Old furniture and decorations can be a real struggle. You spend so much money on them to begin with and the cheap ones break easily even when well maintained. Of course when you are only in the beginning or middle of your career, you can only afford so much. You end up having to buy cheap furniture that will eventually break. However, that doesn’t mean you have to throw them out, you can upcycle them.
Upcycling is the term used when you take something old and use it in a way that is different than what it was originally intended for. Like when people use old truck containers and turn them into homes or when old license plates, bikes, surfboards, etc. are used as décor at homes.
Upcycling is not only practical but it is currently very popular and pleasing to the eye. Often, you would find upcycled items in contemporary coffee shops or your artsy friend’s condo in the Fort. For sale items of upcycled furniture or sending them in to be repurposed could cost a lot as well! A lot of people spend so much on upcycled furniture not knowing that it is very easy to do it yourself
Here are the simplest ways you can do so:
Lamps and Lights
One of the easiest things to upcycle to is lights. Anything hollow can be turned into a lamp post if you know how to do your wiring (or you can have someone do it for you). An outdate lamp could look new again if you remove the lamp and wires and put them into a wine bottle! This could be turned into a good reading light in the living room or hanging lights in the garden.
Night stand
Wooden tables get worn out especially with the heat and humidity of the Philippines. Also, with your bed as being the most comfortable spot in your home, there is a tendency that your night stand will get too cluttered with electronic devices, papers, etc. With the right wood work and paint job, you can make half of an old table (or even a tall bench) look like a night stand tailor made for you and your room.
Get creative with school supplies
Sometimes you have important documents that you need to take note of but don’t need to address right now. It would be useful to see it all the time but not take up space on your table. You can take a meter stick that you bought for class for a one-time project and hang it on your wall. With some push pins you now have a makeshift corkboard where you can post your reminders, bills, etc.
Books in the 21st Century
If you or your child are not bookworms then most likely you’d only need to buy books for school and then you’d never use them again. There are so many ways to repurpose them into thousands of other useful items especially the ones that are hardbound. With one book and two brackets you can attach them to a wall to make a mini shelf for a picture frame or plant. You can purchase steel rods and with the proper drilling and gluing, you could make legs for a table; the table itself could be a glass or a wood. Removing the bound of a book, cutting in half and then rolling it up could also make you a thematically appropriate pencil holder. Simple yet beautiful!
These are only a few changes you can do to make your home feel new using things that you would think that you need to throw out. You can make your trash into your treasure.