Imaginative decorating for the abode: No cash needed!

At some point most have had their struggles with providing for themselves and their homes. People have been hit hard by the economy forcing everyone to make hard choices as to where costs can be cut.

College students and recent graduates venturing out on their own find the cost of housing and food prohibitive. Excited about finding their own living space they are only discouraged realizing that after rent and food they cannot afford to buy a bed to sleep on.

In 1990 Andrew Dusing was in awe of the sculptured hedges on a family trip to Disney World. He longed to make a sculpture of his own.

• After graduating from college in 1999, long before the present economy collapsed, Dusing started working at his college as a tech support agent in the graphics department. He worked in the Mac computer lab and lived in a small studio apartment with little furnishings. When the college upgraded their computers there was an abundance of empty boxes.

Inspired by his Disney trip, Dusing took home the Mac boxes and started designing and building furniture out of them to furniture his little abode.

• He built a corner TV stand

• A designer chair,

  

• A bookcase

• A sofa

  

• A coffee table

• An end table

Since then he has worked on many projects creating furnishing and sculpture

In 2005 Jose Avila was faced with a dilemma.

• He was stuck paying two rents, when he had to relocate to Arizona from his previous residence. Although he managed both rents he could not afford any furnishings.

Inspired by a friend’s homemade desk, Jose took on the task to repurpose FedEx shipping boxes into an apartment full of furnishings. 

• A bed that is slept on

  

• A sofa for the guests to congregate

• A workstation complete with corner desk, shelves, and chair

  

• Even a dining table and chairs

  

Proud of his accomplishments he developed a website to display his creations along with exact directions and materials needed to create the furnishings. He wanted others to know “when you’re stuck in a bind and you’re feeling down, it’s not the end of the world.”

It is amazing how a huge company like FedEx could be threatened by this one person. Fed Ex went after Jose Avila demanding that he take down the website.

Thankfully the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society Attorneys took on his case pro bono.

Check out these wonderful furnishings crafted out of repurposing ordinary boxes.

This is a great example of how imagination takes the ordinary beyond its wildest dreams. An entire new industry can be developed out of a little imagination and ingenuity.

Keep your chin up and never be afraid to dance!

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