Full Circle Furniture is exactly what the name indicates: It’s a furniture store where each piece was once something else.

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The store is the product of a local environmental group that seeks to salvage items destined for the landfill.

Nicole Craig’s computer desk used to be a door. “Everyone’s amazed,” he said. “It used to be two doors; doors slated for the landfill and given new life.”


She gave the desk new life herself with do-it-yourself instructions, WISC-TV reported. “Just working through instructions, I was able to build a table out of the doors, what a great idea,” she said.

Keeping those old doors out of the landfill is the next big project.

“It would have been considered garbage,” said environmentalist Christi Weber. “We can make functional pieces and it also tells a story.” The story behind Craig’s door, which became a desk, was that it was one of more than 200 saved from a Meriter Hospital deconstruction project downtown. Now, each door is useful in a new way. “As tables, desks, craft carts, kitchen islands for eating at,” said Weber. “We’re providing alternatives to some of the furniture that is just throw-away. This is something long-lasting, durable, healthier.”

Currently, Full Circle Furniture is only selling pre-made items that cost from $700 to $2,000. They plan to provide the do-it-yourself instructions to the public by the end of the month.