Nearly everything has a second life now, you can recycle milk cartons to start plants, you can sand down and stain old furniture or reupholster furniture and you can even “flip” your treasures for profit if you know what you’re doing.
We wanted to hear from you about unique and creative ideas on repurposing and recycling garage sale treasures. Here are some of the responses we received:
Organize:
Turn a media entertainment center into a complete home office storage and organization solution.
-Shel Horowitz
Author of Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green
http://www.frugalmarketing.com
Quick & Easy:
– Doors or shutters can be used for a desk top
– Ice cube trays can store jewelry
– Utensil caddies can organize a makeup drawer
– Silverware caddy can sort office or art supplies
– T-Shirts can bet sewn into a quilt
-Ellen R. Delap, CPO
http://www.professional-organizer.com
Functional Household:
Turn a used door into a standing mirror – removed the handles, sanded and smoothed the edges and repainted it.
-Michelle Lohr
Restore Lives:
Enchanted Makeovers is a non-profit organization that transforms shelters for women and children into places of peace and possibilities by using vintage items that have character and love. The organization repurposes many items like sewing machines into desks, vintage frames into artwork. Donations come as far as Singapore and include handmade items using vintage textiles, furniture and accessories.
-Terry Grahl
http://www.enchantedmakeovers.org
An Artist’s Career & Life Passion:
Put your own creative touch on a piece of furniture or household item – paint, paper mache, or wrap them!
-E. Lee Mead
E. Lee Jahncke Fine Finishes, LLC
inspiredpaintrepeat.blogspot.comwww.eleejahncke.com
Delight Kids:
“The Doodler’s Dream” – repaint the top of an old school desk with chalkboard paint for kids to doodle away on.
-Stacey Johnson, In-House Upcycling Pro
Mile High Marketplace
Cooking Fun:
Build a solar oven out of a garage sale type dresser drawer to use for cooking and dehydrating food.
-Chef Stephanie Petersen
Professional Chef & Instructor
http://cheftessbakeresse.blogspot.com/2010/04/bigger-bolder-sun-ovenbig-…
Inspired Yard Art:
Create yard and garden art from various garage sale scrap and recycled pieces.
-Anita & Bob O’Dell
http://www.etsy.com/shop/badbobs
Get Fit:
Turn an old basketball into a medicine ball for exercising by cutting a hole in the ball and filing it with sand.
-Mariana Abeid-McDougall, BED, BPHE, BA
Inspired Interior Decorating:
– Use old sporting equipment to hang on children’s room walls as decorations (old shortie skis, ski poles, baseball mitts)
– Stray pieces of interesting fabrics or pieces of wallpaper truly look fantastic when cut and framed as inexpensive art.
– Beautiful old picture frames can be used to put a mirror in
– Plastic dolls repurposed into lamps for little girls’ rooms
– Use old interesting architectural pieces, such as sinks, outdoors as coolers
– Old frames from barbecue grills and spray paint them to use as outdoor planters
– The best use of broken down old doors is to put them on sawhorses and make a table top. You just cover with a tablecloth and voila- you have a great outdoor table and perfect tabletop for a garage sale!
-Ava Seavey, Author of Ava’s Guide to Garage Sale Gold
http://www.garagesalegold.com
Garage Sale Recycling and Repurposing can be extremely exciting, it’s the thrill of the hunt and there’s no limit to your imagination in creating something fun and unique!
Have a picture of a unique garage sale find or creation? Email it to us! Click Here
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