Repurposing furniture is a great way to reuse around your home. We’ve got 15 ways to give old furniture new life.

Every greenie knows the mantra “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,“ but do we really follow it as much as we could? The reduce and recycle call to action are probably the easiest for folks to heed, but the reuse part is a little more difficult to follow through on.

I remember my grandfather’s garage. It was filled with what many people might call trash, but to him it all held the potential to fulfill a need without having to purchase something new. You see, he was born before the Great Depression in 1918 and he never lost that thrifty mentality people who went through the Depression developed. His garage was crammed with old wooden shutters and doors, abandoned tires, broken down brooms and garden implements, and a whole wall full of baby food jars filled with every kind of screw, nail, nut and bolt you could imagine. He was a man who understood the meaning of the word reuse.

We all can take a lesson from my grandfather (if I may be so bold to suggest that), and not be too quick to get rid of useful things, but instead store them for some potential future use. If you are lucky enough to have a basement, garage or outdoor shed, consider using that space to store things that might otherwise end up in the landfill.

One potential area for reuse that’s often underutilized is repurposing furniture. Sometimes we are too quick to run out to IKEA for whatever storage needs we may have. That bureau might not be up to the task of holding your t-shirts and yoga pants anymore, but what else could it be used for? The drawers might make useful under the bed organizers or maybe even be used as herb garden planters. Think and store, before deciding to toss.

Need some inspiration? Here are some great furniture upcycling project ideas. While you may not end up reproducing these exactly, hopefully they get you thinking in the direction of how you can reuse more in your home.

1. Use an old dresser as a kitchen island. Add some hooks and a towel bar to the sides and top it with butcher block.
2. Wooden window shutters can be used as room dividers.
3. Outside, use pallets to create a compost bin or a vertical garden.
4. Inside the home, pallets can be used as a bed frame, add wheels to make a movable coffee table or add a pillow to make an ottoman.
5. Make a long rustic table from an old door, by adding legs–old saw horses make great legs!
6. Take the legs off of old kitchen chairs and hang them from a tree as a swing for a some fun outdoor living.
7. Add shelves and take off the doors of an wardrobe to repurpose it into a bookshelf.
8. Add an upholstered pillow top to an old rectangular shaped coffee table to make an entryway bench.
9. An old ladder or chair railings can be used to make towel racks.
10. Getting rid of bunk beds? Use the frames outside as raised garden beds.
11. Add some legs or wheels to a dresser drawer to make a recessed coffee table.
12. Or add legs and sand to those dresser drawers for a raised sandbox for the kids.
13. Dresser and desk drawers can also be used for hanging shadow boxes.
14. Turn an old wooden stool upside down and add a round piece of glass or mirror to the legs as a high side table.
15. Finally, repurpose an unwanted desk into a cool bar for entertaining.

Image: mazaletel

The post Reuse Around the Home: 15 Ideas for Repurposing Furniture appeared first on EcoSalon.

South African designer Katie Thompson is revolutionizing the way we think about junk.

Katie Thompson of REcreate describes her work as a mish-mash of South African craftsmanship and high-end perfectionist eclecticism. We asked Katie what on earth that meant, and spent some time picking out thirteen of our favorite wares. Here’s what she said, and here’s some junk we could happily REload into our living room.

#1. (Above) A well-traveled suitcase gets REcreated as a chair, upholstered in locally designed and manufactured fabric.

What’s happening now in South African design and how are you deviating from it?

I don’t follow trends that much. I [simply] have a love for junk and creating beautiful, functional things. I think I, unknowingly, started REcreate at just the right time. South African design is now definitely [going] down the green road. For my part, I studied interior design and have always loved broken or discarded things. Recycling followed.

#2. Old broken kitchen scales REinvented as clocks.

Where do you find your materials?  

Everywhere! People are constantly throwing things away.

#3. Give a golf club, oar, or paddle a little REnewal on life as a towel rack.

Like outdated sports equipment! You have an eye for vintage rackets. Are they yours?

I’m rather lazy when it comes to sporty activities! I have no interest in athletics other than liking the shapes, textures and colors of discarded sports equipment. I am not sure whether it is typically South African, but we do have a lot of sports equipment [lying around]. I’m currently making a young boy a custom made bedside lamp from an old rugby ball. So there must be something typically South African about [our love of sports]!

#4. An old school racket press is REpurposed to store photos both old and new.

Your junk does not come cheap. Who typically buys your work?

Our work appeals to all genders, nationalities, races, and ages. However, as I am a perfectionist and I want the REcreate brand to represent perfectly finished, repurposed products, not everyone is always able to afford the REcreate quality. We do a lot of custom work, whereby customers can supply their own “junk” to be custom made into something functional.

#5. An Imperial typewriter REfashioned into a working desk lamp.

Are you an environmentalist, or simply an upcycler? 

I am not an environmentalist at all. The terminology even confuses me! REcreate did not even start because of the environment. I only learned what Repurposing was a year after I had started REcreate. I thought we were recycling and didn’t know the difference. Of course, now that I have a clearer understanding of the positive effects of what we are doing, it has snowballed. We reuse everything now before recycling!

#6. A mismatched tea set impaled upon a lamp. What a clever and REvisionary mad-hatter?

#7. A vintage hatbox REcreated as an ottoman stool with storage.

#8. An empty bottle of Irish whiskey REborn as a sobering table lamp.

#9. An old (and mysterious) box is REfilled with natural canvas and transformed into furniture.

#10. An injured chair gets REfitted with Perspex.

#11. A sturdy frame REupholstered with roses.

#12. Herbs REplanted in abandoned tea cups.

#13. Antiseptic REinvestigated as a desk lamp.

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