Five Creative Home Décor Ideas with Upcycled Products

The mid of April, (14^th and 15^th), ushers in the New Year in many parts of India such as in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam, Manipur and Odisha.

Who wouldn’t want to begin the New Year in a bright, cheery and nicely done up home? So, this is the time when many people start to spruce up their homes, especially if their home décor has started looking old, drab or boring.

However, the limiting factor to give a new look to your home is often the time, effort and the cost involved in this process. We’ve got the answer to this problem; It lies in Upcycling.

What is Upcycling?

Upcycling is basically when we take used, worn out or wasted product and sort of glam it up to not only give it a brand new look at, but also a new, enhanced or an alternate functionality.

Why should we Upcycle?

One major reason for not doing up the interiors of our homes is often the money involved. You can save quite a lot if you resort to upcycling.

Our planet is getting polluted with each passing day and global warming is currently a pressing issue. By upcycling, we can help reduce the amount of waste produced. Instead of throwing our old stuff out, and contributing to the already full landfills, we can reuse certain things.

Not to mention the amazing night’s sleep that you’re going to get. “Why?” You ask. Well, if I’ve saved cash, and helped the environment, I’d rather sleep guilt free.

Here are five up-cycled product ideas for home decor:

1. Turning around an old dresser or table.

When that old dresser of yours has descended into its final days, its wooden body that once stood tall and well-polished now is a victim of dust. Its jagged edges holding onto your clothes, beg to be saved. Alas, you see no way, but to do away with your old faithful friend and start looking for a replacement.

So many sentiments attached to the dresser, possibly handed down from generation to generation or bought out of your first paycheck, all at the brink of being forgotten, along with the dresser.

This can be averted and those memories preserved for many more generations to come.

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You can start off by deciding what you want to make of the dresser. Do you just want to change the exteriors, or change its purpose? You can make it a wine cabinet, or a shelf for your books, or a bed side drawer. The possibilities are endless.

Once you have the final structure in mind, you need to start working on the exteriors. Begin by smoothening the rough surfaces if any, you can use sandpaper for the same. Then you can either paint it or polish it as per your liking.

And there you go! You have a beautiful new addition to your home. Making all your friends wonder which site you bought that off. Because surely, they haven’t seen anything like this in the stores, and how could they, it’s purely your imagination. It’s all you.

Not to mention the pride that takes over you when someone praises it.

2. A lamp out of old CDs

Ever had that huge pile of old cd’s lying around the house. Instead of throwing them out, why not make a nice lamp out of them.

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Start off by bending some strong electrical wire to make a wide base. Then attach an LED undercounter light system (which can be bought at any electrical shop) to the electrical wire.

Finish it off by stacking the CDs over the light and wire. Once you near the end, leave a bit of wire exposed and twist it tight to hold the cd’s in place.

3. A traditional Kantha quilt or rug

Kantha is the Indian tradition of stitching together pieces of old cloth, to produce a new quilt. This culture of reusing and upcycling has existed in India since olden times.

You could piece together the old clothes in your house to give you a new bedcover or quilt, or you could make a new rug out of it, or a sofa/pillow cover.

This not only helps us recycle cloth, but also contribute towards bringing an old Indian tradition back to life. For most of our traditions lie forgotten or undervalued, despite their rich and beautiful heritage.

4. A key holder out of old cutlery

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How many times in a day do we lose our keys? I bet if we accumulated the time spent searching for our lost keys, we would find it sufficient to do some other productive work. So, here’s a hack that will ensure you never lose your keys again. And also use up the old cutlery lying at home.

All you need to do is, take a piece of wood paint it a nice bright color. To this you can attach an old bent fork or spoon. Yes, it can be that simple!

5. A fancy decorative bottle.

You can take an old glass bottle or even a plastic one. Paint over this bottle with some acrylic paints and it can look really good. You can even put some fairy lights inside the bottle and make it a bedside lamp.

Upcycled Decorative Bottle

Honestly speaking the only limiting factor to upcycling is our imagination. The more creative we get, and let our imagination flow, the more we can upcycle, and the cleaner non polluted rivers flow too!

And if you don’t have the time to upcycle or feel that it is too cumbersome for you, you can hand over your glass bottles, nightstands, side tables to us. At Life11, we are more than happy to upcycle these for you and help you make the earth a cleaner and greener place for all of us!  

This article is written by Taira Marshall, as a part of her summer internship with Life11. Taira, a Second Year BSc student, at St. Xaviers College, Mumbai, has a flair for writing. She aspires for people all over the world to read and enjoy her work.