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From Clutter To Treasure: Re-use and Not Reject!
Make use of clutter to decorate your home! Sounds strange?
Believe me its possible! While moving into my new house, I had to
get rid of a lot of old pots, torn clothes, cracked dishes and
chipped china. At my wit's end trying to figure a way out of the
mess, it struck me that I could actually use a lot of these to
make decorative accents for my new home.
I got my 6 year old daughter involved as she was the only one
who was willing to get her hands dirty in the act! Every body
thought I was crazy, but that didn't stop me from going about my
business.
First, we sorted what could be re-used and what HAD to be
thrown away. It soon turned out that I could reuse most of the
things that I had discarded earlier.
There was my mother-in-law's old iron chest; a wooden bookrack
with jammed hinges; a couple of cracked clay planters; dozens of
paper bags; old shabby pillow-covers; torn bedsheets; my
daughter's old woollen garments; old magazines and more...
The first thing that we did was to paint the old iron chest in
black. My daughter simply loved the idea. With a fresh coat of
shiny paint, the chest sprung back to life as it were! We cut out
different colored pictures of kids, flowers and cars from the old
magazines and pasted them on the lid of the chest once the paint
dried up. Looking bright and cheerie, the old chest was
transformed into a treasure chest for my daughter's toys! In it
went all her dolls and blocks and cars whatever toys there were
scattered all over the house.
Next, came the planters. I smeared my little daughters palms
with bright red, green and yellow paint and asked her to stamp
the planters. Needless to say, she was delighted at the offer! As
most of them were cracked or chipped, they could no longer be
used as planters. We found a way to re-use them as dust bins
instead. Inside each, we neatly tucked in a paper bag. Now they
stand smart in every corner of my new house and have attracted
attention of all the guests I have entertained so far. All I need
to do, is replace the paper bags when they are full with new ones
that comes in with the grocery.
We found a way of re-using the shabby pillow covers and the
woollen garments too! I cut the sweaters, booties, caps and all
the woollen garments that were discarded into small pieces. Next,
I turned the pillow covers inside out, stuffed them with wool and
sewed the open side firmly. My cushions were almost ready. I just
had to make them more attractive. I made use of the large round
and colorful show-buttons that were taken off the old sweaters
and booties. I stitched them on the cushions, in groups of three,
and soon my cushions looked as attractive and inviting as
ever!
You too can reuse a lot of your old stuff and turn a lot of
trash into cherished treasures. Look around you, put on your
thinking caps and if you're willing to get your hands dirty,
you'll soon learn to reuse and not just reject!
Ipsita Mukherjee is a freelance article writer, an ardent
craft-lover and a homemaker for 12 years. Specializing in web
content writing, Ipsita has written articles on a wide variety of
topics for various websites.
 MORE RESOURCES updated Fri. September / 29 / 2023
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