Portland craftsman Mark Haley cut apart a donated credenza that shoppers kept passing by and rebuilt it as a storage bench; hundreds wanted to buy it at a home show

Unsold furniture often ends up discounted, donated or, eventually, thrown away. But one overlooked credenza at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Portland, Oregon, received a very different fate. Rather than treating its dated appearance as a problem, craftsman Mark Haley saw an opportunity to turn the unwanted piece into something more useful.

According to Habitat for Humanity, Haley cut apart the donated credenza, salvaged sections of it and rebuilt the furniture as a storage bench. The piece had previously struggled to attract shoppers, but its transformation quickly drew attention. Created as a display for the Portland Spring Home & Garden Show, the finished bench generated purchase requests almost immediately, with hundreds of potential buyers expressing interest by the time the show opened.

An overlooked piece gets a second chance


The original credenza was not low-grade furniture. The organisation says it was a sturdy piece with dovetail joints and smoothly sliding drawers. The only issue with it was aesthetic, since its outdated design made customers consistently overlook it despite the fact that its price was already lowered. It was unwanted, but still usable. There were parts of the furniture that could be repurposed instead of getting rid of it altogether.

Habitat's wider ReStore network also presents reuse as a way of keeping usable materials away from landfill. The Portland Region ReStores reported receiving 39,171 donations of building materials and household items in 2024 and diverting 7,988 tons of material from local landfills. For Haley, the credenza offered an opportunity to demonstrate what could happen when an ordinary piece of furniture was viewed as raw material rather than finished merchandise.

From credenza to storage bench

The transformation required considerably more than a fresh coat of paint. The credenza consisted of three sections, with a central cabinet flanked by rows of drawers. Haley removed the decorative fake trim from the centre cabinet and took out one entire set of drawers. Some of the salvaged material was then reused to reinforce the new bench panel. Additional trim was created for the edges, and beadboard was added to give shape to the backrest as well as the inner wall of the newly created shoe-storage compartment.

The final step was to give the furniture a shabby-chic look rather than a brand-new finish. For this purpose, chalk paint was applied and slightly sanded. Unlike furniture wax, which has to be reapplied from time to time and may show water stains, polyurethane was used because it is more durable and helps protect the furniture from moisture.

When an exhibition piece became a crowd favourite

The renovated bench was supposed to be a demonstration project for the Portland Spring Home & Garden Show. The idea was to show visitors how a discarded piece of furniture could be turned into something useful. However, the response exceeded expectations. Habitat for Humanity said interest in buying the bench began on the first day it was displayed. During the home show, hundreds of potential buyers expressed interest in the handcrafted piece.

In addition to selling used furniture, these stores are home improvement centres that do charity work through selling new and used items to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity’s housing projects. Shoppers can buy unique items while helping to keep usable goods out of the trash and to support Habitat’s work. Haley’s design of the credenza demonstrated how a design idea can transform the value of an item without creating a whole new product.