trash to treasure items: {shutters and wooden chair}

I have a couple more "trash to treasure" makeovers to show you! Remember THIS ONE?  (And more coming too... I need to work on them instead of blog. Ha!)

This was a chair I found beside a curb, and wanted to use it around our DINING TABLE. Unfortunately, it was a little bit too unstable. I had a couple of wreaths resting on it downstairs and decided that I loved this look - as porch decor, that is.

Would you put that on your porch?

And another little pair of shutters, found on the same run, got a couple of coats of mint green and an icy white wreath. I think it'd be perfect on someone's mantle. Not mine, of course, but hopefully someone's! (I don't have a mantle, in case you were confused.)

THE DESK is awaiting the final touches as are a few other pieces.

And ... it's party week this week! I'll be featuring a birthday party, baby shower and a pretty party dress.

commissioned: backpack hanger

I had a commission request from a good friend's husband and decided to share it with you! It's one of my favorite pieces from the fall - the patina is LOVELY and completely authentic. Not one ounce of fake distressing - although I do love myself some good faux distressing.

Remember the old chippy barn door from this pic?

My FIL helped saw off the top (the above is going to be made into a queen size headboard. Next year's Market maybe?) so I had this piece laying around.

As soon as he proposed the project I thought this would be the perfect piece for her backpack hanger.

The three faux antiqued "door knobs" came from the hobby store purchased for me ... so all I had to do was attach, right?

Not so fast.

First, the door piece fell apart at the joints. It wasn't glued just jointed together, so when we cut it apart ... yikes! So I glued it together with wood glue and hoped it would stay. It sturdied it right up. 

The knobs only had one screw hanger on the back, so hanging backpacks on it day in and day out wasn't feasible unless they were better fastened to the board.

I whipped out my trusty internet search engine and found that only a 2-part epoxy would work. I got some JB Weld original epoxy and mixed that baby up. It worked like a charm and is still holding (as far as I know).

However, I'd use gloves next time. What was I thinking anyway? I got the tiniest smear on my hand and my mouth tasted like metal for a few hours. Yikes! Not the healthiest stuff to be touching. Or using for that matter.

Finally, I attached a cleat to the back because it was HEAVY - and backpacks would make it even heavier! - and I wanted it to hold up.

Maybe I can snag a picture of it hung up. I'll update if I do.

I love it. What do you think? 

Living Simply: Reusing, Repurposing and Recyling

It's a harsh way of thinking to refer to all consuming as bad, so, I try not to go to that extreme.

"Our days begin with consuming. Consuming is not wrong; in fact it is necessary for life."


However, it is the amount of our consumption (or necessary vs. not) that bothers me.


Do you shower with a tepid 5 gallon bucket or spend 20 minutes under the hot streams?

Do you eat three large meals every day and three snacks, too, ending with a belly fuller than Buddha? 

Do you drive 10 feet to the dumpster instead of walk? 


You know what I'm saying. Perspective, friends. It's all about it.

I just try to keep perspective in mind when I do things and use things. It's helped that we've needed to save money because instead of paper towels we use plates for snacks and cloth rags for cleaning. Instead of paper napkins we use cloth, too. Instead of toilet paper, we use cloth.

PSYCH!

Not quite. (Get the scoop here.)


Anyway, just little choices of reusing help me feel like I'm not just consuming and filling landfills with bunches of disposable junk. (Of course, the disposable diapers we use every day still bothers me ... but rashy bums are a different story for a different day...)


So, you all know that I like to repurpose things. I absolutely LOVE to buy second-hand and make something ugly into something beautiful. And, I'm not a professional at it, but it is so fulfilling knowing that I'm breaking the cycle of buy-new-buy-new-buy-new and using something that has already been loved and won't cease to exist if it goes into a garbage truck. And, if you don't like it, make it better!

(And, please, don't get me wrong. I love a thing with a tag pretty much as much as the next person. We buy plenty of new things. New clothes are my vice - shhh!! A few of the things we would only buy new are mattresses and pillows - used? Ick!) 

My repurpose case(s) in point:

(t-shirts into bloomers)

(old, yucky chair with gorg lines)

(vintage sheet into kitchen valance)

(25 cent record player ... yes! she will make her prettier appearance soon!)

And, just wait until you see the other repurposing projects I have in the works including: a livingroom makeover, a vintage dress into pillow covers, from shirt to baby dress and more! I think repurposing projects are some of my favorite to do and to find. People are just SO creative!!

Finally, we recycle.

source

It's INCREDIBLE how trash adds up when you don't put your paper, plastic, tin, aluminum, cardboard and glass into the recycling bin - it's crazy!! And, after living in Germany (where you can pretty much recycle most everything including food scraps), US recycling seems so limited. How I wish recycling was less about "can we make money on this?" and more about "let's work to keep our planet". Korea, Switzerland, Germany ... all of these first world countries can do it, why not us?

However, instead of complaining, I try to be grateful for what we can recycle and diligently do so. Every couple of weeks, we load it up in the backseat and take it about a mile down the road and dump it.

(I'd love to know exactly where it goes and how recycling is done here in Kansas, but I haven't checked that out yet. Maybe I will in the near future.)


So, get in on the conversation! How do you reuse? Do you like repurposing? What do you think about recycling?