The recycling of old furniture, instead of building more items, in the realm of interior design and decoration embodies a very practical solution that allows promoting environmental sustainability. However, the most sustainable option is to combine recycled materials with ecological materials, since old furniture can be used to create newer ones while using new materials that have environmental protection criteria in their manufacture.
The word “upcycling” is made up of the English “up” and “recycling” and is a relevant process in which old, useless or broken things that are otherwise going to garbage cans would end up being made usable again through an upgrade. The point is not to follow instructions, but to create something new from existing materials. With the increasing enthusiasm for sustainability and environmentally friendly consumer behavior, upcycling has become a trend that is highly environmentally conscious.
The importance of upcycling and the manufacture of eco-sustainable products is increasing over the years. Given that in the UK, it is estimated that collectively local households yearly discard around 100 billion plastic items such as snack bags and containers, fruit and veg trays and so on, this problem is not one to scoff at. As a result of these tendencies, 2.5 million metric tons of plastic waste was generated in the United Kingdom in 2021 – a shocking statistic that leaves one wondering if there’s anything one can do to help this crisis from growing exponentially. In this article we propose ideas for you to recycle your old or damaged furniture and turn it into new and original furniture while incorporating items that you might’ve considered discarding, helping the world by making practical choices that will help your household be more clean, eco-friendly and sustainable.
Antique Chest Drawers or End Tables: Give Them a Fresh Twist!
The chest drawers or sideboards are the furniture that we use the most in bedrooms and other living spaces. Over time, these pieces of furniture wear out or get damaged. The most common reaction to this change is to get rid of them. However, it is truly avoidable when they are easily reusable using recycled materials with which we can decorate the furniture to our liking.
Chest drawers, or any other older furniture that has movable and often interacted with elements like drawers, can be upgraded using recycled materials in a simple and original way. Such materials like sandpaper, glue, brush, paint, varnish, as well as maps or newspapers and magazines can be easily found in your household. The beginning of the process is as simple as sanding the furniture to remove traces of paint and other imperfections, this will also show the sturdiness of the furniture before you. Afterwards, you can cut the maps, magazines or newspapers to the same size as the drawers, measured out and glued to the chest of drawers; the rest of the furniture can be painted with your preferred color. Finally, the piece of furniture can be varnished to protect the paint and paper, leaving an original, decorative and sustainable recycled piece of furniture.
If you do not want to add new elements to your furniture, adding a fresh coat of varnish after sanding can make a world of difference in itself. In addition, it’s something you can do by yourself, though it’s advised that you at least consult with someone experienced in varnish, as it can be tricky and deceptive in how its layering can look after everything is dry.
Original and Simple Ways to Reuse Wooden Ladders with Recycled Materials
Wooden ladders can seem very straightforward in their singular purpose and use. “You go up and down with them and I already have a staircase, why bother with those?” you might think. However, at times simplicity provides avenues for the most amounts of creativity, as such is the case with movable ladders. Here are some ways they can be sustainably repurposed for the needs of your household:
Their structure that helped them support a weight on people going up and down is their best asset when it comes to repurposing them for further use. Wooden ladders with wide steps or sides can easily be converted into shelves and additional display spaces. Such new shelves can be used to place all kinds of objects such as figures, plants or books simply by opening the stairs and nailing wooden boards between the steps. They can also be painted and varnished to personal taste. You can add any motif or inscription on their side if you plan to display them in such a way where you might see it, especially if wear and tear of the ladder makes it difficult to hide its imperfections.
When used in a kitchen, they can be converted into a rustic towel rack or a suspension point where your utensils and pots can be hung from. In general, whether it is hanging horizontally on the wall or when placed vertically to free stand on its own, it draws attention to itself very effectively, and if it is used to display something important to you, it can become a wonderful conversation starter.
Another ingenious way that wooden ladders are utilized is their use as a base and suspension point for your ceiling lights. When paired with greenery or artificial vines and a couple of rustic metal lanterns, it becomes an unassuming structural point that impresses with its simplicity yet functionality. This stylistic choice is greatly used in dining rooms with rustic design, as well as outdoor kitchens and wooden patios.
In general, something as functional as a ladder should never be seen one-dimensionally, especially if we dedicate ourselves to ideas of sustainability and repurposing to avoid further waste pollution. If it is not suitable for what it was originally used for, it simply means that other avenues of use are to be found in this situation. This concept is the one we will be coming to many times in this article, so keep it in mind!
Send Your Wooden Crates on a New Journey of Functionality!
DIY upcycling and reusing ideas for wood crates are limitless. They are a cheap, adaptable way for you to provide your house more usefulness while giving it a unique touch. Moreover, when paired with a statistic we have given you before – that food crates are one of the top items that contribute to waste pollution in our country – it’s paramount that we look into ways of making them count and finding creative ways to implement them in our home design.
You may make your wooden box decor as simplistic or as fashionable as you choose. Wooden crates are excellent for storing a wide range of items in a variety of ways, even when left plain. Otherwise, you could disassemble them, screw them together, paint them, and create something new out of them. As such, assembling a makeshift crate bookshelf and display case is one of the most common ways of reusing wooden crates. In this case, they can be used as both the base of the shelf and then be fitted to be converted into small drawers inside them, and this way their uniform adds harmonious unity to a new storage unit. Repainted crates can also be used as end-of-bed chests that, when paired with mood lighting from floor candles and greenery in the room, make for a very organic and eco-friendly place to store bed covers that you want to put away when getting your bed ready for rest, for example. This use can be maximized further by attaching a couple of crates together with a rope, making a hanging multi-level storage unit that doesn’t take up much space, but provides a very original alternative to bulky storage units.
Another way for using wooden crates is turning them into small rustic coffee tables that would look wonderful in an outdoor patio or other outdoor spaces where such a table would be a fitting outdoor piece of furniture. To convert a wooden crate into a coffee table, it can be repainted any color you wish and some caster wheels can be screwed into it, making it mobile and easy to place anywhere you want. Continuing with an idea of assembling a table from wooden crates, a few of those can be made into a stylish, eco-friendly office table. Some bigger furniture retailers recently came out with the designs of their office desks that resemble wooden crate design on their sides. Such pieces cost a fortune because companies realize the interest in designs that echo ideas of reusability and repurposing of potential waste materials. But why would you pay extra for something that looks sustainable when with just a few nails and a fresh coat of paint and varnish you can make something trendy and interesting yourself?
Wooden crates can be used to create additional storage space anywhere you might need it, for example over the doorway in your bathroom or any other smaller room where you don’t want to clutter even otherwise lacking floor space with more cabinets or tables. In general, such crates’ versatility can be utilized in many ways and in different, at times unexpected ways. Always look out for opportunities to reuse an old storage unit before you make a final decision to get rid of it! However, if you do, make sure to do it in sustainable ways so that it can be properly recycled.
Doors Turned Tables
If you’ve gotten new doors for your house, and see no ways of using the old ones, we’ve got you covered too. Have you ever explored the opportunity for recycling an old door?
There are many different ways you may turn a door into something new, from a coffee table to a dining table, a picnic table or a DIY desk for your home office. Sometimes a good door, like an old and sturdy front door, can outlive the building it once protected. It is because many doors were made from very sturdy wood that was purposefully made to stand strong against the changes in temperature and physical impact. These qualities are uniquely good for the purposes of a tabletop.
You can transform any door into your very own personalized table with just a few tools, some table legs, and some hard work. In some cases where doors have carvings on them that people would like to avoid, instead of polishing the wood down to make the surface smooth one can add glass on top of such a tabletop. This way you can preserve the original solid base and have a smooth tabletop surface. When we are talking about outdoor tables, those ridges can be left alone, as many outside tables are intentionally made to have gaps or carvings in their surface to provide such tables more character and give them a unique, memorable look. Tables made from doors become even more interesting and impressive if a mosaic glass is embedded in them. If you have a door with glass parts in it, consider adding colored glass to it before you turn the door into the tabletop. This way you will dazzle everyone with a pretty, original table that you will want to gather your friends and family around!
Bar Cabinets from Old Dressers as a Way to Spruce up Your Living Room
An old desk that you have at home may be what we are looking for in order to design a simple but effective bar cabinet. The only thing we have to do is adapt each of its holes, so that we can place bottles, glasses and other elements that we need to prepare tasty cocktails inside.
To make it happen, you may want to replace the lower part of the dresser with glass doors so that you can display your favorite spirits as you enjoy your time with guests in the living room. Then, once it’s time to serve your guests drinks, you effortlessly pick one of the flutes or glasses from the upper parts of the dresser where you can make a small space specifically for your fancy glassware. Having this sort of cabinet if you enjoy spending time with friends over drinks in your place can add an air of fancy aesthetic you will be thankful for. To achieve this, an older, repurposed piece of furniture is a times better option than buying a furniture piece that would be seen as a luxury item with a price tag that comes with such a label.
Making Original Hangers for Best Rustic Aesthetic
Many old household items can be repurposed into original hangers and knobs that can be used as such. For example, if a chest drawer can’t be reused fully, but its drawers have original and creative knobs, they can be set up on walls in an asymmetrical style that allows to use them as stylish towel racks in your kitchen or bathroom. Faucets, old spoons or forks you wouldn’t want to use, even branches from an old fallen tree – all of those and many more other things can be used as creative coat racks at the entrance of your home or as any other type of hook for any of your needs.
The bases for such coat racks can also be repurposed from any sort of smooth wooden or plastic items, such as yardsticks or tops from the furniture you have recycled previously. One of the most creative ideas for your coat racks can be interesting to those of you that have children – you can add small note boards or blackboards above the coat racks of your kids to have a chance to write something nice for them that they will be able to read before they leave home. In general, it is important to consider creative approaches to your everyday needs before you turn to mass-produced plastic or metallic hooks when we talk about incorporating concepts of sustainability and mindfulness into your interior design.
Glass Items and Their Many Uses and Transformative Nature
Since our four-legged friends usually require a modest yet significant amount of space for everything they might need, many owners struggle with how to organize a place for their companions in a way that makes everyone happy. Some solutions to this problem that we will share with you not only incorporate sustainability principles, but are ergonomically optimal and will help you organize the space in your place in a way that is sure to satisfy your pets and make your living place less chaotic.
- Place your pet’s bed inside an end table or a drawer for a creative retractable bed space. By day, this can appear to be a typical nightstand, but at night, simply unlock the latch and let your dog access the bed. If it does not define performing two functions at once, we do not know what does.
- You can transform an old suitcase into a comfortable location for your dog to lounge on by filling the bottom with a foam cushion covered in a colorful fabric. Put a burlap pennant banner on it, and tuck his favorite toys into the pockets of the baggage.
- You may transform a vintage unit into a dog bed fit for a king if you have one gathering dust in the basement or are fortunate enough to locate one in a resale shopAs soon as you try to save on plastic packaging and aluminum cans when shopping, you will increasingly reach for food in glass jars. These glasses can then quickly accumulate at home. For glass to be truly more sustainable, you should reuse it repeatedly, looking for more ways of exploiting all of the possibilities. Glass is a versatile material that is especially well suited for handicrafts. Old glass items do not necessarily have to end up in glass waste, but can be used for DIY ideas. Different glass containers and items can be utilized in various creative ways and here are some examples:
Glass jars
- They can be used to sort various grains and dry foods like nuts, seeds, spices, etc. in it. Old screw-top jars look great on open shelves, but with labeled lids, they are also super clear and are great to store whatever you need in drawers.
- You can also use old jars as “to go” containers for your food on the go. Large glass jars are ideal, for example, for safely transporting soups, salads, muesli, etc. Small glasses are perfect for transporting salad dressings, pesto, parmesan, etc.
- Prepare and fill your own sauces, pesto, dips, tomato sauce, spreads, jam, etc. You can, for example, cook normal jam and homemade tomato sauce. Such items stores in pretty glass jars also make a wonderful gift idea.
- Decorated with pretty pastel colors and some sandpaper, jam jars can be transformed into stylish shabby chic beauty pots for make-up storage and can be placed on your vanity table or in a bathroom.
- The wonder of nature can be presented particularly nicely in a glass jar. Just fill the jar with a suitable soil and plant whatever you want in it – a tall glass container will allow for any sunlight a plant may need while protecting it from wind and unnecessary elements when necessary.
- Whether at Easter, in autumn to celebrate the coming season, for a Christmas atmosphere or for special occasions: old glasses and glass jars make beautiful tea light holders for every season. Cover the jars with colorful autumn leaves, tissue paper, and old lace fabric or simply tie a bow around them for a simplistic yet beautiful home decoration.
Glass bottles
- Partitions made from old bottles look particularly attractive in the sunlight. You don’t necessarily need bottles of the same color. You can arrange them in a way that suits your style and designer expectations to achieve any effect you want, from simply displaying unusual bottles for decorative value or systematizing them in a way you like.
- Great lighting idea for the home bar: fill empty spirits or wine bottles with fairy lights and group them into the limelight. This creates a cozy homely atmosphere in any setting and can be incorporated into a room of any style.
- Wrap the bottles that were actually intended for the glass waste container in scraps of fabric. With individual blossoms or dried flowers, they make a chic and, above all, quick decoration that nevertheless makes for a simple yet nice addition to any style of room it’s in.
- Glass bottled can be repurposed into garden tools. This idea was first introduced by British designer Michael Hannaford and requires skill in working with glass, but such tools are long lasting and durable.
- When the next summer comes and you find yourself surrounded with annoying mosquitos, an outdoor torch made from a glass bottle can be a real lifesaver. With a homemade citronella oil lamp, you can keep the pests at bay in style.
- A bottle lamp can be made from a light bulb socket with lampshade at the top, a small chain of lights at the bottom – and the unique piece is complete. It looks more stylish if you use a bottle made of white glass without a label, but if you leave a label on, it can help create a very artistic piece as well.
- Hollowed glass bottles turned horizontally can also be used as planters and can be displayed on any vertical surface that allows them to be mounted to it. It’s a very creative way to grow your plants that is sure to become a nice conversation starter with your fellow gardeners.
In general, glass achieves a particularly beautiful effect in combination with light. You can use old preserving, jam or mustard jars as lanterns and fill unusual wine or champagne bottles with fairy lights – with battery-operated fairy lights you can hide the batteries in a small bag attached to the neck of the bottle. You can also upcycle old glass bottles to be used as flower vases. An opaquely painted jam jar becomes a chic cutlery holder. It is also a sustainable material for many uses, and before discarding glass containers, consider ways of implementing it on your household. Glass items never truly go out of style.
Unusual Planting Places: Ideas and Tips
We’ve briefly touched upon an idea of utilizing jars and glass bottles as planting containers, but there are many more things that can be used for this purpose. Those who do not want to use pots from the hardware store when planting are well advised to upcycle. Many things are suitable as DIY planters, even old milk cartons can be used for crafting and are ideal as recycling material. Teapots or watering cans, rubber boots, sawn barrels – there are hardly any limits to creativity here. Unless the plants are houseplants with a separate inner pot or aquatic plants, make sure there is a drain system implemented in the container to drain excess water.
Original Ways of Making an Indoor Home for Your Pet
- . Remove the electronic components from the old console, taking care not to damage the image tube, and then paint it the color of your choice.
- Make a specific area inside a side table in the family room for a dog who values seclusion but wants to be close to the family. Paint the wood with a relaxing neutral color after shellacking it to stop stain from bleeding through. Whether it is naptime or not, the interior is appealing thanks to a two-toned piped pillow.
- You can stuff old thick clothes with fillings to create a stylish, warm and soft bed for your companion. This will give the bed a personal touch as you share something of yours with your four-legged companion.
These are just a few creative ways in which you can make a sustainable resting place for your pets. You can think of many more ways to make it work if you look back on the points and ideas we have listed before: incorporating wooden crates filled with a blanket or a duvet, repurposing other older furniture pieces to your needs and so on.
All it takes is one introduction to a concept and sustainability in practical ways, which should inspire you to think of possibilities of repurposing everything in many creative ways! We hope that with this article we have provided you with ample examples of practical ways in which you can make your living space more eco-friendly and creative. Adhering to limitations on mass consumption requires you to think of unorthodox ways of making things work, but the payoff of such efforts is in knowing that you make the world around you a better place by making practically sound and mindful choices. And it’s not something to scoff at. It is a commendable choice that, if more people made it, we would live in a much better world. What we can do is take a few small steps at a time – and, perhaps, starting with your own home is the best way of all.
