Re-purposing was common practice during the Depression era. It’s still common in developing countries where nothing goes to waste. I’m a huge fan of giving new life to items that might otherwise be discarded. There is an entire movement afoot, people reusing items in clever and original ways.
So, in honor of Green Friday, check out these fun ideas.
Greenhouse Made from old windows
Between Naps on the Porch
Lovely old chair breathes new life
Sweet Magnolia Farm
Umbrella Bean Trellis from Dirt du Jour
Light fixture bird bath from Indulgy
I wish I had 100 hours a week to read all the fascinating blogs out there. Here’s a small sample:
Dishfunctional Designs: Creative Things To Make With Old (I love the clever title)
Indulgy.com: Light fixtures live again
Denim Do Over: giving new life to old denim
Pinterest: Set the timer or you’ll never get anything done.
Facebook: Re-purposed, Recycled, Reused, Reclaimed, Restored
I like to re-purpose my wall calendar each year. I reuse the pages to make envelopes, bookmarks, gift tags, small stickers, gift-card holders and other small paper items.
Last year I made a wreath for our front door using scraps of tissue paper, candy wrappers (ahem) , a dry-cleaning bag and the plastic sleeve from the newspaper.
Katherine, over at Pillows a-la- Mode recently refashioned an old sweater into the most adorable teddy bear you’ve ever seen.
Diary of a Mad Woman uses a similar sweater to make Christmas stockings.
I hope you have as much fun as I did, visiting all these fun sites. Please share your own re-fashions, links or blogs in the comments below.
Gardening Nirvana 
LOVE THIS POST! I’m so glad you shared it! What great ideas! And thanks so much for linking me up! 🙂
~Jen
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Thanks so much, Jen!
You’re the queen of refashioning. I love popping in to see what you’re up to.
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Ha!! Great minds Alys! I published my latest post yesterday on just this topic – specifically turning yesterdays newspapers into XL gift bags – 🙂 Great fun!! i love all these sites and posts and things you have shared,…. now to find the time to have a look…..
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And here is that lovely post:
http://paulinekingblog.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/gift-bags-from-newspaper/
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What a lovely, helpful post! I can’t wait to check out all the blogs . . . and thank you for the shout out, too! Hugs, Katherine
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Thanks so much, Katherine.
You’re most welcome. Love my visits to your blog.
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Repurposing is such a wonderful thing – look at the creativity in the above pictures! Each idea is so unique and lovely – and I’m sure very satisfying for the creators. I repurposed one of my children’s old desks (that someone had given us) into a potting bench for the garden. I loved every minute of doing it up for its new purpose – and felt a real sense of achievement when it was done. This is such a thoughtful and entertaining post. Can’t wait to check out all of the above blogs. x
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Dani, that sounds adorable. I hope you’ll write a blog about the desk conversion. I’m sure it’s tremendously satisfying refurbishing a piece of furniture. I would love to see your potting bench…and of course potting benches in general make my heart sing. Fun stuff!
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All great ideas! I think my favorite is the light fixture bird bath! Some people can be so clever.
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Thanks for commenting, Sharon. That is clever and practical too. The glass is strong, with a smooth edge, washable and about the right depth. Petals is thinking of making one. She loves to frequent antique stores.
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I have always been what I thought, a diligent recycler. Our garden shed at the lake was always crammed full. Now with Pinterest and of course all your craftiness, I can see that recycling can also be creative too. I clicked over to the Facebook link and was impressed with the foot stools from bottles, looks like the covers are knitted, very cute. I’ve seen a number of those light shades too at antique malls and have dismissed them, even though they’re really pretty. I’m totally scooping the next one I see. I would never had envisioned a bird bath, that is awesome. What a fun post Alys! Oh and the chair planter, love that too.
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I’m so glad you liked it. It was hard to stop, honestly with so many interesting ideas out there.
I love the clever use of glass on many of these blogs. It’s funny, too, how something that is so blah, can be beautiful with a bit of bling. I’m amazed at all the things people make with shipping palettes.
That chair planter is adorable. Makes me want to watch for one of those, too. I’ll have to go look at the foot stool made from bottles. Clever! xox
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Yes, we need 100 hours to read all the good stuff out there and I love the Pinterest timer idea. I’ve been there for HOURS. Today, I spent some time fixing old decorations that were unhappy with the amount of traveling and storage they’ve had. Then I can get on with the new stuff. Loved all the ideas. Always wanted to make a greenhouse out of windows.
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I would love to make a greenhouse out of windows too!
I think we should start a blogger commune. Wouldn’t that be fun. We could write, craft, share recipes. I don’t know who we would pay for it all. We’ll probably have to invite some finance bloggers, too….just to be fair. 🙂
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