August Conservation Tip

Repurpose

....the art of finding new uses for old items

The oldest form of repurposing I can remember are these old Chianti bottles brought home from Italy and then used as candle holders....luckily we got more inventive over time...

All of us probably have something stored away, with the thought it would be a pity to throw it away, but not really sure what to to with it.

Here some ideas:

The dog bed

Our dogs love to snuggle on our clothes, especially on warm, cozy sweaters. As I saw this idea, I knew what to do with our old fleece sweaters.

Fill the arms and the shoulder area with other old clothes and pad the middle.

Then arrange the arms in a circle and attach them to each other.

And you have a cozy dog bed in seconds

...behind the scenes shot...the cat seems to like it, too.

If you don't have an old sweater, but other old clothes and are in need of a new dog bed, check out Molly Mutt for more ideas and inspiration.


Outdoor cushions

I bet you have some old blankets and pillows stored away,

why not give them a new life as outdoor cushions.
 

Here I bought some UV resistant outdoor fabric and sewed some really simple outdoor cushions. Enjoyed by everyone.

The chicken wire frame

I won this chicken wire frame from Hill Jilly Boutique here in Cranbrook at a facebook give away. I think it is a great idea to reuse an old picture frame!

The glove vase

Ok, I confess, a bit unusual, but....

A very good friend of mine gave me these gloves a few years ago and it was the best pair of working gloves I ever had. I climbed the Half Dome cables with them, carried around countless hay bales, longed my horse and much more...and then it happened....I lost one of them. I know where I lost it and I went back there many times, but I never found the glove. Now can I throw away the other one? Nope. Just recently I opened a new test tube style vanilla bean container when it hit me: The vanilla bean container would fit exactly in one finger of the glove, so I collected three of these vanilla bean "tubes", put them into the three middle fingers of the glove, hung the glove on the wall and...had a nice little wall vase, honoring my glove! This would also work with an old work glove in a workshop, not as vase but for your most used screw drivers etc.

Local (East Kootenay) stores that specialize in "repurposing":

Salvar Design

Hill Jilly Boutique


And for even more inspiration, here some cool websites you should check out:

http://twistedsifter.com/2012/06/creative-ways-to-repurpose-reuse-and-upcycle-old-things/

http://www.brit.co/100-ways-to-repurpose/

http://www.boredpanda.com/creative-reuse-upcycling-repurposing-ideas/

https://www.facebook.com/RepurposedThings