You can make furniture from anything!

I’ve been too sick to do any thrifting lately.  Yesterday I started to feel better, got myself together and left the house.  Only to return about 10 minutes later with just a pint of a milk.  However this morning I have woken up and not coughed once.  My chest is starting to feel clearer – there’s no bronchial wheeze on it – has this infection finally flown and left me alone?

So while I’ve been laid up in bed trying to sleep through the wheezing, I’ve been stumbling and looking for amazing upcycling/ reusing/ remaking  ideas.  Today I thought I’d collect together a few of my favourite furniture from upcycled items.  In our flat we have some amazing bookshelves that are upcycled goodiness – however I’m not sharing photos with you yet until the flat is sorted and I’m happy with them enough to take photographs   That’s to say – I’m stupidly happy with the shelves, I’m just not happy with how untidy I am and how messy they are.  I’m embarrassed to show them to you!

So here are some of my favourite furniture upcycled projects:

Repurposed drawers:

schubLaden

schubLaden

These wonderful designs are from a German shop called schubLaden {meaning drawers in German}.

This image was found on Flickr – however I’m not sure who actually designed these:

repurposed drawers

I would happily make Mr Second-Hand spend his spring evenings sawing away at old cabinets so I could have something this splendid in the flat

I have a real love for Vespas – in fact I still think that one day I will own one.  So these seats made out of old Vespas by Italian company Bel&Bel make me very happy indeed {although I’d rather have the bike than the chair!}:

Bel&Bel

Bel&Bel

Katie Thomspon from Recreate is an absolute genius.  These beautifully created pieces of furniture made from repurposed cases are simply divine:

Recreate

Recreate

Recreate

Not surprisingly all of the seats I’ve chosen to feature are now sold however her website states that she does do custom orders – if only she wasn’t in South Africa!

Finally I’m going to feature the wonderful work of Dallas welder, Joel Hester.  His furniture made from repurposed car hoods are simply inspired.  All of the projects are ‘handmade to order’ which means that you truly get one off pieces especially for you!

Firstly – the beds:

Aren’t these gorgeous?  Unfortunately I can’t post larger pics but if you click on them they’ll take you right to the page.  They are all designed around the shape of your mattress, the size you want etc.  What more could you want? If I had the money and the space I would be purchasing one of these.  However, Mr Second-Hand is creating our bed this Spring so I’ll be posting photographs of that

I’m just going to post the coffee table too that I love because of the unique pattern on it caused by the original paint and rust:

Coffee Table

This is from their website about the standard coffee table specifications:

straight or modern oval leg design

30+ year old relcaimed sheetmetal top

MIG/TIG welded steel frame

gloss clear coat

stainless steel hardware

leveling feet

original VIN badge���

tables weigh 60+ pounds, the real deal …

 

Oh yes – they certainly do look the real deal LOVE ‘EM!

I promise that very soon I will be posting photographs of our own repurposed furniture once the flat is sorted!

Slides slides slides

No – not the ones you fly down and break your arm on at the bottom. Instead I’m talking about photographic slides.
Many months ago we bought a load of photographic slides from Deptford Market and Ebay to turn into either this:

[<a href="http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=338100.0">tutorial on Craftster here</A>]

or this:

[tutorial on Craftster here]

However life took over and we still haven’t got around to creating these wonderful things. At the moment we are brassic so I’m hoping that we can start putting one or both of these together while we’re trying not to leave the flat and have our usual adventures, which often involve trips to one or two pubs on the way.  And some eatery of some sort.
In preparation for this I’ve been scanning in the ones I find interesting/ unusual – if you click on the wind-swept doggy below you’ll find some that I’ve scanned in:

Thrifty Boy also found an awesome box of photographic slides in a junk shop in Greenwich. They weren’t cheap, however they ARE amazing – Novosti Press Agency slides of Russia in 1975. You can see some of the set here:

These ones we don’t really want to turn into anything so we’re hoping to make a light box to display them in. We saw this one in SuckUK:

SuckUK Slide Light

But it’s about £150 – £200!  As Thrifty Boy is very clever he’s currently designing a slide box for our slides.  Hopefully it means that we can have an ever-changing wall display of our collection

I’ve found a couple tutorials to share here for light boxes:

ehow

steampunk workshop – not a slide display but you can follow the same principles

Instructables – again not a slide display but a great tutorial – very expensive though – I’m sure it can be done a lot cheaper than this!

FREECYCLE GOODNESS

I HATE not being able to post photos at the moment of my Freecycle wonderfulness – however – it is safe to say that this weekend was CHOCKABLOCKFULL of Freecycled wonderfulness.

On Saturday we picked up two clothes rails – I despise wardrobes and have done for a long time.  Wardrobes have doors, doors can be shut and hide things – specifically mess.  Therefore if I have a clothes rail my clothes will not get messy and indeed be on show.  The downside is obvious of course – light from the windows can fade my clothing and dust can settle -  however I do much prefer them to bulky and unsightly wardrobes.  Unless one day I can find a beautiful art-deco wardrobe that will fulfill all my needs.

Yesterday we had two goodies to collect.  First we took a stroll down into Brockley to collect a random box of kitchen stuff.  A 4 slice toaster, 3 saucepans, some glasses of varying sizes and a random oval plate.  All of which (apart from the toaster of course) are sitting in our magic cupboard (read dishwasher) ready to be cleaned and used.  My asthma hit me after that and Ben collected our two clothes airers.  Since we moved in we’ve been drying our clothes on the radiators which has meant that we’ve not been doing much washing.  Now we have TWO airers ready to dry our clothes on which makes us very happy bunnies indeed.  I can’t wait to empty our big bag of washing that needs doing and hang it all around the flat.

Freecycle is always hit and miss.  Sometimes you’ll see something you really want (like a bag of vintage cameras) and miss out on it by milliseconds.  I kind of think that this is where the fun lies.  You send your email you see what happens.  I’m sure some people have insider knowledge of what’s coming up before any one else and gets all the fine goodies first   But that’s just me because I WANTED THAT BAG OF VINTAGE CAMERAS! (even though my dad has a box of cameras and equipment to unload onto me next time I see them).

Later this week I will be the proud custodian of a darkroom too – I can’t wait.  I’m not sure when I’m going to have the time/ money to start developing my own photographs but I’m sure as hell going to make time/ money to do so.  I’m very very excited to see what godawful results I come up with.  It’s been a looooooooooooooooooooooooooong time since I set foot in a dark room so I’m quite nervous/ excited.  Our bathroom will never smell the same again!

ack

why is it that when I write a long entry and don’t save it as I go along that Firefox decides to collapse on me? Grrrr.

So short one now.

I have a cold.

I feel like poo.

I’ve been making bracelets.

I’ve been editing photos.

I’ve not made an outfit for tomorrow night (Artful: Photosession) where I’ll be photographing and exhibiting

I won something

I don’t often win things however I won a wonderful bag from the lovely Angela at Sew Glamorous.  I cannot wait to show off my More Cowbell bag around Sarf-East London

I’m now going to bed.

Night night.

second-hand living is officially ‘cool’

Friday night was fun.  Despite not wanting to actually go out due to having a stinking cold, I still took the time to adjust my dress and make and extra petticoat to go underneath it.  Hopefully I’ll get a good photo of how I looked on Friday night, but as I entered the doors of the club I was asked to pose for a photo as I was officially ‘cool’ I’ve never been ‘cool’ and at 36 I never expected to ever be cool. But apparently my outfit was and I’m pleased to say the intrinsic parts that made it up were ALL second-hand.  My dress was from the Salvation Army shop in Catford and cost me £3.49.  My jacket was handed down to me via a friend of a friend – as it didn’t fit them, my bag was a box purse from a charity shop (quite a while ago so I can’t remember where it was from) for £3 and my shoes were my darling Pradas – £9.95!  The only new aspects to my outfit were my pink tights and some more netting to go under my dress.

Whoo hoo – I AM cool! lol – although judging by this photo I definitely don’t look cool:

I'm the one in the middle

Apparently they want to put the photo of me on the website for This Feeling – I’ll let you know if they do so you can see the outfit in full.  I was kind of shocked but pleasantly surprised

the great tidy-up began today

I’ve had to put things on hold a bit here as I’ve embarked on something that is long over-due.  The great big tidy-up.

I’m a hoarder – I come from a family of hoarders – and this hoarding has never been put in check.  Now it’s got out of hand and I need to be ruthless.  So while I only work 2 days a week I’m using the rest of the time to sort my crap out.

Today I started on the worst offender – my study.  It’s always been the ‘junk room’ where things get dumped and lost.  It’s going to be a longer and bigger job than I originally thought.  I had to reign myself in from saving old envelopes because I could create gorgeousness from them like these:

Security Envelope Tags by The Felt Mouse

Security Envelope Buttons by The Workroom

Beads by JPolka

Beautiful Art - by ClumsyBird

However it was my wardrobe where I was having my biggest fight.  I find it so difficult to give away clothes, constantly thinking that ‘I will fit into that again one day’ or ‘I could alter that to make something better’.  However some items of clothes must leave my wardrobe and either head their merry way to a charity shop OR head their way into creating my new quilt.  I’ve decided that my big quilt will be my winter project.  A hodge-podge of colours and designs.  Large enough to fit our super-king size bed.  I’m not going for a complicated pattern for my first proper quilt – just a simple box design.  This pool on  Flickr is a great inspiration:    Reclaimed Fabric, Patchwork and Quilting

So I’ll try and blog in a few days with another tribute to some wonderful upcyclers.  I also have some new buys to share with you lovely people In the meantime keep recycling and being wonderfully creative!

sustainable living with a snob!

It’s increasingly difficult sometimes to have this ‘sustainable’ life when your other half can be such a snob.  On Saturday he bought our sister-in-law’s birthday present – now – obviously buying a ‘new’ gift went against ‘my’ principles – however he refused to purchase something used or handmade – then when he went to look for wrapping paper I said ‘We have newspaper at home – use that’ – he refused.

Does anyone else come up against problems when trying to live ‘second-hand’ with their partners?

I’m not going to force him into my way of thinking – afterall he should want to come to that place in his own way.  I once picked him up a shirt at a jumble sale for 20p – he’s never worn it however much he said that he ‘did’ like it! ha ha.  He has nothing against reading second-hand books, or buying second-hand dvds and cds, however when it comes to textiles (ie: clothes) for some reason he is completely turned off.  I will do it slowly – picking up awesome pieces that he loves then hopefully he will come around!

Deptford Junk Market

Today I start my internship – can’t wait.  I’m full of cold but who cares?  I’m also obviously looking forward to trawling the bargain charity shops while I’m there – naughty naughty! hee hee.  It’s also right next to the famous Deptford Junk Market which again will be my downfall.  This is a flea market with a difference, you literally are buying fleas! ha ha … of course I’m joking, however it’s a naughty place with naughty things that I end up buying because I think I can turn them into something.  Generally I can’t however it’s a fantastic place to rummage. I’ll try to be good!

I just wanted to say …

thank you to all of you who have so far taken the time to drop by and read my blog – it fairly warms the cockles of my heart.  Especially those who have commented too – that’s supremely wonderful.

You realise sometimes that things happen for a reason.  I think it’s the way I deal with disappointment, if I don’t get a job I want, if something goes wrong, if you believe that it’s for a reason then it’s easier to deal with.  For instance, losing my job because I had flu.  I believe that happened for a reason.  I contacted the theatre where I photograph events and asked if I could do an internship with them in their development and promotion department.  They said ‘yes’, I start on Monday, and already I’m being asked to help out with workshops and other bits and pieces.  Honestly – although I’m not being paid I don’t care.  We’ve coped before and we’ll cope again.  It’s going to be so exciting working somewhere I LOVE, with people I really get on with  YAY.  Bring on Monday!

Currently preparing the next ‘uber-upcycle’ blog

my thrifty living is going to get thriftier

hurumph … I lost my temporary job yesterday – apparently being off sick with flu is no excuse for not going in, despite the fact that there were signs all over the centre saying ‘don’t come in if you have a temperature etc.’  So I am now unemployed again.

What really sucks is that I liked that job.  I liked the other members of staff, I liked the clients.  I was good at the job.  Bollox to it.

So today I start again.  I fired off a few CVs yesterday to agencies and had 2 call backs within the hour – so I’ve just got to go and have interviews there.  I’ve also found a few jobs I’m going to apply for – including one at the House of Commons! Oh my … that would be funny.  There are quite a few posts in education for charities and museums still – so I’m sticking to that tack.  However, I’ve also asked someone if I can intern for them – they’re the Head of Development and Communications for a theatre and it would be great experience for me.  So … I’m not going to rest on my laurels, no siree bob.  Today though … could be nice to rest on laurels!

I just have to recount what happened last night – that ties in with yesterday’s post.  After losing my job I was relieved to see that I had a bottle of wine in the fridge – so out it came and down my neck it went.  Not the best thing to do when you’re full of flu meds.  So I got drunk quite quickly.  Our living room basically is very odd, we have the staircase and the front door in it – and as we were sitting there discussing democracy (true) the poor paper-boy tried to put the local free newspaper through our letter box.  Being sick of having so much paper around I shouted ‘take it back!’ – and he did!  I did think it was quite funny!  So now I have a response to junk mail – just shout at them.

scourge of the letter boxes

Really, this isn’t a ground breaking comment to make to say that we ALL must hate junk mail. Don’t we? Please say we do. The whole idea of junk mail is vile and intrusive. The amount of times I’ve actually caught someone about to post a pizza menu through my letter box and I’ve taken it from them and posted it straight into my recycling bin.

I do have a confession to make however. As a teenager I used to deliver junk mail to raise money for my summer holidays. My aunty used to do it as a living, and over the summer holidays I’d be given my own round to do. It was back-breaking work for very little money. And now I feel very bad for filling peoples’ boxes with these pieces of trash – however – when one is a teenager one needs to make money!

Recently we’ve had a marked increase in the amount of menus we get through our box – pizza menus generally make me feel quite unwell (the photographs are most unappetising) and I think we’ve tried every Indian and Chinese menu with little excitement or impression. Thankfully one of our cats thinks he’s a dog and tends to ‘collect’ the junk mail, acting as our own personal shredder

So in my usual manner I’ve been looking for things to do with junk mail. For myself, I’ve only managed collages:

Unfortunately I can’t post a lot of the photos of what people have done with junk mail – which I understand ENTIRELY.  So go to Gallery 1 on Flickr – for wonderful ideas on what to do with junk – including obligatory jewellery as well as journals, a quilt and bowls

I intend to add to this – however I’m still feeling pretty rough with flu – haven’t slept properly for 4 nights now.  So I’ll finish this later

EDIT:

Ok … it’s now a much more reasonable time and although I’m in bed feeling like poo I thought I’d finish this entry properly as there are too many talented people out there who need their junk repurposing pimped

I’ve never thought of recycling paper to create a paper product designed to be written/ drawn on – however now – I can see the joy of using recycled junk mail to create journals, tags, envelopes and other stationary.

Junk mail to satisfy your stationary desires

http://www.flickr.com/photos/myhandboundbooks/2940725810/

This is a beautifully designed journal – simple yet clean and minimal.  This recycler has a whole set of journals created from upcycled materials and is a real inspiration to this lady sitting at her laptop typing this.  You really have NO IDEA how many journals and notebooks I have – and to know that there is a way of creating my own notebooks out of all that crap that gets shoved through my letter box is an awesome idea.

I’m going to hunt out the materials needed and start creating my own journals – oh dear – another idea!

You can also see Lootsvele’s upcycled journals here – I love the use of envelopes to create spaces to stash your tickets etc.  I think these would make fantastic presents.

eco-monster seems to be a real star of recycling materials – I’m in love with so many of her ideas – they’re very pretty and pastel-coloured – not very

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecomonster/

much like me but I can still appreciate.

This ‘address box’ is especially creative – so country-cottage yet such a simple idea.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/madhatrk/2109661008/

Madhatrk’s packaging is very special – takes a bit of energy to make by the looks of things (see the tutorial here) however the final result is REALLY effective.

Junk mail = style

Of course junk mail can be turned into clothes and jewellery – what made you think that it couldn’t?:

Origami star earrings from upcycled junk mail etc.

home ECOnomics - paper jewellery

Quilling can be turned into jewellery

cute and simple

As you can see from this very small selection – junk mail can be used for some wonderful accessories – when with shops like Accessorize actually start using recycled products rather than creating jewellery that LOOKS as though it’s recycled?

Finally – for now (there will be more to come – I’m quite aware that with every blog post – the more I search – the more I find worth mentioning and pimping ) I wanted to leave you with an amazing piece of wearable art that an ex-student of mine created for a Metro Newspaper competition.  However I can’t find the image of the dress anywhere on the internet.  She created it from many copies of Metros (a free newspaper that tends to fill train carriages), folding hundreds of origami cranes for the skirt.

When I find the image I will post it here – until then here’s her profile on Untold. Believe me – she will be a force to be reckoned with – winning Young Designer of the Year aged just 14!