When you decorate your home, you want to ensure that what you are doing is both beautiful and sustainable. The sad fact is that when you buy anything new, it has to be manufactured – which leads to waste. Thankfully, you can make your home look amazing without purchasing a single new thing by upcycling things you already have or by buying used.
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Turn Old Window Shutters into a Headboard
You are likely to find many old shutters at any Habitat for Humanity ReStore very inexpensively. You may even have some of your own taking up space in your attic or garage that can be repurposed wonderfully. Just paint the shutters to match your décor and fix it to your wall where a headboard would go on your bed.
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Use Mason Jars to Make Lanterns
Look at thrift stores and the Goodwill to find old mason and canning jars with lids to turn into awesome lanterns. You’ll need jars, paint, ribbon, wire, wire cutters, and a few other materials to make these lanterns. You can watch a YouTube video about this here.
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Use Old Metal Trash Cans as Planters
Look at any thrift store and you’re likely to find the old kinds of trash cans for sale cheap. You don’t need them to look brand-new to make planters out of them. Drill holes in the bottom, fill with rocks, then soil, then your plants. You can keep them on your porch, inside, or even in the elements, and they’ll just look better with time.
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Make Attractive Wall Displays of Accessories
If you have expensive purses, belts, scarves, and even shoes, you can create an attractive wall display of these things that you love. There is no reason to hide them in the closet. Dedicate one wall to your accessories using hooks or other creative methods of hanging them that makes them easy to grab but also look good while not in use.
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Use Old Clip Boards as Picture Frames
A clever idea to create a feature wall in an office is to find old clipboards that are not being used anymore. You can often find these at second-hand stores like the Goodwill or Salvation Army. You can leave them as they are and clip your pictures to them, or you can paint them to make them more colorful.
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Use Anything for Containers to Keep Stuff Organized
One thing that makes any home look more decorated is keeping clutter down. And the best way to keep clutter down is to keep it in different types of containers. For example, if you have a lot of beads or buttons you save, why not paint an old ice cube tray to match your décor to hold the small stuff. Using an old mirror on your dresser to keep your watch, phone, and rings also helps the area look better.
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Use Drawers from a Broken Dresser as Shelves
At second-hand stores, they will often have parts of dressers for sale. You may wonder what in the world you can do with that if you don’t know how to fix the wood. Well, you can use the drawers as shelves. Take the drawers and forget the rest. Paint them to make them match your décor, then mount on the wall. Then you can put your important stuff inside to frame them up nicely.
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Use Pictures from Old Calendars as Wall Art
You don’t have to spend a lot of money on art to make your home beautiful. Instead, find old calendars with famous or attractive images and artwork at second-hand stores. Carefully cut the images away from the calendar portion. Mat and frame the pictures and put them around your home in strategic places.
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Create a Perpetual Calendar with Old Paint Chips
If you really like DIY, a fun idea is to create a perpetual calendar that you can use whenever you want. You only need a glass frame, a whiteboard marker, and old paint chips you can get free. Watch this YouTube Video to see more about making this awesome calendar.
Upcycling is not just fun; repurposing is also good for the environment and your wallet. Making something old new again is a great way to maintain your sustainable living goals. By making your surroundings beautiful without adding to the pollution, you’ll feel good about it too. What type of upcycle décor have you created?
