Old chairs get transformed into works of art by Conestoga students

Old and unwanted chairs got an artistic makeover as they were reupholstered and painted by Conestoga Colleges's second-year interior decorating students.

Seventeen chairs are on display for the first time at the central branch of the Kitchener Public Library(KPL), on Queen Street, as part of this year'sCHAIRity project andfundraiser.

"The students were challenged to take an old chair that might have been bound to a landfill or perhaps stuck in a grandparent's attic...and transform it into a newusable upcycle[d]piece of furniture," said Leslee Squirrell, interior decorating program coordinator at Conestoga College who launched the idea in 2012.

This year's themewas famous painters. Squirrell said that the idea was for students to incorporate the style of the painting with the style of the chair.

Then the librarymatched books of several famous painters with the chairs.

This Saturday the chairs will be auctioned during the CHAIRity Gala at the central branch of KPL, where proceeds will got to Habitat For Humanity Waterloo Region.