Recycle, eh

My friends Neva, Sean, and I recently visited HighJinx, a shop on Somerset Street here in Ottawa, that gives shopping a whole new meaning in social assistance. Imagine a store that sells used furniture and decorative accessories and plows that back into helping those with little or no means to furnish a home of their own. Upstairs the shop sells an amazing array of eclectic goods and furnishings below most market prices while downstairs it stockpiles furniture and other necessities that are free to those in need. To find out more about this amazing store, read the Ottawa Citizen article here.

I was so taken with the concept and Karen and Leigh (the shop owners) that I offered to do their Halloween window display (also roping in Sean to help out). I'm looking forward to running some workshops at the store as well. 

Run, don't walk, to check out the goodies they're selling. They won't last long as the prices as just amazing! Oh, if you have anything you no longer need, why not donate it to HighJinx!

HighJinx

621Somerset Street West

613 864 4289

And it's about time, too. The latest IKEA post featured the Formex trade fair - the largest one in Scandinavia, specializing in furnishings, design and gift articles. This year the trade fair featured many exhibitors and designers who are going back to using materials such as wood, leather, glass, and metals instead of plastic and fake wood. Of course, the post was to push IKEA products but it's heartening to see that even this gigantic Swedish store is realizing that people are looking for alternatives to harmful materials in furniture and decorative accessories. Now, if only we can convince the clothing industry to start using wool, silk, cotton, and linen again!

Go vist the post here.

Image Tjitske van Leeuwen

Every time I spot a bunch of pallets in an lane way or alley, I keep thinking of what I could do with these. Unfortunately, I live in a small flat and have no more room, but that doesn't stop me from lusting after these hunks of wood. When I spot any, I will often twitter locations for other pallet-lovers. I've also blogged about reusing these before here and here. 

But I'm always on the lookout for more inspiration. Here are some great ones (including how-tos) for repurposing pallets  from some wonderfully creative bloggers. You're gonna love these ideas!

Image Life on a Baclony

Fern Richardson over at Life on a Balcony transformed a pallet into a garden. What a super idea - vertical gardening! No excuse not to have fresh veggies or flowers!

A pallet makes an appearance as a plate holder. I can't remember where i got the image but it would be easy to copy this.

Image via Stylizimo

What about a headboard. Nina over at Stylizimo shows you how. She also has some other DIY pallet ideas. Check it out.

Image via Ikea

Even Ikea uses the idea of transforming a pallet: as a coffee table.

And if you are really pallet crazy, check out this.

Don't be too eager to toss out an ugly or ho-hum piece of furniture. You can transform it without paint - decoupage it instead. It's fun, although maybe a little messy, and doesn't take a lot of time. Also, it can be real cheap, if like me you don't bother with fancy varnishes and glues but just use a good, organic craft glue like Ecoglue. Or like me, make your own. 

I found the above spiffy decoupaged dresser on Ikea's craft site. Of course, this is probably a new dresser but decoupage is a great way to change the look of any piece of wood, metal, or plastic furniture.

With decoupage, you can use paper or fabric that matches your interior. The Ikea dresser is covered in either magazine or book text. I did something similar to an an old washstand years ago. I used copies of old love letters. 

How about this chair from Better Homes and Gardens? Nice way to disguise an old chair. 

I can't seem to get my engine going and January is slipping by at an alarming rate. I figured I better start doing some writing and maybe some recycling. An opportunity arose when I was scrounging through my storage locker for input when I stumbled across a few old frames that were too far gone to use for pictures or mirrors. What could I do with them? Finally, after a few cups of tea and munchies, I decided what I really wanted was a couple of footstools. More pilfering through my boxes and I found some wooden curtain finials I bought years ago in Paris at the BHV (why I did this, I don't have a clue!) and some fabric I was keeping for a 'project.' 

These all came together for me to make up these cute little footstools. For instructions go here.

BESs

Note that in the instructions, foam is used as the stuffing. I actually reused an old down-filled jacket that I no longer fit into (too much pudding at Christmas). I just removed the zipper and toggles. No down-filled jacket to recycle? You could use a down-filled pillow or even some old bath towels. Just use what you've got. You can get fence finials for cheap at the hardware store or building supply stores like Rona or Home Depot. 

I've blogged before about recycling wood pallets that you can find tucked away abandoned behind buildings and in laneways. . Ana White is another talented gal that takes these humdrum pieces of wood and turns them into all sorts of usable pieces of furniture. Most recently she's designed and built her own storage crates.

Ana's crates use wood from salvaged pallets, some hardware, and a few 1x12's. The look is classic and inexpensive, coming in just under $8 (less if you happen to have any of the supplies on hand).

Check out Ana's Crate Making Tutorial.

Top image Florida Pallets

Bottom image  Ana White