If you’re a frugal shopper like me, you’ll love finding new ways to reuse and recycle your unwanted items turning them into, well, wanted items! Recycled craft ideas are all the rage at the moment with many interior savvy decorators are coming up with innovatively gorgeous ways of upcycling old or unwanted items into desirable interior accessories.
1. Homemade Bunting
Decorative bunting is elegant, delightful and charming and will work to create warmth in your bedroom. However, you don’t have to spend big to bag bunting for your bedroom, you can effortlessly create your own from materials found around your home.
Old books and newspapers are great materials for creating homemade bunting. Have a rummage through your bookshelf or your ever-growing pile of papers at home and neatly cut out the pages that you want to use for your bunting. Once you have done this, cut a triangle out of cardboard, such as an empty cereal box, this will work as your bunting template. Trace triangles onto the reverse side of your material using a pencil and carefully cut out the triangular pennants. Once you have your pennants use a pair of eyelet pliers to punch holes in the top two corners of each triangle and then set eyelets in those holes. Feed recycled string or ribbon through the eyelets, making sure that the triangles are evenly spaced and hang across your window, fireplace or above your bed. It’s as simple and as cheap as that.
2. Mason Storage Jars
I love candles, particularly in the bedroom. Candles can create a relaxing atmosphere and completely change the feel of a room. In the past i’ve spent a fortune on various candle holders from large to small, but why spend money when you can create unique candle holders at home?
Take an empty mason jar and make sure it’s clean. Once you have done this get some flexible wire, available at all hardware stores. With your wire approximately cut a metre in length, with this begin to wrap your wire around the lip of the jar, wrap around once and when the wire crosses make a small loop, continue to wrap your wire until you almost reach the end and make another loop on the other side of your mason jar, twist and snip off any excess wire. All you have to do then is tie ribbon or rustic string to each loop to create a handle and place a scented candle inside.
3. DIY Jewellery Holder
In your bedroom you may have overflowing boxes to keep your jewellery in, however these often lead to tangled necklace chains, mysteriously missing rings and an impressive amount of odd earrings. With this in mind an easy-to-make DIY jewellery holder will allow you to organise your jewellery and create a unique interior statement in your bedroom.
To begin, find a rustic piece of wood from a salvage yard, tip or perhaps in your shed and paint in a colour of your choice using decorative chalk paint to create vintage look. Once the paint has dried find a collection of old door knobs, hooks and screws, and remember nothing has to match! Simply screw your door knobs, hooks and screws into the wood in any place, this will create a shabby chic look. Then all you have to do is screw you DIY jewellery holder to you bedroom wall and place your necklaces on the door knobs, earrings on the screws and rings over the hooks.
4. One Of A Kind Pillows
Take a pair of used or old plain pillowcases- I’m sure you’ve got some! Lay your pillowcases flat with 2 pieces of stacked A4 paper on top, draw half of a shape or pattern onto your paper, such as half of a heart. Cut out your shape and unfold the two pieces of paper, this will then create a symmetrical shape big enough for a pillow. When you’re at this stage, sellotape the paper down in place, making sure it is in the centre. You must then select a fabric paint in a colour that will suit the colour scheme of your bedroom and with a sponge, such as an unused make-up sponge dab the paint into the cut out shape, being careful around the edges. Once the paint has dried place your pillows inside the pillowcase and decoratively place on your bed to create an individual look!
5. Vintage Throws
If you’re looking to add texture to your comfy bed, then sumptuous throws are perfect. The problem is that shop bought throws can cost – so why not use recycled materials to create your own decorative throw. Find an old tablecloth with a pattern you like in a charity shop or from the back of your wardrobe and give it a good few washes on a high heat. This will soften the tablecloth and will sit perfectly on the end of your bed to give a beautiful vintage look.
