pickers paradise.”

Meanwhile, the demand for ‘junk’ seems to be on the rise.

“I think more people in Central Oregon are growing accustomed to the idea of up-cycling,” Jeanne says. “I’ve worked really hard since 2007, when nobody wanted to recycle in Central Oregon or to buy recycled things.”

A participant in last year’s Furniture Flip, she’s happy to be back for an encore.

“I had a lot of fun,” she says, “and was able to show people that it’s not just about doing one show; it’s about a lifestyle for us.”

For more info, call 541-480-8654 or visit www.facebook.com/JeannesJunk.

Legum Design

It certainly isn’t every day that Dawn Smith and Michele Schnake, two of Bend-based Legum Design’s interior designers, contemplate ways to reuse discarded, often outdated materials. Their mission most days is to work with clients throughout the Pacific Northwest to create sumptuous, sophisticated custom room designs.

But, as Smith says, “We wanted to get more involved in the community; and it seemed like a good way to give back and use our talents for a good cause.”

When it came to creating their projects for the Furniture Flip, Dawn and Michele didn’t have to look too far to find their muse:

“I think we were inspired by some leftover wood that we had on a job,” Dawn says. “We were trying to figure out a way to use that to build something. And we had some leftover steel from a project, so we decided to make a workbench because we could utilize the pieces we already had.”

“We’re excited to be building something,” Dawn adds, “and to be able to recreate something out of stuff would normally get thrown away.”

For more info, call 541-306-6073 or visit www.legumdesign.com.

Colene Lord & Adam Snyder

At first glance, Colene Lord & Adam Snyder may not seem like the obvious participants in the Furniture Flip.

“Neither one of us are designers nor do we have any art background,” Colene says. “But Adam and I work together to restore things so that we’re not buying brand new all the time. Our house is filled with things that we’ve created or have found on the side of the road or something.”

In their professional lives, Colene is dean of students at Skyview Middle School and Adam is operations manager for Double R Builders. In their off-hours, they make the ideal partnership:

“I’ve always had these ideas,” Colene says, “but I’ve never had a way of actually doing them. I’m the creative one or the decorator; he’s the builder.”

For this duo, necessity has been the mother of invention:

“Adam and I bought a brand-new house and that was kind of the extent of our budget,” Colene explains. “So we have nothing in our house that’s brand-new — it’s all stuff that we have somehow restored or have had a long time and have been able to do something to it to make it into something we love.”

There’s another reason they were interested in participating in the Furniture Flip, though:

“I work for the school district, and I know there’s a variety of kids, even in our building, who have benefited from a Habitat home,” Colene says. I think the world of the program. So I wanted to be able to give back — that’s really exciting.”

For more info, contact Adam Snyder at 541-480-3798.

Mark and Charmaine Manley

Mark and Charmaine Manley have been creating functional art and furnishings from salvaged items for almost three decades. They’ve both shopped at and donated items to local ReStores for years, so participating in the Furniture Flip seemed like a natural fit.

Mark’s artistic flair found a home in blacksmithing over two decades ago. His business, Manley Metal Works, produces high-quality metal pieces in a variety of forms, including home furnishings, garden, ornamental and architectural items. Charmaine focuses on residential interior design with her award-winning business, Charmaine Manley Design.

One of the duo’s largest projects to date involved completely gutting and remodeling their current home with a focus on sustainability. A lot of time was spent at the Redmond ReStore. Read a blog post about it here.

For more info, contact Charmaine at (541) 923-9951.

Lloyd McMullen

Mixed-media artist Lloyd McMullen is no stranger to the world of up-cycling; far from it.

Longtime Bendites are probably familiar with a popular event that she helped conceive and run for many years: “Trashformations,” which challenged artists to turn scrap materials sold at Pakit Liquidators (the space now home to DIYcave) into works of art.

Since then, she has also entered the world of up-cycled fashion design, creating a line of clothes called “Castaways Clothing.”

“They’re made from rescued sweaters and other items that are either too stained, pulled, dirty or ugly to wear,” Lloyd explains; “I make them into fashions that people will wear. My slogan has been ‘Saving the planet one ugly sweater at a time.’ But I’m going to have to change that because now I’m also using clothing other than just sweaters.”

When it comes to the fine art that Lloyd produces, “I work with a lot of found, recycled and up-cycled objects,” she says. “The less impact, the better. I find so much beauty in cast-off objects. Ever since I was a kid -– I would find smashed thumbtacks and wear them like jewelry. I would see something and always thought there was some poignant little story behind this thing that was abandoned in the street.”

For her Furniture Flip projects, Lloyd has given herself an added challenge: “I’ve been inspired to try to do everything completely out of the free pile at ReStore.”

For more info, visit www.facebook.com/castawaysclothing.

Natural Edge Furniture

Mike Ross, owner/president of Natural Edge Furniture, has called himself “a tree-hugger with a chain-saw.” His specialty: creating custom-made furniture from salvaged, reclaimed and recycled hardwood materials. The basis for his creations: hand-selected, air-dried wood slabs of wood found in the Pacific Northwest.

The idea of sustainability is key to everything done at Natural Edge: All of its lumber is from trees that are storm-damaged, windfalls or trees that need to be removed because of age, insect damage or size. Often the trees are a hazard and need to be removed, regardless of what happens to the lumber.

By largely air-drying its lumber, they eliminate most of the consumption commonly used to get lumber to the point that it can be worked with. The company also recycles 100 percent of its paper materials, cardboard waste, sawdust and chips.

For Mike, it’s a way of life.

“It’s fun to recycle and reuse things,” he says. “It’s interesting and creative to do that. It’s great when we’re saving trees from becoming firewood and making them into beautiful pieces of furniture or we’re recycling metal that would just be melted down.”

Perhaps that’s what motivated him to participate in the Furniture Flip (this is his second year).

“The Flip is both fun and for a good cause,” Mike says; “and it’s beneficial for the community. We had a great time with the Flip last year, and we’re hoping to amaze people again this year.”

For more info, call 541-728-3555 or visit www.naturaledgefurniture.com.

Lisa Rindfleisch and Julie Story

Sister duo Lisa Rindfleisch and Julie Story spent their youth surrounded by time-worn treasures: Their parents owned a second-hand store in Prineville.

These days, Julie says, “Our work is defined by studying the unlimited possibilities of an object that is potentially one step from the landfill, and the accompanying thrill of taking that often unloved and unwanted item and turning it into something of value.

“It sets us on fire, she adds. “We enjoy using our combined artistic and organizational skills, honed over the years, to create something fabulous out of something less than fab.

“We relish the opportunity to be part of a community-building experience while being supportive of the environment and generating interest and support for Habitat for Humanity.”

For more info, contact Julie Story at jsbulldogmom@gmail.com.

Sally Ragsdale-Smith & Jeffrey Smith

Even before Sally Ragsdale-Smith retired from a career in construction engineering a year or so ago, she did as much volunteering as she could — for many years.

A lifetime member of the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars), she also helped raise funds for what is now Saving Grace and has donated a quilt to Healing Reins Therapeutic Riding Center for its annual auction. She even met her husband, Jeffrey Smith, doing volunteer work at a Moose Lodge.

An avid recycler for 40-plus years, Sally’s a county girl at heart: She and Jeffrey have seven gardens, raise their own chickens and do their own repair work. They also make things for family, friends and neighbors.

“With my background, I know how things go together and work,” she says. Jeffrey’s experience as a pressman, woodsman and hunter also come in handy.

“I have 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, and I love teaching them about gardening and repurposing things,” Sally says.

Stemach Design

The name Stemach Design is well-known in our community;  the Bend-based firm has received numerous awards for their thoughtful, sustainable approach to architecture, renovation and product design.

Fans of the distinctive Bend Area Habitat ReStore building should be especially familiar with their work: The Stemach Design team donated many hours and a tremendous amount of creative effort in overseeing the transformation of the former Backstrom Builders site into the current ReStore. A few Stemach touches at the ReStore: the undulating exterior cedar-plank siding (made from reclaimed cedar decking); the custom chandelier made of reclaimed wood and copper piping that greets visitors in the store’s entryway; and the former metal roofing reused as siding.

This is the second year that Stemach owners Stacey and Rachel Stemach have participated in the Flip.

“We’re excited to participate again this year in Furniture Flip” Stacey says. “It’s such a fun, design-oriented event, and we’re flattered that our design pieces end up in someone’s home or business. And knowing that the ReStore benefits from the sales of the competition pieces is the absolute best part of the Furniture Flip.”

For more info, call 541-647-5661 or visit www.stemachdesign.com.

Danielle Sullivan

Danielle Sullivan may have two science degrees, but she has the heart of an artist.  A member of the Plein Air Painters of Oregon and Oil Painters of America, she’s been producing lush landscape paintings in the Russian impressionistic style since the mid-‘90s. But her love of the arts goes much further back.

“Ever since I was a kid, I always drew,” she says. “I got my first paint set when I was 12. It was just something I enjoyed doing. I just thought everybody spent all their time drawing, but I guess they don’t.”

She decided to participate in this year’s Flip for two reasons: She’s a big supporter of Habitat for Humanity; she’s also an avid up-cycler.

“When I read about the Flip, I got excited,” she says, “because I do this for fun as a hobby anyway. I’m really into not throwing things away, and restoring, recycling and upcycling. I hate waste and like to be creative — it’s fun for me.

“I’m also hoping we’ll inspire others to be less wasteful. I think it’s a good thing to make something useful out of things that people would otherwise throw away.”