Upcycling, repurposing....make old things new. There are a hundred different ways to say it but recycling other people's unwanted items is fast becoming a popular trend. I find it quite amusing, I have been upcycling items since I was ten. I have made new things from old, decorating my bedroom when I was younger to my little apartment in my early twenties. My favorite summertime event was garage sales!
It must have been over 30 years ago that I started going to garage sales, I remember buying this heavy wooden coffee table that someone had made for $5. I didn't really want to pay five dollars but upon further inspection I decided it was well worth it. Needless to say, I still have it. That $5 handmade table has been stripped and painted several times, it has been used as a coffee table, plant stand, drawing and colouring table in my children's toy room and then moved outside to do crafts on the deck, currently it is a bench in my garden. All for $5 and some paint every few years.
During my 'shopping trips' to second hand stores and garage sales, I have purchased books ranging from how to do home repairs, learn to sew, how to upholster furniture, how to build furniture and the list goes on...generally for about a dollar or two. From there, I have taught myself how upcycle many, many items. I have learned so much from those one dollar books, simply amazing what you can find and what you can learn for so little, and at the same time saving these 'unwanted items' from hitting our landfills.
There have been a ton of books written on upcycling and repurposing things and each and every one of them brings another new idea - it's exciting, although nothing new to me....really.
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