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I am drawn to comfortable, soft accessories from reclaimed materials.
Slippers made from recycled, felted 100% lambswool sweater and recycled leather by Wooly Baby as well as this upcycled slouch bag made from the sleeves of a mens wool dress coat by Betsy & Bess...
Wild blackberries and red salmon berries gathered in Upstate New York, Harriman State Park. I never had salmon berries before. They are so delicious! Almost as good as or better than raspberries.
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Pillows from recycled old wool sweaters, jackets or shirts. (Image from Katy Elliott)
Sofa cover from reused jeans fabric. (Image from Design Milk)
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Cafe America is an upcycled galvanized steel chain-link chair with stainless steel rod and fasteners by Grain. The chair flat-packs for efficient shipping and storage. Handmade in the Pacific Northwest, USA.
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Old workshop seat.
Coffee table from recycled cable drum.
Chair from old sewing factory.
Pillows from vintage produce sacks.
Images from ArtKraft Furniture and Design.
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Chair redesign by Jetske Groot. Jetske finds old chairs, carefully disassembles them and recycles them into new chairs that reflect their past history. Jetske calls her series “Multiple Family”
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Book LED floor lamp. The lamp’s shade opens and closes like the cover of a book. As the shade opens wider, the light shines more brightly, and as it closes, it gradually dims and turns off. Made from recycled aluminum.
Simple, non-toxic, eco-friendly biodegradable coffin!
Eco-friendly chairs made from strawboard. (Strawboard, a formaldehyde-free material made of compressed straw- an alternative to wood particleboard or fiberboard)
Invisible Street Lights designed by Jongoh Lee are in the shape of tree leaves and can be wrapped around tree branches. During the day, these leaf structures mingle in the tree’s natural leaves, harnessing and storing sunlight. At night, they provide a poetic alternative to streetlights.
National Design Triennial is on right now at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York City.
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Scrap wood chair. (Perfect DIY idea)
Skateboard wheels rotating table. (Great idea for reusing skateboard wheels)
Button toy. (Great idea for reusing buttons)
Future Perfect is a good new design store in
Williamsburg and East Village, New York.
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Reused shipping crate shelves / drawers by Linda Jose. Furniture designed to reuse shipping crates.
Sculpture by Michel de Broin made from discarded batteries.
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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.
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Sets of mismatched dining chairs. Life becomes much easier with mismatch! Photos from Emma Blog, unpolished Life and Apartment Therapy.
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I was excited to find these great “Recycled Banner Golden Mean Messenger Bags” DIY instructions a la Freitag bike messenger bags. (Can be made under $5 !!!!!!!!!!!!!). Comfortable, light, tough billboard sign material (waterproof). To view instructions please visit: EEIO Golden Mean messenger bag instructions
In stores, nice bike messenger bags can be $200. Making your own not only saves money but also is good for environment. I just saw a truck driver discard a big piece of truck tarpaulin and now it is lying on the street waiting to be made into bags.
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
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Above: Chairs by StudioMama
Above: Images of bird illustrations wallpaper found on Katy Elliott Blog
DIY: newspaper, old book pages, drawings and illustrations as wallpaper. ( Caution: newspaper yellows with time.)
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Pillows made from recycled suit-jackets by Hilary Cosgrove.
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Reusing old buttons as fridge magnets. By Skin and Tonic Too.
Rings made with old vintage buttons. Found in Red Chair Antiques shop.
An Earthship is a type of home made of natural and recycled materials. Earthships designed by Earthship Biotecture and are built from 45% recycled materials - tires, bottles, cans. Earth-filled tires utilize thermal mass construction to naturally regulate indoor temperature. Earthships also usually incorporate their own special natural ventilation system.
Earthships are built to utilize the available local resources - energy from the sun, rain. For example, windows on the sunny side admit light and heat, and the buildings are often horseshoe-shaped to maximize natural light and solar-gain during winter months. Likewise, the thick, dense outer walls provide effective insulation against summer heat.
Internal, non-load-bearing walls are often made of a honeycomb of recycled cans joined by concrete and are referred to as tin can walls. These walls are usually thickly plastered with stucco.
The Earthship costs next to nothing to operate annually and is independent of all municipal utilities. Earthship Biotecture has a building prototype that harvests its own electricity and water; contains and treats its own sewage; and heats and cools itself without fuel and produces a significant amount of food.
Above: Crocheted lampshade at Michele Varian, photo from Apartment Therapy.
The other day I was walking in Manhattan on the Lower East Side and discovered an amazing store full with all kinds of vintage, restored and designer objects. One of my favorite is a crocheted lamp shade. The fabric is starched to maintain its form.
Above: Michele Varian on Crosby Street, NY
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.
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Bags from re-purposed, recycled coffee sacks! Lined with a soft unbleached cotton. by Mayamade.
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.
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