Fun Crafts from Knitting (or Crochet!) Scraps

Knitting and crochet both have a lot of benefits as autumn craft activities: they can be enjoyed alone or with friends; they're portable for holidays and road trips; and kids can join in the fun (particularly with techniques like arm knitting or finger crochet). These pastimes are also great from a sustainability standpoint, as needles/hooks are durable and rarely require replacement and yarn can be purchased (or found at the Reuse Centre) in a variety of eco-friendly fibres.

One of the reuse challenges that I encountered when I started crocheting regularly was what to do with the many scraps of yarn that I accumulated from different projects. I found that the easiest solution was to wind each piece into a small roll and store them in a mason jar or on an empty paper towel tube. Here are 3 fun ideas for how you can put those scraps to use.

1) Ornament or Hanging Mobile

Yarn scraps can be wrapped around styrofoam balls to make individual ornaments or a stunning hanging mobile. This project provides the opportunity to be creative with color, size and arrangement, making the finished project suitable for anywhere in the home, in any season.

2) Wall Hanging

This is another versatile home decor project, requiring yarn scraps and a piece of dowel. Check out A Pretty Fix for a great example. Different colors and textures of yarn can be used in combination and the dowel could be replaced with a branch or piece of pipe for a more rustic or modern look, respectively.

3) Gift Wrap

Although this example from It Happens in a Blink is for a Christmas present, the idea is great for any time of year. Alternatives to conventional gift wrap are important from a sustainability perspective, plus a fun and personalized package is sure to bring a smile to the recipient's face!

-Karlene (Volunteer)

From Kitchen Trash to Canada Day Crafts!

Now that the kids are out of school, it's a great time to start on some fun and easy summer crafting! Instead of going out and buying new supplies, why not use items that might be already lying around the house? Reusing is less expensive, more convenient and eco-friendly.

If you're looking for new-to-you craft items, the Reuse Centre is a great place to start as they have an ever-changing selection of arts and crafts supplies at a fantastic price (only $5 for up to 25 kg of materials).

With Canada Day fast approaching, here's a selection of craft ideas that the whole family can enjoy together. Each project takes a common kitchen recyclable that can be found in your blue bag and turns it into something festive!

1. From Soup Can to Wind Sock

This craft is a great example of how a common waste item (like an old soup or vegetable tin) can be upcycled into something celebratory! This activity is also great for using up scraps of coloured paper and ribbon to create the windsock and string, yarn or wire for the hanger loop. Check out Today's Parent for a tutorial.

2. From Glass Jar to Centerpiece

Although the original project calls for mason jars, spray paint and wood cutouts, this project can be made more inexpensively and kid-friendly using empty jars from jams or sauces, acrylic craft paint and a DIY maple leaf made from leftover card stock. Check out Love to Create for details.

3. From Milk Carton to Bird Feeder

This feeder from Today's Parent has been painted to resemble Jellybean Row houses in St. John's, Newfoundland, but you can come up with any design imaginable! Setting up a bird feeder provides a great opportunity to observe and learn about local wildlife and to share why nature and sustainability are so important.

Happy Canada Day!

-Karlene (Volunteer)

Create a Cheerful Craft Nook on a Budget! (Part Two)

We will continue our project of creating a fun and sustainable crafting space!

In part one, we discussed how to find a workstation and think about storage. Now we will move on to the next steps.

3) Choose energy efficient lighting. Good lighting is critical for your crafting area, especially if you’re reading patterns, taking photographs or working on a smaller-scale project like cross-stitch. Especially in the winter, our natural light fades quickly!

Photo: Karlene L.

My craft nook is in a basement with dimmable LED fixtures and an LED desk lamp with adjustable brightness and position. This way, I can control the amount of light I need – whether I’m watching a movie or working on a project – and the energy used is a fraction of that consumed by conventional incandescent bulbs.

4) Accessorize! Congratulations, you’ve made it to the really fun part! Your space should be an extension of who you are, so whatever brings a smile to your face, now’s the time to display it using shelving, cork boards, pegboards or a gallery wall!

My area is a work in progress so the walls are still bare, but I’m taking inspiration from my office where I have a beautiful vintage map of Belgium (to remind me of my travels) and a display of some of my completed craft projects (to provide inspiration).

Photo: Karlene L.

My accessories include a vintage tall ship model, a locally-made ceramic yarn bowl, two "Made in Alberta" letterpress cards, a repurposed IKEA (zebra print!) office chair and a whimsical button-print rug.

Photo: Karlene L.

Another great idea is to hang paintings that you can make with your family – no experience necessary! With a few inexpensive stretched canvases (available locally at Michaels, DeSerres or The Paint Spot), brushes and acrylic paint, you can have a fun family afternoon and decorate your space at the same time.

So there you have it! With a little bit of time and creativity, you can have the whimsical and sustainable craft nook of your dreams. Instead of saying, “there’s no way I’m cleaning off my desk and dragging the sewing machine out,” you can just sit down at your workstation and start making.

-Karlene (Volunteer)

Create a Cheerful Craft Nook on a Budget! (Part One)

Like many of you, I pour over craft blogs and gaze longingly when they profile their work spaces. Such beautiful storage! Such beautiful lighting! But, how do you begin?

For years, that’s as far as I went. I didn’t set up my own work space because I thought that it would be too expensive nor did I have the time or the room. I didn’t even know where to start!

That all changed when I saw a profile of a sewing space that was simple yet functional on the British Tilly and the Buttons blog. It looked like a charming place to curl up with a tea and a project on a rainy afternoon.

When I flipped through the crafter’s blog, I realized that she and I had actually been neighbours! If she could make it happen in her space, then so could I. All I needed was the UK profile of an Edmonton blogger to help me realize it!

Photo: Karlene L.

Although my space is a work in progress, it brings me joy every time I see it. Using a small corner of the basement, I designed an inexpensive, functional and eco-conscious playground for creating and exploring - and you can too! Here’s how to start.

1) Find a workstation. Your workstation needs will vary depending on your crafting interests and the space you have available. If you’re into crochet and lettering, you’ll need less flat space than someone who quilts. If you have the luxury of setting up a full sewing room, you’ll have more space for tables than someone carving out the corner of a larger room.

Photo: Karlene L.

In my nook, my eco-friendly workstation is my mother-in-law’s beautifully re-purposed dining room table. The wood is solid, the construction is meticulous and it’s expandable with two additional leaves hidden under the table top. Look for similar vintage gems at thrift stores, garage sales, Find or the Ambleside and Kennedale Eco Station Reuse Areas.

2) Think about storage. If you’re a minimalist: well done, this part will be easier! If you’re more like me, less so. Having all of your craft supplies handy makes projects faster and far less frustrating. Less time finding bobbins means more time stitching.

Photo: Karlene L.

My main storage piece is a happy yellow IKEA KALLAX, which offers space for both storage and display and is a more environmentally sustainable version of the classic EXPEDIT. I also re-purposed a pink IKEA office storage unit from several years ago, which is fantastic for storing patterns and notions. For smaller items such as buttons and crochet hooks, I reused mason jars (from preserves that we had received as a gift) and old coffee mugs (like the one from the Ambleside Reuse Area on the right).

Check back next month for Part Two where we work on lighting and accessorizing our new spaces!

-Karlene (Volunteer)

February Reuse-It Item: Pine Cones

Think it's time to put the pine cones away, now that the holidays are over and Spring is fast approaching?

Think again!

This month, our blogger team has put together a list of clever ideas to use pine cones, all year round.

Michelle

I typically use pine cones for crafts and decor. It's important to me to clean out the dirt and possible bugs that may be stuck in the crevices of the scales. Check out this straightforward tutorial from Urban Jane to learn how to clean out pine cones, so you don’t have to buy them from a craft store.


Sarah

Give your feathered friends a treat, and lure wildlife to your yard with this awesome, all-natural bird feeder made from a pine cone! This is a simple, quick activity that's great for all ages. Get the instructions at Happiness is Homemade.

And because I couldn't decide which one I liked better, I also wanted to share this artificial zinnia floral arrangement, from A Fanciful Twist.

Siao

Growing up in Edmonton and having great access to the Rockies, I have a natural affinity towards the mountains.  I'm always trying to find ways to recapture those moments of adventure and calm. What better way to evoke these strong emotions and memories than to use the good old olfactory sense? Using essential oils and collected pine cones, you can easily make scented decor pieces around the home. Learn how at Apartment Therapy.

Mallory

Pine cones are one of the most common things that we can find in our everyday surroundings here in Northern Alberta, but the biggest question is: 'What can you do with them?' One answer that isn't at the forefront of most minds is to use them to add texture to paintings! It's very easy to take them apart, sprinkle them onto a canvas with some glue, and paint over them to add texture to any painting — especially more abstract pieces, as pictured here.

Painting by Bradley Collins
Image supplied by Mallory

Do you have a great idea to share? Let us know in the comments.

January Reuse-It Item: Board Games

Have you ever pulled out your favourite game, only to realize a critical piece is missing? Or maybe that well-loved board has fallen apart, and you suddenly have an excess of tiles and tokens.

Nobody could possibly want those, right?

Wrong! Here at the Reuse Centre, we take complete board games, but we also accept all kinds of spare chips, game boards, and cards. This month, our bloggers have put together some of their favourite ideas for reusing those extra bits and pieces.

Michelle

Here is a great way to repurpose an old metal Chinese checker board piece into a clock. You may find parts for the hands online or at watch shops. This would surely make a unique conversation piece for your home.

See the tutorial at Light & Spoon.

Mallory

Do the scattered pieces of old, unused board games litter your house? Do they lurk under couches and in corners, waiting for the chance to find their way under your feet so that they can have one last glorious moment of triumph as you limp away in pain?

Never fear, here is a wonderful tutorial from Living Like the Kings on how to re-purpose those pesky pieces into something a tad less dangerous for your unsuspecting feet. The best part? You can do this with any old board game pieces –  monopoly, clue, scrabble –  the sky is the limit!

Tamara

I saw an excellent idea for reusing old scrabble tiles: make some coasters! They're adorable, plus you get to play the game again and think of clever short words and/or phrases to put on your coasters. This is a great idea for making things like unique wedding favours or just to create a fun accessory for your table. Other than the tiles, you don't need much. All you need are some super glue, scissors, and cork or an old game board. Check out the details at Style & Elegance.

Sarah

These game-board shelves are genius! What a cute way to add a bit of colour and pattern to a room, without a lot of DIY effort. These would be great on any kid's wall, or as part of a household games room or family room.

Got any great ideas for using leftover board game pieces? We want to hear about them! Share with us in the comments.

Magazine Strip Silhouette Art

This summer felt like it stampeded by, so it was particularly nice to have a free Saturday morning! I ended up blocking it off for a fun project with friends which included coffee, craft therapy, and grownup talk.  The project at hand was to make magazine strip silhouettes, and my goal was to make it simple, modern, and a fun distraction from our routine troubles.

Step One: Print Stencil/Silhouette
In preparation for this project, you'll need to choose your images. We found stencils and silhouettes online, then resized them to print onto a full letter sized page.  Images with more surface areas are ideal. For more intricate images, like the zebra, fish or raccoon-Mario, an alternative is to use the magazine strips for the background, rather than for the silhouette itself. (You'll see what I mean later!)

We had a wide variety of images to work with!

Our magazine stash.

Step Two: Choose Colourful Magazine Pages
Pull out pages with a lot of colour or intricate patterns, which will make the silhouette look fuller.  Try to choose pages with colours that will contrast with the background paper you intend to use.

It's okay to have some pages with words or body parts, since these won't be very noticeable in the cut strips. 



Step Three: Cut Strips from Magazine Pages
Fold the magazine pages accordion-style to create nice, straight cutting lines that are the same distance apart. Alternately, you can use a ruler and draw cutting lines. Note that the thinner the strips, the more gluing you will have to do.

Cutting the strips takes patience, but it's worth it!

Be very careful to cut as straight as you can, because it will help when pasting the strips side-by-side. While cutting, my friend came up with an ingenious plan to use a shredder.  Try it out and let me know!

Paste strips on the back
of a printed page.

Step Four: Glue Magazine Strips to the Back
The fun part! Paste the strips as you please on the backside of the stencil pages. The pattern is up to you. We alternated a variety of strips of different colours to make a rainbow effect.  I have seen some projects done with gradients of the same colour, which has a desirable look as well.

Keep in mind that the strips only need to cover the image, so you don't necessarily have to cover the entire page.  Rotate and place magazine strips strategically, depending on where the image cutout will be.  Some of the strips won't be cut perfectly straight, so just overlay them to ensure no blank spaces are showing.

Step Five: Cut out Silhouette and Paste Striped Silhouette onto Paper

Depending on the silhouette, you can also turn the original cut sheet into a second art piece, as with the deer silhouette shown below. As I mentioned earlier, this would work really well for more intricate images like the zebra.

The negative space inside the remaining magazine strips still looks neat! 

Cut-out striped silhouette.

Left, we have the striped silhouette on coloured paper, and on the
right, the leftover striped background over coloured paper.

Step Six: Enjoy Finished Art Piece! Frame and Gift at Your Leisure.

I'm really glad that this turned out so well!  We were really worried that this would turn out to be a pinterest fail moment.  I still have tons of magazines left over, so I will have to come up with another craft therapy session soon!

Our finished silhouettes, ready for display.

- Siao (Volunteer)

All photos provided by Siao.

Dorm Room Decorating on a Budget

When you're a university student living at home, you can still comfort yourself at the end of a tough day with familiar items and surroundings. When you're a student living in 'res', you may be lucky enough to bring a few of your familiar things into an otherwise soulless room that you may or may not be sharing. Even worse, you're probably also completely broke. 

Don't despair! There are a ton of ways to jeuje up your dorm room, organize yourself for school on a tight budget, and still have plenty of money left over for ramen noodles and beer. Some projects can be done with items you might already have or could borrow, and others could be done for a $5 shopping spree at the Reuse Centre. 

I'd like to share a few of my favourite budget projects for personalizing your dorm space and staying on top of school projects.

 DIY Dry Erase

Papers and exams can overwhelm you if you don't stay organized from the start. I always made sure to grab a free agenda during the first week of school, but I also liked having a wall calendar handy to help me plan a month ahead of time. Calendars can be pricey, but if you can pick up free paint chips at a hardware store or the Reuse Centre, a frame from your parents/Reuse Centre/dollar store, and a whiteboard marker, you can make a dry erase calendar to get you through the semester. Bonus points for giving your drab dorm room a punch of colour. Check out DIY Projects for inspiration.

Don't need a calendar? Instead of paint chips, fill the frame with a bit of gift wrap or scrapbook paper. Now you've got a super cheap dry erase board to leave reminders for yourself, or angry notes for your roommate.

Desk Organizers

When you only have so much space, it's really easy to clutter it up and make a big mess. Closets can quickly get out of hand, and course handouts can get lost in the ever-growing piles of paper. Help yourself stay organized with upcycled wicker baskets! Grab some old, outdated styles for cheap. They might be hideous under normal circumstances, but covered in a coat of metallic or bright-coloured paint, they will breathe life into your room and tame your mess. These beauties can become your new T-shirt baskets, paper trays, and pencil cups. If your grandmother doesn't have any, thrift stores and the Reuse Centre certainly will. 

Transform cereal boxes into attractive and useful organizers with a box cutter, your favourite fabric, gift wrap or magazine cutouts, and some tape. Use them for your paperwork, organizing your makeup, storing your hair appliances... Whatever you need! 

Closet Space Savers

This has to be about the easiest possible way to maximize your dorm room's non-existent closet space. Remove the tab from a pop can, loop one end over one hanger, and a second hanger through the other end. Voila! You've doubled your storage space and now you can keep outfits together. You can probably assemble enough pop can tabs for this in an afternoon if you recruit your friends. 

Another inexpensive space saver is to add shower curtain rings to a hanger, to keep all of your smaller items in one place. Belts, scarves, tank tops, you name it! If you're a purse junkie, you can also store them this way. Try your nearest dollar store or second hand shop for shower curtain rings, and make sure your hanger is sturdy. 

Of course, this is just a sampling of some of the easiest ways to personalize and organize your dorm space on a small budget. The Reuse Centre, your closest dollar store, and your parents' basement can hold a wealth of items to accessorize your student life, and a spot of paint can do wonders to turn something dated into something chic. Be creative! 

Best semester wishes from the Reuse Centre! 

Nichole (Volunteer)

Broken Teacups: Finding the Silver Lining

I collect teacups. Some are collected from garage sales, others are purchased brand new.  These have cost me anywhere between $0.20-$60.00 per teacup and saucer set, but each is precious and invaluable to me, so I take extra care whenever I use them.  More than collecting teacups, I love hosting tea parties.  Guests are delighted to claim their special pattern for the afternoon, but no matter how gentle my guests are, accidents still can happen.  So to prepare myself for a broken heart and china, I learned more about repairing pottery and discovered the art of Kintsugi.  


Kintsugi or Kintsuguroi is a technique to mend broken pottery with a philosophy of beautifying its wear and tear rather than hiding it.  This method fills in the missing pieces and glues the broken edges together using lacquer resin with metallic dust, coloured in gold, silver, copper or bronze. Chips and tumbles are part of the life of the ware, so it aims to highlight its history while repairing it to be used once more. 


Outside of pottery, Kintsugi is so poetic. It speaks to me about growing and aging as a beautiful transformation.  It encourages me that when we go through life and have pieces of ourselves worn or cracked along the way, we are also changing and building shinier, prettier pieces of ourselves.  

 

We can also apply this same idea onto our favorite subject, Reuse.  Just because something is broken, it does not immediately lose its value.  Do not throw it out just yet - Stop and consider the possibilities and options you have.  Can this be repaired? Are there still workable spare parts? Would this be a good item to repurpose? Create the silver lining.


- Siao (Volunteer)

June Reuse-it Item: Home Décor

The Reuse Centre takes a wide variety of Home Décor items including carpet samples, tiles and paint swatches. Our bloggers have compiled some fun and easy ways to reuse these items to brighten up your home!

Tamara

For reusing carpet scraps, there are many cool DIY doormats you can do that are relatively simple - check out this unique one out with this full tutorial.

Essentially, it just requires some washing and cleaning, some cutting, and latex paint. You can paint your own pattern on, or if you're in need of inspiration, check out more ideas for different patterns courtesy of JenTaterTots. Guests will enjoy these interesting doormats being the first thing they see when they come visit you!

Lana

Tabletops get a lot of abuse from cold dripping drinks and hot serving dishes. A little protection from a coaster or trivet can make all the difference and you can make one from leftover (or Reuse Centre) tiles. It can be as simple as attaching cork, felt or rubber pads to the bottom of one tile (like Tanya at Dans le Lakehouse or creating a mosaic and special wooden frame (à la Mandy of Sugar Bee Crafts or xNerdiusMaximusx. Either way, your tables are saved!

Sarah

The Reuse Centre gets so many tiles of all different colours, shapes, and sizes, but rarely enough at a time to complete a major project. If a mismatched backsplash isn't your thing, why not try making ceramic tile coasters? They make great gifts! You can pick up some plain tiles, and customize them any way you like, with scrapbook paper, photos, paint or stickers. It's just a bonus that all of these decorating materials can also be found at the Reuse Centre! Check out this tutorial at Homemade Gifts Made Easy for instructions and lots of great photos for inspiration!

Emma

Sometimes tile samples can be reused and still maintain their original function. Whilst it's unlikely to find enough tile samples to finish your own kitchen floor, small projects are a great fit for using them. I found some rainbow coloured tile samples in amongst other colours and thought they would be perfect for decorating a dollshouse for my little girl.

Source: Ruby Murray Musings 

I cut them into quarters, making them 1.5" square and used them to tile the kitchen floor, I alternated colours and made them in a rainbow colour scheme. I even grouted them so they'll stay the course.


Nichole
I can't decide if this craft idea is super obvious or super genius, but I kind of love the idea of patching together an area rug from a large collection of carpet samples. I saw examples of these kinds of rugs that were a delightful mess of colour and texture, but the project I liked the best (from ColOrs-Of-ReUsing) showcases a colour gradient from dark to light that looks surprisingly flawless for being made from tiny carpet scraps. You could use carpet samples to make any size rug, and either sew the patches together or join them with good quality fabric tape.

- Reuse Centre Volunteers

August Reuse-It Item: Paint Swatches

Anyone who's ever done a big painting project knows that it's easy to accumulate a ton of those paper swatches, fast! Ecru vs. Eggshell, and oh, this brand's Forest Green looks just a tad darker than that brand's Evergreen. Whether your project is big or small, it's important to get the colour just right, so those little swatches come in handy! There's no denying that they're useful, but what do you do with them after you've made your choices?

If you're like many Edmontonians, you bring them to the Reuse Centre! This month, our blog team has put together a list of our favourite ways to reuse paint swatches.

Michelle

Paint Swatch Collage

Using cut out circles of paint swatches, create a stunning effect of ombre colors. I have also seen triangle cut outs attached side by side.

Don’t forget to frame your art work!

Sarah

I always have a book on the go, (sometimes two or three at a time!) but I don't actually own any bookmarks. I resort to using receipts, scrap pieces of paper, and the torn-off ends of opened mail.

I really love this simple and cute idea for reusing paint swatches and personalizing them with permanent ink or paint. This a great all-ages craft and perfect for back-to-school.

Nichole

There are so many cool and beautiful ways that paint swatches can be repurposed that it makes me want to take a cloth bag to Home Depot and clean them out. For instance, while I've always thought that mosaics are an interesting way to tszuj up a table top, the idea of smashing up ceramics for it seemed messy and slightly dangerous. But this doesn't have to stop me anymore now that I've found this awesome idea for creating a mosaic look with paint swatches! Just secure the paint chips to the wood top and cover with a piece of glass, and you have a gorgeous work of art that you can tailor for any room.

Lana

While the pretty colours of paint swatches make them perfect to incorporate into parts of a scrapbook page or a handmade card, the paper is generally not acid-free or of archival quality.

"Hey Gorgeous", takes advantage of the perfectly matching colours and light weight to create a customized chandelier that's full of movement. Check out the tutorial here. The same technique can be used for a lampshade or a mobile.


Emma

Visit Poppytalk to see how this amazing feature wall was made over the course of a weekend!

Like cleaner lines and a little more order? Design Sponge also has a great example of a paint chip wall

Or if you don't have half of Home Depot's supply of paint chips, a handy dandy calendar, could totally be made from a Reuse Centre picture frame!

Visit DIY Projects for instructions on how to make this cute, custom calendar.

Do you have a great idea that we missed? Add your paint-swatch reuse ideas in the comments below!

Redecorating the Reuse Way

Spring is here and you know what that means; a new season of fashion is upon us! New colours, new styles, and a brand new "it" item for everything from clothes to shoes, bags, and yes, even home decor.

Luckily redecorating doesn't have to break the bank. The style and feel of a room or space can change in an instant just by altering a few key details, and that doesn't necessarily mean purchasing brand new items! With some supplies and a few simple tweaks, it is easy to transform and reinvent your space, time and time again.

Just to get you started, here are a few of our favourite ideas for creative redecorating.

-Want to add a pop of colour or texture to an otherwise neutral space? Or maybe you've got an old-fashioned lamp that you just know could be a great piece if only it wasn't so outdated. Why not try re-covering your lampshades with fabric? Adding trim to the edges of a plain lampshade is an even easier alternative, if you're a fan of more subtle details. Here's a great tutorial if you aren't quite sure where to begin. This blogger takes a plain white shade and transforms it with a simple, printed cotton.

-This is an oldie but a goodie and one that a lot of people don't think of, but if you're rocking a hand me down couch of dubious style, why not try a slipcover to hide that floral velvet or pilling fabric? If your furniture is hard to fit, buy a length of upholstery fabric; with some clever draping and a few tucks, you've got a brand new look!

-Adding throw pillows are a classy (and comfortable!) way to change the look of a room. When yours become outdated, simply re-cover them! Sewing a pillow cover is a quick and easy project, even for beginners, and can be done by hand if you don't own a sewing machine! And here's an even simpler, no-sew tutorial.

Here's an insider tip from one of our customers that makes this project even easier: upholstery fabric samples make great pillow coverings! They are pre-cut and made of durable fabric that will stand up to a lot of abuse. Using a different, but coordinating, fabric for each side of the pillow gives you even more day-to-day decor options.

-Paint or stain your wooden furniture to make it modern! Or change the hardware on a beloved piece to update it. This is a great tip because hardware changes are completely reversible and there is little risk of damaging the furniture itself.

-Personalize just about anything with homemade tile mosaics! Here at the Reuse Centre we're always getting samples of different kinds of tile in various colours, patterns, and textures that are just perfect for small to medium projects. The Joy of Shards is an amazing resource for mosaic making, complete with ideas and tutorials.

 Tile mosaics aren't just for tables or flat surfaces either. Try covering plant pots, jewelry boxes, picture frames, or even make a large piece of art for the wall!

-Move those knick-knacks! This is the cheapest, easiest trick of all, but if you're anything like me, you get stuck in the habit of "where things go." Maybe that lamp would look better in the bedroom, and perhaps that vase complements your bathroom better than it does the kitchen. Pretend you're moving in all over again, and mix things up!

These are just a few of many ideas for incorporating reuse into your redecorating. What are some of your favourites? Please share in the comments section!

-Sarah (Volunteer)