Recycle Inspiration for your home!

We all have those items at home that we can't seem to get rid of, even though they don't seem useful any more. This is where repurposing/recycling comes into play to give them a new life!

Repurposing/recycling is so much fun, just because it is SO worth going into the effort of creating something fun yourself to suit the space and color palette you want. The end product gives me such an adrenaline rush!

Below are some photos of items I have recycled at our home. Maybe it will be the inspiration you need to get you started (trust me it's addictive) and once you get an eye for it, you are always on the look out to recycle!

Here's a list of all my recycle design ideas together for you to browse.

1. Recycled Coffee Bean Sack Cushion - DIY

2. DIY Pantry Door Upgrade

3. DIY Coffee Table Makeover: IKEA hack

4. DIY Powder Room Refresh

5. DIY Easy Spray Painting Makeover

6. DIY Rug Makeover

7. Upcycled Thrift store find: Altered spoon

8. Upcycled Thrift store find: Craft storage caddy

9. Upcycled Thrift store find: Kitchen caddy

10. From trash to treasure: DIY Scrapbook paper jewelry tray

11. DIY – How to make pots look like expensive stone planters!

12. DIY Decorative Diwali Candle/Tealight/Diya Floor Stand with supplies at home!

13. DIY Industrial Laundry Sign

14. Recycled wall planter

15. DIY Patent Wall Art using Recycled wood 

Maybe this will give you just the inspiration you need to get you started at your DIY project!

Love,
Divya

DIY Industrial Laundry Sign

I hate laundry. Anyone else with me on that?

It’s that task that I always put off to do. And don’t even get me started on the pains of ironing.

Our laundry room has been empty since we came into our home. A brand new washing machine and dryer did fill the floor space, but the walls have been empty ever since. We would like to add some storage cabinets on the walls, but that’s one of those snowball projects that is pushed to "some day".

So, I decided to add some decorative stuff on the adjacent walls at least, and what better way than to create a hand painted, industrial LAUNDRY sign. (Just in case no one knew what was going on in this little area.)

Here’s what you need to make a vintage rustic Industrial LAUNDRY sign. Or you could use the idea to make something similar for any room!

Materials:

• A piece of wood - I used some recycled wood I had lying around the garden of our home.We used a hand saw to cut the piece to the size we wanted.
• Sandpaper/ Sanding block
• Computer print out and a pencil
• Wax crayons
• Clear timber wax polish 
• Metal bits: 

1. Kinetic 15 x 150mm Galvanised Pipe
2. Kinetic 15mm Galvanised Flange
3. Kinetic 15mm Female Galvanised Tee

Instructions:

1. First we cut the piece of wood with a saw and sanded the entire piece of recycled wood along with the edges. I used a cloth to wipe away the fine dust.
   
   
   
   

   

   
   
2. After the wood was sanded, I printed out the word LAUNDRY on my computer to the size I needed. I used a regular font as I only wanted an outline to give me some idea of the size and placement.
   
   
3. I used a waxed crayon to color the back of the printout, placed it on wood, and then with a pencil, I traced the outline of each letter onto the wood where I wanted it to go, but the correct way. This rubbing effect transfers the pencil outline via the wax crayon from the back of the printout onto the piece of wood.
   
   
   

   

   
   
4. After transfer, I painted them in with black acrylic paint. I didn’t fill in the letters perfectly going for the vintage look.
   
   
   
   
5. I took some sandpaper and sanded off the paint in some spots as well. You can see I smudged the letter "R" a little bit, but that seemed to vanish after sanding and waxing.
6. Then I finally finished it off with a good wax to seal it up and add some sheen and finish.
   
   
    
   
   The clear wax works like magic! Look at that gorgeous wood grain and color coming through!
   
   
   
   

   

   
   
7. Next step is optional, but hubs helped me attach the fun metal bits to the wall to give it the industrial look. (Now it goes with the industrial pipe lights in the dining room, and the pipe fittings on our entertainment unit!) A trip to Bunnings got us all the tidbits we needed. It is so much fun when we share the madness of home decorating!

Here’s my fun industrial LAUNDRY sign hanging on the wall. I think I'm addicted and will make lots more!

I love how it looks! What do you think?

Powder Room Faux Marble wall - DIY

I love marble! (Who doesn't?) I have a ton of marble stuff around our home. The natural stones and textures have some inconceivable depth that I just find so addictive.

Having a genuine marble wall would be amazing, but that would not count as art! Also, a genuine marble wall would mean a major expense, and a huge remodel which I don't think everyone has the time for. Being the crazy artsy self, I thought faux marble marble walls would take it to a whole different level, (and give me a large canvas to experiment on!) And I could also argue that repainting a wall in a faux marble finish would give me that classy marble look at a fraction of the cost. (Not sure about what I was up to, but I got a go ahead from hubs. Worst case scenario was that it would look like cobwebs, but we could just paint over it, so gave it a go anyway!)

I know several of you might shudder at the thought, but trust me - achieving the effect requires patience but is moderately easy. You can come up with your own tweaked technique to make up your own unique marble colors, or your design. There is no right or wrong, and the possibilities are endless!