Clever Ways To Upcycle Everyday Items Into Useful Pieces

Things like empty tin cans, fallen tree branches and plastic bottles don’t seem to have much potential. However, these and many other items can be upcycled and turned into things we can use in our homes or decorate them with. It’s a great way to go green and to save money so let’s take a look at a few of the projects you can do with stuff you already have in your house.

Spray Painted Soup Cans.

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Empty soup cans or pretty much any other type of cans can be turned into pencil holders. Of course, you’ll want them to look cute and beautiful and in order to do that you’ll need some spray paint. After you’ve spray painted the cans you can use them in a lot of new ways such as to hold tools or even plants.

Mason Jar Shelf.

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Mason jars are very versatile too. You can turn these into storage containers for your bathroom and fill them with things like makeup products, q-tips and other things. You can attach them to a wood board and make a custom shelf.

 Jelly Jar Storage.

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There’s also another way in which you can reuse empty glass jars together with their lids. You can attach them to the underside of a shelf or cabinet and use them to store all sorts of things. For example, in the kitchen you can turn these into spice containers.

Toilet Paper Rolls for Electronic Cords.

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Nobody really saves the empty toilet paper rolls. That’s unless you know a clever way to upcycle them. For example, you can use these to organize and store your cables and wires. That way you can keep them all organized inside a box without having to worry about all the mess you’ll make when you need to dig through the pile.

straw tote door decor

Other interesting things you can make include a basket and an umbrella turned into decorations for the front door. Both of these can hold flowers, either real or artificial. You can even use a beach bag or an old purse in a similar way. {found on sadieseasongoods}.

Chevron painted flower vase

If you want to make something cute to display on your wall, check out the idea offered on nur-noch. It’s a wall-mounted vase made from a piece of scrap wood and a mason jar or a bottle. . In addition to those, a large piece of cutlery was also used here (a salad fork to be more exact). The wood was painted with bright colors and then the salad fork was used to mount the bottle to the wood.

Painted flower vases

Empty plastic bottles or containers can also be turned into beautiful vases. All you have to do to make them look pretty is clean them and then use tape and spray paint to change their look completely. You can either paint the whole container or make stripes and other patterns. Check out welovehandmade for more details.

Jars plant

A lot of things can be upcycled into vases or planters. This also includes old pottery jars like the ones featured on threadbarecloak. To make the transformation you’ll need a drill, potting mix and plants. Drill holes in the bottom of the jars and then add the soil and the plants. If you want you can also paint the jars to make them look more cheerful.

Makeup organizer

On homemakinghacks you can find out how to make a makeup organizer using a few simple things such as empty cans, glass jars or plastic containers, microwave trays, paint and a framed mirror. The mirror will be used as a tray and the containers will be placed on it. They need to be cleaned and spray painted.

dinnerware makeup organizer

You can also make an organizer for your makeup or jewelry out of some old dinnerware. You’ll need a plate, a bowl and a cup. Drill a hole in the bottom of each one. Then a thin pipe through these holes and secure it at the bottom with a nut and then with washers. You can put a knob at the top. This ingenious idea comes from designsbystudioc where you’ll also find the full description of the project.

Bathtub tray

There are things you can do for every room of the house. For the bathroom, for example, you could make a tub tray. You’d need a wood board, sandpaper, stain, two drawer handles and some adhesive strips that help the tray grip onto the tub. A bathtub tray is really practical and you should definitely make one. {found on urbanacreage}.

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Even something as simple as a fallen tree branch can be upcycled into something cool and useful. It could be turned into a chandelier and the transformation wouldn’t even be that difficult. After cleaning the branch and removing the bark you’ll need to sand it. Then treat it to get rid of woodworms. Attach it to the ceiling and wrap cords around it. Make these long. At the end, attach the light bulbs. Find out more on mamaisdreaming.