Old rusty bike found on garage sale restored and repainted in the Gzhel style of ceramics. Gzhel is a Russian style of ceramics which takes its name from the village of Gzhel and surrounding area, where it has been produced since 1802.

April 08, 2010 by Designsquish

Reused shipping crate wood for shelves, glasses and cups from grandma’s garage, flea market or thrift store and a few handmade ceramic bowls.
Done!

Image found on beautiful blog by Anna Rikje, photographer and musician from Germany currently living in New York City -  I Truly Like That.

March 30, 2010 by Designsquish

I see a lot of old beautiful bird cages in the garbage. I think I threw out a few as well a long long time ago. What I did not know is that they can be transformed into beautiful lamps. This re-purposed bird cage lamp above is by PSPCA ( Philadelphia Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).  The curtain will naturally diffuse the light acting as a lamp shade!

March 10, 2010 by Designsquish

Flower baskets made from old apple and wine crates.

February 02, 2010 by Designsquish

Reusing plastic and wooden shipping crates as shelves and drawers.

Above: Apple crates from Bailey’s Home and Garden

Reusing plastic crates as chairs and coffee tables.

Reusing shipping crates as baskets for bikes.

Above: Bike photographs from Bakfiets en Meer blog - City Cycling News and Opinions from Amsterdam.

Above: Shipping crate as bike basket.  Image from Toronto bike blog - Globe Revolution - Inspiring Everyone to a Cycling Lifestyle

January 19, 2010 by Designsquish

Above:  Chairs by StudioMama

January 14, 2010 by Designsquish

I like the idea of reusing old plates by drawing on them and arranging them on the wall alongside vintage plates. Inspiration from Fine Little Day

January 11, 2010 by Designsquish

Pillows made from recycled suit-jackets by Hilary Cosgrove.

January 04, 2010 by Designsquish

Recycled map envelopes by DIREKTRECYCLING.
(Good DIY idea too.)

by Designsquish

Chair made from recycled , reused fabric pieces /  discarded scraps. By Fernando and Humberto Campana from Brazil.

October 19, 2009 by Designsquish

Reusing old buttons as fridge magnets. By Skin and Tonic Too.



Rings made with old vintage buttons. Found in Red Chair Antiques shop.

October 12, 2009 by Designsquish

Book’s Shelf. Bookshelf made from books by Bernardo Gaeiras, Rietveld Academie Sandberg Institute.

September 12, 2009 by Designsquish

Glass house made from recycled glass windows in Freetown Christiania, neighborhood/commune in Copenhagen, Denmark created during the hippie movement. Christiania has its own flag and its own set of rules independent from the Danish government. Within Christiania itself no cars are allowed, stealing is forbidden as well as violence, guns, knives, bulletproof vests, hard drugs and bikers’ colors.

July 19, 2009 by Designsquish

Emergency Response Studio, by Paul Villinski, is a solar-powered, mobile artist’s studio, rebuilt from an old trailer. An artist needs to be mobile and free just in case of the ocean water rising because Greenland is melting, and other devastating natural disasters, such as Katrina in New Orleans. 

by Designsquish

I found this old vintage chair - $2, and two frames - $3 on garage sale.  They were falling apart and covered in dust.  I washed them and repainted them. 

June 04, 2009 by Designsquish

Bags from re-purposed, recycled coffee sacks!  Lined with a soft unbleached cotton. by Mayamade. 

May 31, 2009 by Designsquish

Casamento, located in Cape Town, South Africa individually hand crafts furniture using recycled frames and only natural fibers throughout: natural non-allergenic fibers: sisal, raw cotton wadding, horsehair jute webbing, hessian and flock natural fibers.

May 18, 2009 by Designsquish

I love lighting made from old teacups and milk bottles! (as you already could have guessed from my previous blog postings)  I found this teacup chandelier by Domestic Construction and this milk bottle chandelier by Bonne Plat on the Conversation Pieces Blog - blog about finding neat, sweet and unusual items in junk and charity shops, online, and everywhere else in between.

May 17, 2009 by Designsquish

The wall of a beautiful housewares store Vessel in Boston is made with…...shipping pallets. Nice way to reuse old shipping pallets.

April 24, 2009 by Designsquish

Wow. Handmade floor mat from old vintage leather belts.  Design by Inghua Ting.

March 11, 2009 by Designsquish

Siesta stiffened crocheted doily by Stanley Ruiz . This is really nice.  I even was thinking of making it myself - taking old lace, stiffening it with starch…  but it probably would not be as nice as the one above.

March 06, 2009 by Designsquish

Recently I started making my own bags from recycled leather and reused materials. Image above is the first bag I made out of small ripped leather purse and old leather skirt.  I added leather material from old skirt to the bottom of the purse.  The image below is a bag I made from ripped fake leather bag I actually found in the garbage. I fixed the bag I found in the garbage and sewed on white silk flowers that came from old jacket.

February 10, 2009 by Designsquish

MANILLA MADE is a blog about all things ethical organized by Helen Cuthbert, a textile designer in UK.  All things ethical are all things handmade, recycled, bright and colorful! I love this blog.
My favorite pieces on this blog are:  vintage glass salt and pepper shakers, handmade shadow lanterns made out of recycled metal food cans, and soy teacup candles!!!

February 07, 2009 by Designsquish

I just found this interview with Graham Hill, the founder of Treehugger.com about Planet Green! Elephant journal says: “Years ago, back in the dark days of pre-Green Fad-dom (2004)<—:):), our smoggy future looked black. Four years later, Green is the new Black. (!!!!!) ”

by Designsquish

Marlies Spaan and Jolanda Muilenburg silkscreened patterns on beech wood cabinets and wardrobes.
I was also thinking, if you are tired of your old furniture and if your furniture is simply very boring and ugly, it is possible to achieve similar effect by adding some pattern to your furniture through using stencils or wallpaper. I do not know though if it is going to look as beautiful as the wardrobe on the picture above.

January 26, 2009 by Designsquish

Simple and natural hooks from tree branches by Live Wire Farm. Is there a more universal hook? I beleive it is even possible to make one yourself from fallen tree branches. 

by Designsquish

Do you have a lot of old seaters that are unfashionable, uncool, shrunken or simply too old? Well, you can reuse them to make mittens.  These mittens by Baabaazuzu are made from old sweaters.  Each mitten is unique. Two images below are quilts made out of old wool blankets by Marlies Spaan, a textile designer from Netherlands.


Or, company called StitchT in New York City is making quilts out of old t-shirts for you.  You bring old t-shirts and they stich them together into a nice beautiful quilt.

      

by Designsquish

AuH2O is a sustainable clothing store owned by Kate Goldwater. All AuH2O clothing is made from recycled fabric from old shirts, dresses and ties.  Kate sews everything herself at her store which makes her garments sweat shop free, unique and less carbon-dioxide emitting shipments are invovled.  Kate alters garments you buy at the store free of charge to your liking - straps can be added to tube tops, skirt length can be adjusted and e.t.c.

December 30, 2008 by Designsquish

Me and Paul did not want to buy a salt and pepper shaker and decided to do-it-yourself one.  We thought it would be an interesting idea to make salt and pepper shakers out of soda bottles.  We used a bottle from ALE 8 1 (pronouncedA LATE ONE) - authentic Kentucky soda available only in Kentucky and JARRITOS - mandarin flavored Mexican soda from the deli in Brooklyn.

December 29, 2008 by Designsquish

Chest of drawers by Wis Design made out of discarded drawers rescued from flea markets.

December 23, 2008 by Designsquish