SCRAP DC's Re:Boutique Opens!

After months of preparation, submissions from local artisans, the help of our dedicated volunteers, and -- in the end -- some SCRAPpy luck, we present DC's version of the Re:Boutique.

Modeled after the original, in Portland, OR, our collection gathers the work of 9 reuse artists who call Greater DC home. They repurpose everything from fabric, paper and glass to plaster remnants, computer components, even the magnetic tape inside a VHS cassette.

First up: creating our boutique. We've held two volunteer get-togethers to get this show on the road. At the first (with free pizza!), our team made quick work of carving out an empty space that was awfully hard to leave that way. Next, interior designer Victoria Popp donated her time (and outdated tile samples), and left us with some tremendous ideas -- some easily attainable, some that will definitely have to wait. We loved her suggestion to distinguish the boutique area from the rest by changing the wall color, accomplished at volunteer shin-dig #2, a painting party. What a nice and peppy red, from our very own stash of acrylic paints ($2 for a full pint).

Then came some furniture... miscues, we might call them. As with the exciting design ideas we don't currently have room for, we're tucking them away to be used at a later date, too. In the meantime, here we were, with extra furniture that didn't work, but where were items that would?

Well, here's where being scrappy = "da best"! A rack that was just sitting around AmericanEye, the Washington Design Center, was offered and now perfectly hugs our room's pillar (previously seen as being in our way). The base unit (not pictured) was less than $5 at Community Forklift, and with the cabinet door removed, it stores empty shopping bags and boutique surplus. The real coup is right above that at the center of our display: a 9-cubby piece someone left at our building's loading dock. It's perfect! After being bolted to the wall, it was outfitted with those tiles to make platforms of different heights. For the top, we put down a cork flooring sample from Amicus Green Building Center. Painted clementine boxes got some armchair "sleeves" that fit as just-right covers.

Time to fill it all in with our nice merchandise! We'll zoom in for a closer look at our artists' stuff as this Re:Boutique series of posts continues.