Chant the recycle mantra

DIY Project

Wouldn’t your home, your space mean more to you if you were to do it up with your own hands and your creativity? Wouldn’t you want to create something unique and easy to jazz up your home? With a little creative thinking, you can create some fabulous home décor. Recycling and up-cycling are definitely the easiest and most eco-friendly steps you can take to save the environment. A suitcase is just one of the few items that are worth recycling when its use ends.

Old suitcases can be recycled and made into useful medicine cabinets or toiletry cabinets at home. A unique and stylish look is thus created without having to throw the used suitcase. By attaching it to the wall and adding just a mirror on the outer cover (which will serve as the shutter), it can be converted into a cabinet.

Old license plates from the garage can be used to create bookends. They are sturdy and just the right size for book ends. These will surely be a talking point among guests because they lend a classic yet elegant look to your homes.

Make the most of old bottles

Used wine bottles can be used in a number of ways to pep up your home. Wine bottles have so many applications in homes, gardens or even as jewellery. You can make a beautiful and unique garden border with these wine bottles. All you need to do is collect as many wine bottles as you can and soak them in warm water to remove the labels. Dig a hole big enough to insert a bottle just past its neck in the soil. Continue that process till your garden border is complete, circular or whichever shape you want your border to be.

Beautiful candle holders can be created from old wine bottles. All you need to do is cut the bottles at various heights from the lower end and attach a candle on the bottle’s mouth. The shape of a wine bottle lends itself perfectly to use as a lamp, whether you cut it in half and use it as a hanging pendant light, fill it with a string of fairy lights or simply use it as the base of a table lamp.

How about just painting the bottles in the most imaginative and colourful way possible and use it as decorative art! Old cupboard doors can be quite handy too! A beautiful serving tray can be made from a salvaged cupboard door.

It will make for a great gift for someone who loves breakfast in bed! What you have to do is attach handles on the sides, paint it with the colour of your choice, make a motif and it is ready to use. The cupboard doors can be repainted and used as shelves. Old louvered panel doors or shutters are easily transformed into shutters by just adding brackets.

Do not discard your old jeans just yet. You can stitch them up together to make a chic and modern rug for your entertainment area.

Similarly, old saris and dupattas can be transformed into beautiful cushion covers. You can reuse your ribbons and buttons to revive an old shade, pillow or curtain using nothing more than glue gun or fabric glue.

Dolls and puppets can be created from recycled materials. All you need is some scrap of fabric, cotton, old buttons, needle, thread and a little bit of your imagination.

Use upholstery fabrics

If you have a bunch of upholstery fabrics, do not be in a hurry to get rid of them. Convert them into flowers.

You can embellish them with used lace and wires to complete them. They would make fantastic decoration for your vase. Old bottles and old lab tubes may be used as vases. They add that touch of class and colour to the decor.

Old tyre tubes can be used in garden as plant holders. And at homes they can turn into quirky seaters. All you need to do is attach a cushion in the middle and an extra seat to go with your sofa is ready!

One can even use an old wheel (if one has a bullock cart wheel, nothing like it!) as a table. A glass top and the legs will complete the inimitable look.

Magazines and newspapers can be up-cycled into coiled paper baskets that look like wood’s concentric rings. Using a magazine and lot of glue, you can make fruit bowl, a pencil holder or a small basket. If you know the art of weaving, sky is the limit for you. You can make sturdy baskets out of old newspapers, paint them and use as magazine or newspapers rack in your living room. Old luggage trunks can be transformed into tables by just covering them with a beautiful fabric.

Wine crates can be used as wall décor or a shelf in the wall for your little knick knacks. Just paint the inside or cover the inside of the crate with a colourful or printed fabric, drill holes into it just so you can screw it to the wall. Use it to showcase your photos or decorative items. Isn’t it wonderful how reducing, reusing and recycling can help make our home look fantastic? Where there’s a will and a little thought, there is a use for almost everything in this world.

Reinvent

*Beautiful candle holders can be created from old wine    bottles. All you need to do is cut the bottles at various heights from the lower end and attach a candle on the bottle’s mouth.
*The shape of a wine bottle lends itself perfectly to use as a lamp, whether you cut it in half and use it as a hanging pendant light, fill it with a string of fairy lights or simply use it as the base of a table lamp.
*Old tyre tubes can be used in garden as plant holders. And at homes they can turn into quirky seaters.
All you need to do is attach a cushion in the middle and an extra seat to go with your sofa is ready!
*Wine crates can be used as wall décor or a shelf in the wall for your little knick knacks. Just paint the inside or cover the inside of the crate with a colourful or printed fabric, drill holes into it just so you can screw it to the wall. Use it to showcase your photos or decorative items.
*Old suitcases can be   recycled and made into useful medicine cabinets or toiletry cabinets at home.