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GREENSBORO — Shoppers who visit the Chic Chateau this weekend will find for sale home furnishings that look like they were pulled from the showrooms of high-end furniture stores: arm chairs covered in dark chocolate mohair, pillows filled with down and feathers, a bold turquoise vanity.

Credit the skill and creativity of the interior designers and volunteers who painted, sewed, and glued items salvaged from local thrift, consignment and antique shops. Sponsors of the sale hope to raise funds for four non-profit organizations that serve low-income families, while demonstrating that cash-strapped consumers can improve the look of their homes without spending a lot of money.

“I think our turnout is going to be great,” said Lisa Medder, who works for SSI Design Group Inc., a Greensboro cooperative. “We’ve donated a lot of time putting this together and everybody’s goal is to make money for the charities.”

Michele van Gobes, an account executive with Clear Channel Radio, decided to hold the fundraiser after listening to a radio program about a similar event in Hendersonville. van Gobes recruited the help of Allen Tate Realtors, Lowes Foods and other businesses to organize the event. D. Stone Builders offered the use of a model four-bedroom house in the new Southern Gates development off New Garden Road.

"It's just been incredible," van Gobes said. "It got bigger than anybody expected it to."

van Gobes and others will distribute proceeds from admission prices and sales among Habitat for Humanity of Greater Greensboro, Housing Greensboro, the Barnabas Network and Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina, which serves Guilford County. Chic Chateau will also accept canned goods.

Beth Bealle said that the donations will help Second Harvest reach its goal of collecting 13 million pounds of food over the next year, a 50 percent rise from last year.

“Every little bit counts, particularly when we’re in such tough economic times,” Bealle said about the fundraiser. “That’s why we’re so pleased to be a part of this event in Guilford.”

Organizers already have plans to hold such fundraisers again and SSI Design Group is considering hosting a fashion show featuring secondhand women's apparel. Decorators explained that the Chic Chateau project was a departure from their typical assignments, which require ordering new furniture from catalogs.

Medder estimated she spent about 10 hours creating a lamp base from glued pieces of a $2 Jenga game found at a Goodwill store. The lamp sits on an end table surrounded by mostly donated items. On the walls hang framed art made from old-fashioned game boards and dominoes.

Other rooms feature a repainted science lab desk, a kitchen table made from an old door and metal scaffolding, and chairs covered with slipcovers sewn from painters drop cloth.

“One of the reasons this was such a good idea is that we wanted to let people know about all the good pieces out there that are not new,” said Lynn Tester, one of the decorators. “In a way this is more creative because you have to work with what you find.”