Screenshot of the stop-motion video. Image Muriel Plaster Muriel Plaster (23) is a Bachelor’s student in Marine Ecology. Her plans for an internship abroad got cancelled due to corona. Instead, she ended up redecorating her boyfriend’s student apartment.
‘My boyfriend and I were planning to do our internships on Curaçao. I had already terminated the contract for my room, while he had sold all his furniture. Then corona hit the island and we couldn’t go.’
Only a mattress left
‘Since I did not have my room anymore, we stayed together at my boyfriend’s student apartment in The Hague. All that was left there, was a mattress to sleep on. I decided to check Marktplaats and other websites for free furniture so that we could properly work and live in his room until travelling was possible again. Surprisingly, many people are giving away old furniture for free, and we started to redecorate the room entirely. In the end, it felt and looked better than it did for the last three years.’
Every piece had a story to tell and created amazing experiences
Muriel Plaster
‘Because we could not go to Curaçao yet, I signed up for the course Empowerment for Sustainability. This included a self-chosen project about communicating environmental awareness to empower the people around you. Inspired by the redecoration of my boyfriend’s bedroom, I decided to refurbish the living room of the student apartment and share the process on social media. The living room was used more as a dumping station for old furniture than to socialise or connect with each other. Everybody just stayed in their private rooms. The challenge became to revive the living room, renovate it only with things that people give away for free and turn it into a high-quality interior.’
Old piano
‘We started by giving away the old furniture for free and made a lot of people really happy. All the housemates helped move an old piano into a new family’s home. I exchanged chocolate cake for wall paint and made friends with neighbours from whom we borrowed tools. One time, we picked up some furniture pieces from an old lady that recently moved into a retirement home. We sat down with her kids to have some coffee and talk for a while. Every piece had a story to tell and created amazing experiences. I just loved this way of “furniture shopping”. Especially in corona times when you can order everything online and get it sent to your doorstep without interacting with a single human being.’
‘Limiting myself to only free furniture quickly became a design challenge: How do you create a stylish interior within a period of three weeks and, obviously, on a tight budget? This process really sparked my creativity and showed that a good interior makeover does not have to start with a trip to the nearest IKEA.’
‘I think it is such a beautiful concept to trade your pre-loved furniture for free. Especially from a sustainability point of view, this circular approach has so much potential. Looking for used furniture slows you down, lets you reflect on what you really like and need, and helps to reduce waste. It also stirs your creativity and connects you with people!’
Stop-motion
‘I shared the complete redecoration process on my Instagram in an interactive way. The result was published in the style of an animated knowledge clip and a stop-motion video of the room. I was intrigued by making animations for a while, so I took this opportunity to learn it. I had never done this before, but I was amazed at how simple it is with PowerPoint and a tutorial on YouTube. Making the animations only took me a day and a half.’
‘The project is finished, but I will definitely keep decorating like this in the future. If someone considers trying this approach at home: do it! People offer between 80 and 120 free pieces of furniture on Marktplaats every day, and that is only around The Hague. Wageningen is a bit smaller of course, but if you set the search radius to 10 to 25 kilometres, you can find everything you need. There are a lot of things in Arnhem and Ede as well. Borrow a car, ask a friend or rent a bakfiets.’
