This is a perfect refab. Horribly dated hall lamp becomes a desirable, really beautiful mirror. Complete DIY at Design Sponge
Showing posts with label
decor
Great example of some thrifty refabbing ... and creative reinterpreting! Two places to go for a complete tutorial (I've used images from both): Design Sponge and Courtney Ann
Stir up some new lighting with this awesome how-to from Serendipity Refined.
You know those framed prints that take up oodles of space at thrift stores? The ones of basset hounds, fox hunts, manor houses and historic street scenes? The ones no one really wants, even though they're 50c? Well next time you see one, buy it. Then add food coloring to bubbles and let your kids turn it into art! Complete tutorial at Life As a Thrifter.
If you are not yet a regular visitor at It's Always Autumn, change that now! Beautiful blog, great ideas. Like this simple book photo frame (please click through for the complete how-to)
Happy first Monday of July but...what happened to June? And half of 2012? Tick-tock, tick-tock. So... guess what the theme is this week? No, not clocks. Guitars! I got my first kid-sized acoustic guitar when I was 8, a not-quite-full-size and an actual teacher when I was 11 and I've had some version around ever since. I never trashed a guitar (I was a flaky, eccentric singer-songwriter). So, I'd never thought about repurposing the various bits and pieces of one until I found Stringcycle and saw what could be done with used-up strings. Since then, several posts have been brewing. They all go live this week.
The first - turning a trashed guitar into a clock! Clock mechanisms are cheap and easy to find - I say this with confidence because I once churned out book clocks to make extra money. This dramatic transformation from My Repurposed Life is a lot of fun and I'd love to see a version done with book pages! Please note that the clock face is an old CD. Note too the guitar picks used to frame the clock. Guitar picks will be a focal point this week! Get the whole tutorial here. (Via Handmade Spark)
I happened upon these three projects at different times (all using what I call corrugated cardboard) and it felt right to group them together. Clean-cut, very modern aesthetic ... great design etc. Let's bear in mind that the material is cardboard.
1. This amazing shelf is an Instructables masterpiece
2. Spotted the cardboard laptop stand at Green Upgrader
3. The mod organizer with the very clean lines is from Curbly
I few weeks ago I needed to shorten a morning run and turned down a street not usually on my route. Consequently, I discovered this house just a few blocks from me in Rogers Park. I am *not* the first person to put pics of this place online (Apt Therapy 2010) but I couldn't resist going back to photograph it.
Film/negative repurposing week continues! Today, it's about decor and other little bits and bobs. First, the amazing shelves! I know some people whose home is cool enough to warrant shelving like this (and who are talented enough to make it!) These beautiful things were created by VU35 .... check out the behind the scenes shots for a sense of how they did it (via Photojojo)
Welcome to my first-ever themed week... five posts about repurposing old cameras, 35mm film etc. At some point you might see the header "putting a positive spin on negatives" because I can't resist. There might be at least one actual tutorial from your's truly. And maybe a giveaway. Another first for me :)
To start the week with a bang, I present the completely amazing lamp created by Stacie Grissom blogging at Stars for Streetlights. I'm mesmerized by this thing. And it's doable thanks to her superb instructions.
Fubu-color-wonderous! This awesome upcycle from Sam of Little House in the Big D makes me want to run out and find a metal filing cabinet.
Look ... look again. A pop-tab curtain? How freakin' cool is that? Get the how-to here ... (via decorhacks)
So... I've been a little lazy about my home tour. But this week I actually got around to taking pictures while the light was good. So here's a bedroom project! I'm not really a headboard person - I think the wall works pretty well. But I do like the idea of making the wall above the bed a feature of some sort. Especially if it's the wall you see from the room entrance. We have very little color in this room - the walls are a green we love. Pretty much everything else in the space is wood (furniture) or natural fibers in neutral tones. So I had no idea what I wanted above the bed. Consequently, the space was empty for a while. Then one day we happened upon these place mats at CB2... yup - they're place mats. They were on clearance, of course. Since they don't really lie flat, they were never going to make very good place mats. But I loved the wood.
Mirrors created with some version of a plastic scoop / spoon ... they're a theme this week. Apparently these orange scoops come from a brand of formula. They look like something we got in cans of powdered juice when I was a kid ... one scoop of the stuff into water and you had a neon orange drink. Wow ... yum (!) Complete how to here.
This eye-popping chandelier is created entirely from plastic water bottles. Visit Oh Happy Day for the completely tutorial.
One beat up, $10 desk, a little carpentry, a little paint and hellloooooooooo.... yes please! Get the how to from Sugar Bee Crafts.
This little DIY from Garden Therapy is making my Friday. I'm thinking of flowering teas... you know the dried blooms that you put in boiling water and watch open? These candles would be a great way to use old mason jars ... it also means that you can pop a lid on your beautiful creation and surprise whoever gets to open it.
I think that burlap is something you either love or loathe. Either way, it's a much more interesting fiber than you'd think. And it can contemporary... not just country! It's "green" because it's made from jute, a very low-impact plant to grow. So it's renewable. Even compostable! Also, it’s pretty easy to get second-hand/used burlap, if you know where to look. Local coffee shops, especially ones that roast their own beans, tend to be rich with big, empty burlap sacks. For other ideas on how to find the stuff (and to read more about why burlap is awesome) visit Crafting a Green World. Once you get your hands on some, make these pretty things (25+ projects for you):
I have no idea what this lamp is worth, but I found it in a barn in Michigan. The place was crammed with dusty, rustic antiques. We were about to leave when this incredible green thing leapt out at me. I knew it would go with the frog prince chair ... so it had to come home with me. I paid less than the asking price, but more than I wanted to. Now that I've owned it for several years, I know I'd pay pretty much anything for it.
