Reuse & Recycling

When Elisa picked up this vintage dresser for only $60 at her local secondhand shop, she knew the horrid brown paint just had to go. Though she initially considered repainting, once she revealed some of the wood grain below the paint, she decided this piece deserved a full refinish all the way down to the bare wood.Using a hand sander and liquid stripper, Elisa was able to remove all of the dull brown paint from her vintage dresser.

Katie bought this table 4 years ago for $30 at a yard sale, and has been using it in all its scratched glory in her master bedroom ever since. Now that she is redoing that room, she knew the time had come for the table to receive a little TLC as well. Unwilling to go through the time consuming process of a full refinish, Katie was able to transform the look of this table with just an hour of work.

We’ve taken a look at many a tufted upholstery project in the past, but not many take the time to document every single step along the way. This transformation is fit for a king with its new purple hue. Want to see what it looks like now?Over at Little Green Notebook Jenny Komenda always has a great project happening. Back in November she took on this amazing headboard project and shared all sorts of tips and tricks along the way.

When Sausha first encountered this hutch she thought it was too far gone to be worth refinishing. It had been repainted more than ten times and was in need of a major sanding effort, among other things. But instead of trashing it, she took it as a challenge and made plans to repurpose and refinish the piece…Sausha chose to work with just the lower portion of the hutch and began by sanding it down to remove the build-up of paint.

When Connie found this coffee table at a thrift store, it was in pieces and the tabletop, meant to open to accommodate a leaf, was nailed shut. Though this bulky wooden piece had seen better days, it was clearly a sturdy table with a lot of life left in it — it just needed a little love and attention.Connie wanted to highlight the routed detail of the table so she used putty to fill in the split down the center to create a solid base.

One way to remove the evidence of my, er, I mean ANYONE’S serious Diet Coke addiction is the recycling bin. That way may be eco-savvy, but the neighbors can count, so it’s not terribly stealthy.Perhaps illustrator and character creator Eric Barclay’s way is better. And way more colorful than just green.“Ranjit and Indira,”Eric then applied gesso so that the surface had a bit of texture to it (acting somewhat like a high-adhesion primer).

I am busy preparing to move my indoor gardening efforts outside and part of that means that I get to reclaim my sun porch for the spring through autumn season. In the winter it serves as my makeshift greenhouse for all the pots and container plantings that come in for the season. This year, part of that transition was getting the place organized and re-working some furniture.A friend gifted me a sideboard that was in relatively rough shape.

The 80 degree weather we’re having here in Chicago (in March?!) is making me feel a little Alice-in-Wonderland, like suddenly, oddly neat things are possible, like say, Mandi from Vintage Revivals turning old, mismatched thrift store lamps into something utterly modern and so very cool.

Our readers don’t just come to us for home inspiration – they also share their own projects with us, bring the inspiration around full circle. Jude emailed us this sofa transformation that we think is a great lesson in patience and DIY chutzpah.Jude’s small apartment requires a slim sofa, one that is no longer than 56 inches.

Of the many Before and Afters we have featured, this one may take the prize for the biggest blindside, meaning when you click through, you will in no way have figured out what was coming and the ‘After’ photo just may knock you flat. While you can sometimes predict how a thrift store dresser or end table will be saved and transformed, just try it with this box spring. You’ll be wrong. Trust us. Just go look.We told you!

Monica had been on the lookout for an armchair to paint ever since she fell in love with one such project she found online. When she finally did find what she through was the right $50 chair for this endeavor, she then changed her mind. A small tear in the fabric convinced her that reupholstering was the better way to go — until, that is, she got a quote for $300 and decided to revisit her DIY options.

We totally had one of these old console TVs when I was growing up. Ours wasn’t quite as ornate as this one, but it sat like a monstrosity in our family room and we thought it was like an IMAX theater. The ladies over at Sugar Tot Designs didn’t save this TV from their childhood. They got it from the free section on Craigslist, and then they turned it into an amazing all-purpose play space for kids.Sarah, the upcycler of the duo, took apart the TV and left the shell.

Sibylle from Funkytime is at it again, this time with a little vintage summer twist. She scored a suitcase at a thrift shop, and although she wasn’t sure what she would do with it, she knew it would be getting new life soon…With some fabric, ribbon, velcro, a staple gun, paint, and primer, she was on her way to transforming her new find into a different kind of traveling buddy.

What do you do with a dresser that has already been redone once before but has seen better days? Redo it again in a completely different way, of course. Check out how the sad little deer decal got put out of its misery and this basic little dresser got a major style boost.Fabric on a drawer front. We have seen it before, and it doesn’t always work, but Ann Marie from Twice Lovely got it just right.

I found this before and after and loved not just the transformation, but the use of reclaimed wood pieces to create an entirely new tabletop. Take a look!Using wood pieces from a discarded trellis found in her garden, Taryn from Design, Dining and Diapers created a fresh, stylish table that showcases the beautiful colors and textures running through the found wood scraps.

I’ve been on the hunt for a new ottoman for a while now, but like many things in life, the money has been needed elsewhere. I’ve obviously survived, but there might be a new DIY creation in my future! Check out what this old tire looks like now!Nikki over at That Was A What? has turned this trusty old tire into her new ottoman. She had been coveting rope covered versions online, but even inexpensive ones were pushing $500 or more.

When most people see wood pallets they think only of garbage or maybe even kindling. When Olga saw the pallet pictured above she saw possibility. She lugged the pallet home and set about finding a way to use it. After it sat in a corner for a month, Olga finally gave the pallet new life.The cracks, knots and other markings on the pallet were part of what Olga loved about it. So when it came time to make use of the pallet in her home, Olga didn’t want to change the character of it too much.

If the idea of constantly heating your water in a big tank sitting in your basement sounds mighty inefficient and wasteful to you, then a tankless water heater may be the right option for you. I’ve researched some of the advantages of a tankless water heater system, alongside some of the compromises that come with the compact, more energy efficient option. There are many advantages to going with a tankless water heater.

Benita Larsson has done it again. Her simple yet brilliant projects never cease to amaze the craft-loving community. This time, her gorgeous update to a set of clear, glass plates she picked up at a thrift store is the perfect inspiration for decking out your holiday party on a budget.Some basic craft paint and a few minutes (plus drying time) is all she needed to transform these mundane dishes into beautiful dessert plates.

Handmade holiday gifts are almost always more meaningful, and the best part is that you can tailor your gifts perfectly to the recipient. Rebecca from Simple as That created a special Christmas gift for her two girls by turning this plain bookcase into a dollhouse.Rebecca notes: We took an ordinary bookshelf and converted it into a dollhouse which can just as easily be used as a bookshelf for an older child.

A sad, old crib sat at a thrift store — not useful as a baby bed for safety reasons, this piece seemed destined for the scrap pile! Until Cristin came along, that is… she saw some untapped potential in its pretty spindles and simple shape, and came up with a clever way to breathe new life into an old piece.She found some cabinet doors in a garbage pile that were the perfect size for shelves, and removed a few brackets and braces from the crib to help reinforce the new legs.

If you live in an older home, you’re familiar with Adrienne’s struggle with storage — namely, that there isn’t any! Her 1930’s home is lacking in the closet department, so it was up to her to come up with some creative storage solutions for her four-year-old’s room.She found this old slightly warped and musty armoire at an antique store, and for less than $100 (including the armoire!) she created this fun, playful piece.

This chair has been in Stephanie’s family for generations — she was rocked to sleep in it as a baby, and so was her granddad! She wanted to keep it around as a treasured piece of family history, but she also wanted to give it a little update — the result? A lovely chair with a fabulous new look, ready to rock the next generation… Stephanie’s new baby!

The ubiquitous pallet — just when you think you’ve seen every pallet project under the sun, one comes along and surprises you! This clever little toddler sofa is the perfect height for playing, reading, or resting — and it’s super cute, to boot!Griffin Carrick says this about her pallet sofa project: I stumbled upon some abandoned wood pallets (once used to transport sod) in my neighborhood and jumped on the pallet bandwagon.

Brooke, from the home décor blog Inside-Out Design, started with this run-of-the-mill old coffee table, and with some ingenuity and a lot of handiwork, she and her husband transformed it into a one-of-a-kind hand-tufted ottoman.Brooke used West Elm’s Ikat Print by the Yard fabric as inspiration for completely transforming the coffee table.

When Emma’s local Goodwill held a competition for upcycling, she knew it was the perfect opportunity to make her two-year-old son the bookshelf he’d been needing. I found the broken down old dresser for fifteen dollars, and the legs came from another end table that I got for only two. After a ton of sanding (through a coat of white, yellow, and even blue!! paint), I began to see what pretty wood there was underneath!

Here’s a quick and easy project for parties of all types; whether for kids or adults, casual or formal. These tiered stands are inexpensive to make, and a great way to use old dishes destined for donation. They also look just fancy enough and add great height to a dessert table — all good things.

Have you ever been intimidated by refinishing metal furniture? Joanna shows it’s entirely possible, and gets great results with a little time and elbow grease. She found this little cabinet in a parking lot and instantly saw its potential. Want to see the result of her work? Read on… The cabinet is now totally bright, cheerful and ready for its new life in Joanna’s house.

One of the (many) nice things about living in Paris is that people often put their old furniture out on the pavement for opportunistic treasure hunters like myself to scavenge. I found this old chair one evening and I suspect that, as I took it home on the metro, the other passengers thought I was an eccentric expat who brought her own seating.However when I got it home it looked a bit drab so I decided to perk it up with a lick of paint and a bit of decoupage.

Margaux inherited this table, solidly built but in bad condition, from a friend. She began by sanding the top of the table, but when she discovered just how many times the top had been repainted, Margaux came up with an alternate idea:From Margaux: A friend of mine gave this table to me when she moved. It was really solid but looked pretty bad. I started by sanding the top, only to find there was about 10 coats of paint and wax.

Ick. Even for the most intrepid DIY folks, this old metal cabinet is daunting. It is rusty, peeling, and no doubt has some sharp edges on it somewhere. Along came Graham who saw potential in the project, and set to work transforming it. Many thanks to Krista Winters for sharing Graham’s success! Re-edited from a post originally published 2.13.

Kaylei McGaw, Associate Editor at Lonny, inherited this ripped vinyl saucer chair from her Great Grandmother. Not wanting to get rid of it, she decided to hand it over to the talented folks at Chairloom. She picked fabric, they reupholstered it, and now the chair’s got another fifty years of life. See the transformation next…. Not only did baby get a new pair of shoes, she got a whole new wardrobe!

This is a great makeover and a cool story because it involves a mom and son working collaboratively to create a completely new room for a budget of only $150! Take a dip into Levi’s newly nautical bedroom (puns = not my strong suit). I know, wonderful, isn’t it?

Tiffany loves thrift shopping and regularly brings home furniture that’s seen better days. This $5 table looked a little worse for wear, but nothing that a couple of coats of white paint couldn’t fix. When disaster struck, the tabletop veneer got ruined, and Tiffany was forced to find a new solution…. Since the top wasn’t salvageable, Tiffany made an entirely new one!

What do you do with a three dollar headboard you found at a yard sale? Why, put it in your foyer, of course. Follow me to find out more… That’s exactly what Kelly from A View Along The Way did. She was ready to get her foyer in order and needed a bench. Since the kind of benches she was looking at came with a hefty price tag, she put her creative cap on and figured out a really stunning solution. Her husband took the headboard apart and cut it in half to fit in the space.

When you buy a house with a pink, mauve, salmon and coral bathroom, it might be time to renovate. Some people like that kind of thing, but Katie isn’t one of them. She and her husband tore out the carpet the day they moved in. Soon after that, they made a plan and got to work on the rest of the renovation. You might be surprised to learn that this beautiful bathroom update only cost $3,500. Katie and her husband did a lot of the work themselves, and made some smart choices.

This red pod chair had seen better days, and Cathy of Retro Evolution Design knew she could give it some new life. The upholstery was old, dirty, and damaged. Not to mention the base, which was a little too tall, too heavy, and maybe a little bit ugly? Cathy recovered the chair in a sturdy linen tweed blend fabric. Her son fabricated a new “cats cradle” style wire rod base with angles that complement the chair above. Now all that’s missing is a custom ottoman to match!

Victoria’s bathroom needed storage— namely a perfectly sized table on which to keep frequently-used stuff handy, and off the sink counter. She got what she needed in the form of an antique medical table found in the basement of an estate sale, and priced at a whopping ten dollars. The original enamel paint was in bad shape and flaking off in big sections. Victoria took to it with a wire brush, then eventually a power grinder.

This office credenza is all business. It’s gray, it’s functional, but pretty it is not. Owner Joanne took this cabinet to task, refinished it in about 4 hours in her driveway, then found a better place for it. Want to see? What was all business in the front, is now a party in the back. The formerly buttoned-up credenza fits nicely in her nook, and is now the perfect furniture host. It holds drinks, stores glasses and wine, and blends in nicely with the rest of the home.

If I had a dollar for every birdcage I’ve seen at yard sales, I’d be in Belize right now. I always note them, but never know what to do with them, which is why this project piqued my interest. See what Kathy and Karen did with a cage they found on the curbside on trash day…. After painting the cage, and removing one of the walls, they outfitted the whole thing with shelves and mounted it on a wooden base.

Sometimes, while thrifting and searching about you come across something amazing, and in perfect condition. This wasn’t one of those times. Kelly found this old Eames-style Plycraft chair whose leather was nasty, grime-covered, torn and faded.

Kim found this lovely, albeit ‘beat-up’ secretary desk at a secondhand store, and got right to work fixing it up. Of course, she added a little twist…. Here’s what Kim did, in her own words: First I cleaned it up, then I lightly sanded and painted it sort of an antique cream. I sanded it again then went over the cream with a rubbed on coat of very dilute brown. When the final coat dried I applied a hand-rubbed wax finish.

This chair was spotted in the free section on Craigslist, and listed as the “Attack Cat Chair.” Apparently, the owner couldn’t bear junking it, and Cat (yep, that’s her name too) was happy to take it on as a project. Cat used discounted remnants to reupholster the 1961 chair. It was more complicated to work on than she expected (especially when it came to the tufted back and buttons) but she made it through!

Kevin rounded up some old wooden pallets by driving around to various warehouses, and through Craigslist. He had a project in mind, and just needed a bunch that were roughly equal sized. Want to see what he did with them? This impressive reclaimed wood backyard deck is the result! After measuring the space, he laid the pallets where he wanted the deck to be. Starting with the first row, Kevin lined up all gaps and used pavers to level and support the pallets.

For $40, this dresser was hard for Sarah Dorsey to pass up, even though the laminate was chipping and it looked worse for wear. So she snagged it and put in practice all the painting tips she’s learned over the years. See how it turned out… After carefully prying off all the hardware, and repainting the entire thing, Sarah’s dresser is now a far cry from cheap; it looks professional, high-end and totally bedroom-worthy.

Joseph picked this dresser up for $10 at a local thrift store, but wanted to do something special before it found a permanent home in his bedroom. After a lot of sanding, here’s what he came up with… Honk your horn if you like the final result! Joseph went to great lengths to complete the look: the four tail lights are from a 1958 Impala and the drawer hardware is actually old Buick door handles he cut down to fit. He found them all on eBay.

“Myrtle” is Capri’s 1964 Travco Motorhome, which she drives all over the country while on vacation. Over the years she’s also put a fair amount of work into this labor of love, slowly returning Myrtle to its Beatles-era glory. See what it looks like today! From Capri: Myrtle is 27 feet long and is powered by a 318 poly engine. She is equipped with a full bathroom, kitchen, couch, bench, closet, ample storage, rear double bed and two entrance doors.

Mackenzie and Blaine from The Local Branch were looking for a work studio that they could take on the road. They found this 1979 Airstream Sovereign Land Yacht 32′, gutted it, and got to work creating the studio of their dreams. They painted the yellowing walls a crisp white, laid down a floating wood floor, replaced a large broken window, built out the cabinets, and installed locker cabinets, a sewing machine and upper planters.

You might think that decorative cut glass would look dated and completely out of sync with most modern decor. Like china place settings, lead crystal is often given as wedding gifts or inherited from relatives, and seems like a relic of a different time. Or does it? Here are several ideas that use bar decanters in fresh new ways. In the lead image above, notice the table lamp made from a cut glass decanter, seen in this Scandinavian home from Skona Hem.

What can you make from IKEA’s most utilitarian offering, you ask? Well what can’t you make? The SULTAN LADE bed slats are a $10 take home add-on that make IKEA’s platform beds feasible without a boxspring, but they’re also simply just a bunch of raw pieces of lumber stapled together to a polyester cord.

Some rooms are blessed with really great bones. Things like original wood cabinets, brass hardware, and hexagonal tiles to name a few. But even when these features are in great shape, it can be hard to incorporate them into a modern remodel — especially when your contractor, your mother, and your neighbor are all telling you to gut the space. So how do you decide what to keep and what to toss? Well, if you’re like me, you default to saving every original feature you lay eyes on.

... And turn jars into glassware, with hot water and baking soda.

This little cutie pie garage sale dresser has been hankering for a makeover for a decade—and the results are well worth the wait. Perhaps inspired by the fantastic results, the rest of this corner got itself a spruce too! Before we gaze lovingly at the dresser as it looks today, let’s hear a little bit about what it was before: The side tables were a garage sale find for $10 which we had bought at the start of our marriage 10 years ago.

Sage looked long and hard for the perfect piece for her entryway. It needed to fit the spot, and be deep and flexible enough to fit a variety of footwear. Most importantly, she didn’t want the visual mess of open shelving. Sage didn’t want to spend too much so she first went the IKEA route, and ruled out a classic “fauxdenza” (made from stock cabinets mounted on the wall), before finally hitting up Craigslist in a long and patient search for something to work with.

Behold this tragic trailer, 63-years-old and abandoned in the woods of rural Mississippi. Is there any hope for this rusty, busted, pest-infested little sweetie? Hold out for a hero, brave Airlight! It’s so SHINY!

This is a cute little cabinet, perfect for storing all manner of things. But Melissa had an entirely different purpose in mind, and the whole project took about thirty minutes from start to finish. One member of her household is particularly happy with the end result.

This is a Very Serious Dresser, and while it is certainly beautiful and worthy of preservation, how does one incorporate a dark, gravitas-filled antique into a home that’s decidedly not all stained glass windows, turrets, and gargoyles? Don’t worry—the answer is not “paint it white.