Have you ever wondered just how people find these great items to use in their homes at Habitat for Humanity ReStore locations? It helps to know what to look for. Here’s what to buy form the ReStore!
Walking in to a Habitat for Humanity ReStore location can be a bit of an overwhelming experience. There’s just so much stuff and so much of it is kind of hard to know what to do with. They have a lot of things that aren’t immediately obviously beautiful or super useful so it really helps to go in with a plan. You need to know what kind of things to look for when you’re going in there. I thought I’d put together a little list of some of my favourite things to check out when I’m there to give you some ideas and maybe a little direction if you’re visiting one of these unique stores for the first time and aren’t sure what to buy from the ReStore!
What is a Habitat for Humanity ReStore?
First of all, if you’ve never heard of the ReStore, it’s basically a store where Habitat for Humanity re-sells all kinds of salvaged goods that people donate to them. They have furniture and sometimes some home goods like the home section of a thrift store, but they also have all kinds of building materials and tools taken out of houses as they they were being renovated or torn down. You can find railings, tiles, bathroom vanities, kitchen sinks, tools and hardware, and things like that. Depending on where you live, what you find there may be mostly out of newer homes, or it may be out of older homes if you have a lot of them in your area. There are quite a few of these stores and if you look it up, you’ll probably find one in your community or in a community nearby.
Profits generated from sales at the ReStore are used to fund Habitat for Humanity housing projects, so shopping there is not only something that will allow you to get a great deal, it will also help your community out as well!
Here’s a photo of what it looks like walking into my local ReStore that I shared on my Instagram Stories when I popped into the store a few weeks ago.
What to Buy at the ReStore
Headboards and Beds
I was so happy to be able to take advantage of the headboard/footboard/bed section of the ReStore recently. I’ve been walking past it for years and seeing what great, old, solid wood headboards they seem to always have at my local ReStore, but we just didn’t need another bed in our house! We decided a little while ago that it was time to give Jack’s room a little refresh. We thought about building a new bed for him, but then I remembered the ReStore! We popped in there one Saturday morning and found a great headboard and footboard set for $15 on our first try! I’ve been working on painting it so I should have that ready to show you soon.
Old Windows
The ReStore is definitely the best place that I’ve found for old windows. You can find just slightly old windows that you can reuse if you’re building yourself a garden shed on a budget, or you can find really old windows to use in your decor. I like to try to find the window frames without the glass if I can because they just look a little better on a wall or as part of a table display.
Dressers
I always seem to find at least one dresser that I’d like to take home with me when I visit the ReStore. They always seem to have at least 20 good choices and often quite a few of them are really good quality as well. If you want to find a dresser to sand down and re-stain, definitely look for something solid wood and check out the craftsmanship on the drawers as well to make sure you’re buying a solid piece. If you just want something to paint though, there’s nothing wrong with a little pressboard here and there! I’ve had this dresser that we use in our dining room for craft supplies for over ten years now and while it’s not the highest-quality piece, I like the shape of it and it’s served us well. And it was dirt cheap, which is always fun. 🙂
Shutters
I’ve mentioned before how much I love to use old shutters to fill in blank spaces on walls and I always find them at the ReStore. Recently I showed you how I used an old closet door from the ReStore and used it just like a giant shutter and I love the way that little front porch display worked out.
Old Doors
Without a doubt, my very favourite thing about the ReStore in my town is the selection of old doors. I’m always tempted to buy one and fix it up so I can use it somewhere really fun in my home, but you don’t necessarily even have to use these beautiful old pieces of architectural salvage as a door in your home. You can use them leaned up against a wall as artwork on their own, in much the same way as you’d use a big old shutter, or you can even use them as garden decor. I have a friend who has an old house like ours and she has several old doors painted in fun colors leaned up against her house in her gardens around her foundation. It’s a really great look and I’m definitely going to have to share a few photos with you of her gardens the next time I’m over there in the spring.
Here’s another photo from my Instagram Stories from a few weeks ago. There are literally dozens of doors like this at my local store.
Brackets
I haven’t made use of these yet, but I just had to mention that the ReStore has a great selection of basic wood and metal shelving brackets in the tool section and they’re only about $1-2 each. Perfect for if you need to organize a storage closet or a garage.
Spindles
It kills me that I don’t have more great ideas for all of the cute spindles that my local ReStore always seems to have! I have a little stash in my basement though in case another idea ever pops into my head. They’re only about $2 each and they don’t take up much space, so it’s worth it to grab a few when you’re in store. I made these cute pillar candle holders last summer with a few from a batch of spindles that I picked up at my store a few years ago.
Tools
If you’re working on building up a good collection of basic tools, the ReStore is a great place to look. They often have things like old files that still work perfectly fine, hammers, and clamps. That’s definitely one thing that you don’t see at most secondhand stores!
Office Organizers
I never go into the ReStore looking for office organizers, but I always seem to walk out with at least one of them every time. I’ve found some great solid stacking letter trays on a few occasions that have really helped me keep my secret office cabinet in the dining room in working order. They also often have larger things leftover from big office renovations so you can almost always find things like metal filing cabinets and wall cubby systems used for sorting larger amounts of paper.
So those are some of my favourite things to buy from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore! What have you found there that I’ve left off on this list?
OTHER IDEAS LIKE THIS
- Everything You Need to Know Before You Install Open Shelving in Your Kitchen
- Thrift Store Home Decor Finds That You Should Never Pass up
- Everything You Need to Know Before Installing Wood Counters
- IKEA Farmhouse Decor Finds
- Top Ten Favourite Dollar Store Home Decor Finds
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.