Upcycle Project Ideas

Welcome to my latest blog post, where I’m excited to share some of my upcycle project ideas with you. These are small projects I’ve upcycled for my own home. In some of my earlier posts I have made suggestions about how you could enhance your home in a sustainable way by upcycling or repurposing existing items. In doing so, we reduce the demand for new resources and minimize waste, contributing to a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.

I thought it was about time I showed you some of my personal projects in the hope that you will be inspired to try some upcycle project ideas for yourself. Finding eco-friendly ways to enhance our homes can not only save money, it can also be a very rewarding activity, where you can explore your creativity whilst making a positive impact on our planet. I will showcase a range of items I’ve upcycled for my home, offering insights into how you can do it yourself and contribute to a greener, more sustainable lifestyle. These examples are beginner-friendly so if you’re a newcomer to the world of upcycling, there’s something here for you.

Table Lamp Upcycle

I bought these two lamp shades in a charity shop – still wrapped in the cellophane so clearly new and unused. I later came across two lamp bases being sold for £1.00 each because they had no shade. They weren’t the correct colour for the room I was decorating but I thought they were a bargain and I could work around that.

If you have an old lamp at home that no longer matches your colour scheme, you could paint it in a colour that compliments your interior – just remember to check it is a low VOC paint and that it is suitable for ceramics.

I bought some low VOC paint in an Ink Blue by Rust-oleum that matched my room and got to work!

I painted the lamp bases then decided to change the fabric on the lamp shades. I like to sew and I always have fabric in the house so I decided to use this blue pattern as it matched perfectly with the blue lamp bases.

I used my glue gun to attach the fabric to the shade and also glued a contrasting bias trim inside the shade so there were no raw edges to be seen and it looked neat and tidy. I think they turned out quite well!

Rescued Side Table

This table was going to be thrown away by a family member as it was old and had a lot of scratches on it. It is made from solid wood so it is a good quality table and I thought it should be saved from landfill. I decided I could give it a coat of paint and it would look lovely with a vase or plant on it.

As always, I bought a low VOC paint by GoodHome in a shade called Cap Benat. I cleaned the table with a mild soap solution and that was all the preparation I had to do as this is a self priming paint. This was the finished result. I think it’s a big improvement on the old, scratched table I rescued.

Bargain Egg Chair

My daughter has been asking for an egg chair in her reading corner for quite a while now and although it would look great in her bedroom, I wasn’t prepared to pay upwards of £150 for something she wanted but didn’t actually need. She agreed that buying a new chair that was ‘trending’ probably wasn’t the most sustainable thing to do and was happy for me to find a nice bedroom chair that I could upcycle and put into her reading corner.

Well, as luck would have it, I found an egg chair for sale on FaceBook Marketplace for only £50.00. It was in need of some TLC because it had been out in the sellers garden so it was rusted in places and the cushions were bleached by the sun.

I wasn’t deterred. I brought it home and began my upcycle by sanding down the rusted parts of the frame then giving the whole thing a good wash down. I used Rust-oleum Painter’s Touch paint in black satin finish to paint the chair frame. Then I recovered the cushions with some material remnants I had at home. My daughter loves it and I think the fairy lights add a lovely magical tough for her room.

From Snack to Style

Now this was an unusual upcycle which I did for a bit of fun but I’m quite impressed at how they turned out. I’d bought two lamp shades at a charity shop a couple of months ago because I thought they’d match two bases I already had at home. Unfortunately they weren’t the right size so I put them to one side until I could think of another use for them.

A few weeks later, my two teenagers plus friends had eaten two tubes of Pringles, so I had an idea! “Lets see if I can make these into lamp bases!” I began by painting the silver trim gold using Rust-oleum Painters Touch. Then I used some self-adhesive vinyl which I had in the house (not a sustainable material but I put it to good use, rather than throw it in landfill). You could use a piece of fabric or wallpaper and glue this onto the cardboard tube.

In order to make the base heavier, I needed some non-perishable material to put inside the tube. I used some leftover bathroom tiles. Then I glued the tube lid onto the lamp shade and placed the lid onto the tube.

Finally, I fixed a self-adhesive puck light inside the shade, (I use rechargeable batteries as these are more sustainable). This upcycle was so easy and they look very effective! So, what do you think? Would you give this one a try?

Conclusion

I hope this post has given you some ideas and inspired you to try some of these projects for your home. Upcycling items for the home is a sustainable choice that can also be quite easy to do. This practice not only reduces our carbon footprint but also allows us to get creative, giving new life to items that might otherwise end up in landfills.

Upcycling is a simple and effective way for us to make a positive impact on the planet while adding unique, personalized touches to our homes. So, whether it’s rescuing an old table from landfill or turning a Pringles crisps tube into a stylish table lamp, upcycling is a sustainable and accessible choice that benefits both us and the environment.

If you’d like to be inspired further, check out Sarah Teresinski at Redeux Style on You Tube for some unique and inspiring upcycles.

I would love to hear if you are going to give any of these projects a go, or indeed, if you have already completed some upcycling projects of your own, please leave a message below.

Happy upcycling!

Elaine