Please say congrats to "NICKEL CITY GIRLS"
Kelly and Sara are two friends who are upcycling the earth one object of trash at a time. These soon to be objects d'art are quickly making a scene into all of Buffalo and across the nation.
Their love for painting and furniture got a wee bit out of hand, when they continued to rescue items from thrift stores, unwanted junk piles, and had donations from local contractors. Their homes were quickly full of these totally revamped creations, so they opened a company that makes all this fun, recycling, and repurposing possible.
This table, upcycled and adorned with vintage keys is too cute.
Sara explains, "We regularly get donations of scrap material from local contractors (paint, wood, tile, discarded furniture and windows from sites), paint stores (wall paper books, Oops gallons) scrap fabric from interior designers and others....as an additional effort to re-use something that would just be put to a landfill."
"Work in Progress" by the NickelCityGirls
Kelly says, "And thats when we decideed to start selling....we couldn't stop collecting!"
I envy those two, wouldn't we all like to spend time with our BFF crafting, painting, and repurposing trash into treasure? Then to make a successful business out of it? You go girls! What an inspiration to us all. Notice how they take something that would have otherwise been overlooked, and add the beauty to it.
A regular record bowl has transformed into a work of art, looks like exquisite pottery. Amazing.
Their items are featured in brick-and-mortar shops called "Thin Ice" on Elmwood Avenue, and the "464 Gallery" on Amherst Street if you are local to Buffalo. They also have a shop on Etsy, a Facebook Product/Service Page and do a lot of networking (like the NickelCityGirls Blog) to promote their business. Even better, they offer layaway options, and promote trading with other Etsians. Gotta love that.
Elwood Avenue "Thin Ice" store with Sara and Kelly's stuff "Festival of the Arts."
They've been all over looking for great items to resell. Sara explains, "We are very lucky! There is a place in Vermont called ReStore that we are able to get a lot of interesting finds, also! It amazes us the things we find just tossed away....mission chairs and antique vanities..."
Locally the repurpose and sell a lot of that otherwise-tossed-out furniture, but that's not all. They go the extra mile to look for ways to teach others how to do this too.
Sara continues, "We are also trying to partner with a local not-for-profit (Buffalo Re-Use) to set up classes for them, to teach local people how to use the materials that are donated to them, that they sell (a 'think outside of the box' type of thing)."
It's people like Sara Lusky DiNatale and Kelly O'Shei who think "outside of the box" that make a difference in this world. Thank you Sara and Kelly for doing your part to live green, repurpose, reuse, upcycle, recycle and be just such awesome role models to the rest of us. If we could all get involved in our communities like you are, the world would be a greener place.
Follow Sara and Kelly by clicking on the links above.
I leave you with this platter, never will you be bored.
Author Note: S&K You have restored my faith in Buffalo, NY ....I admit I was a little jaded after Mr. Big broke my heart.............sigh.....curse you J D!)
