When I first visited Song of the Robin Bed & Breakfast and Animal Sanctuary (formerly Red Robin Song), I instantly fell in love with it. It's a vegan bed and breakfast just over the New York border from Massachusetts. And with 85 acres of trails and ponds, plus dozens of rescued animals, it's hard not to relax and have a great time. The owner, Lisa Robinson, and I became fast friends and over the years, I've been back many times to visit, host numerous film screenings and the first annual Reuse Retreat.
On numerous occasions, Lisa and I would meet and talk about ideas to bring more reuse solutions to the guest house and sanctuary, as she wanted it to be as eco-friendly as possible. This past summer, I finally had the opportunity to bring The REUSE! Box Truck for a longterm stay and offer Lisa some official consulting services. I came up with a plan to help Lisa get the guest house back up and fully running, as it had been affected by the pandemic and people love donating STUFF to non profits. After a successful summer of cleaning and purging with a huge yard sale and donations, the guest house did fully re-open. But now with the guest house fully open, Lisa had another problem. Sometimes, weekend volunteers were sleeping in the guest rooms that she could be renting out. So, it was time to figure out a place for them to sleep.
Around the same time, there was an unfortunate passing of Betty White, the beloved white rabbit who was always a favorite of guests at Song of the Robin. Since she liked humans better than other rabbits, Betty had lived alone in a larger shed that conveniently had electricity and air conditioning. So, Lisa and I got an idea and then I brought in my resident unique tiny space builder, Derek "Deek" Diedricksen. You can watch the short video of what we did here:
After we completed the transformation (and added a cushion to the couch), I slept in "Betty's Bungalow" for a couple of nights to see if there were any upgrades needed. For example, drinking coffee was of course one of my first tasks in there and I realized that I needed to make some coasters from some of our scrap cutoffs.
This project was a perfect example of how reuse helps save resources, money and time, while benefitting people, planet, and wallet.
(👤) Benefits the People - a unique space for people to sleep and for Lisa to celebrate Betty
(🌎) Benfits the Planet - saved resources by using almost entirely pre-owned/used materials
(💰) Benefits the Wallet - saved Lisa well into the 4 figures with used materials and opened up another guest room to rent.
In addition, it was a great way to turn the sad situation of losing Betty into a positive by celebrating her with this structure and unique art piece by Deek.
If you're interested in staying at Song of the Robin Bed and Breakfast, visiting the animal sanctuary and seeing Betty's Bungalow in person, head over here for details.
If you're interested in teaming up with Deek on a project or for some consulting services from me, reach out here.
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