I have always loved the mix of ingenuity and practicality found in things created from other things. I am talking about art, clothes, jewellery, household objects, furniture - you name it; anything designed using unexpected salvaged or recycled materials.

Reclaiming style : using salvaged materials to create an elegant home is a great new addition to our library collection. It features the work of Retrouvius, a design and architectural salvage business, and demonstrates the potential in designing with salvage in the home. The photographs are beautiful, inspiring, and have given me a serious case of "I could do that!".

If you are interested in this topic and want to explore more we have a wealth of books full of examples and projects for practically everyone. The Design District blog even featured another salvage design book Recycled Home recently. Check their post out out here. Terms to get you started include: creative reuse (or misuse if you have a penchant for mischief), salvage, upcycling, refuse as art, trashion, refashion, and found objects.

The following are a few of my favorites followed by two websites:

1000 ideas for creative reuse is the perfect introduction to this topic as it covers so many different styles and approaches. Also available as an e-book.

Unscrewed : salvage and reuse motors, gears, switches, and more from your old electronics is for the mechanically gifted interested in geekcraft. Also available as an e-book.

Building with secondhand stuff : how to re-claim, re-vamp, re-purpose & re-use salvaged & leftover building materials an overview of types of salvaged materials including how to work with them. Also available as an e-book.

Cut-up couture : [edgy upcycled garments to sew] for fashion lovers.

Playing with books : the art of upcycling, deconstructing, & reimagining the book a complete guide to altered books including materials, techniques, projects, and a gallery of examples.

Superuse is a website showcasing contributions from artists, designers, architects, and those interested in the topic of reuse. I encourage you to check it out. You can view projects from around the world and filter them by type. This is how I recently came across a great initiative from the Canadian Wood Pallet and Container Association called repallet. They provide the blue-prints and background info (where to find them, which to use) and the rest is up to you!

We love hearing from you so please contact us with your creative reuse project or recommended reuse resource.

-Chelsea

Repurposing and upcycling items is a trend, both in environmental terms and in terms of design. The difference between the terms is as follows: repurposing changes something’s use with a minimal change to the object itself, whereas upcycling converts something useless into something usually quite different from what it was before. The key for both is that you are reusing something, which is better the environment and for your artistic soul than throwing things away.

Here are a few examples of reusing your old items:

Using old furniture: the “shabby chic” movement often uses furniture that is either old and worn (often antique) or made to look antique. Many refinish old furniture, either by putting a new a new layer of paint on or by taking the old paint off and revealing the beautiful wood underneath.

Other objects can be repurposed as well. What’s wonderful about repurposing/upcycling is that you are really only limited by your own imagination. That said, if you need some ideas to inspire, many ideas are circulating around social networking sites involving repurposing objects. Not to mention the fact that the library has books such as Lisa Occipinto’s The repurposed library (which gives ideas about how to reuse old books) and Juilette Goggin’s Junk Genius. Take a look, think about what you have to work with, and start experimenting!

Here are some of the ideas that perked my interest: turning old tea kettles into hanging flower pots. An old window shutter transformed into a letter holder. Old snail shells repurposed as mini plant holders. Old pennies being used to tile a floor (I am saving some in order to try it myself!), or old bottle caps being used to tile a wall. An old suitcase is modified with a mirror and hung on the wall as a funky medicine cabinet. An old Volkswagon beetle converted into a chicken coup, and an old boot changed into a nest box. An upcycled wine barrel dog house…I have also seen a picture of a drum kit made out of old wine barrels! And speaking of drums, I had a few old drum sticks we converted into a various hangers, for our paper towels and our oven mitts (not as imaginative as other examples, but a start nonetheless!) Not to mention a picture circulating the internet of part of an old grand piano that was placed vertically onto a wall as a bookshelf…or an old bicycle being converted into a chic sink stand.

Happy experimenting in 2013! And if you need more ideas, visit your library!