New Year, New Style: Reuse, Recycle, Renew

Happy new year Terry folk! I hope you all had a restful and wonderful holiday season.

I moved back into residence this past weekend, and in the spirit of the new decade, I’ve been wanting to shake things up a bit and give our generic student apartment a new year’s makeover.  While I was trolling the web for inspiration, I came across this cool story about a woman who gave herself the challenge of decorating her apartment following two rules:

1. No mass produced items that have never been owned by anyone else (i.e. West Elm, Pottery Barn, etc.) unless they have been used by someone else (i.e. found on Craigslist)

2. The Budget: $0 dollars. Do this without spending anything.

The entire apartment was put together with items from friends, second-hand stores, craig’s list etc. If you have a moment, I urge you to take a look at the results. They’re pretty amazing.

So I’ve decided to take my inspiration from her, and take a second look at the stuff I’ve accumulated over the years. Force myself to think outside the ikea box, so to speak, and find a way to give old “junk” a new purpose. For instance, scarves from a trip to Turkey that were sitting in the back of my closet have become wall hangings, and a bunch of pretty glass wine/drink bottles are now an eclectic set of vases. It’s been a good way to stretch my creativity muscles after two weeks of sleep and turkey dinners, not to mention a start on my resolution to be more sustainable in my day to day life. And it’s been fun!

Any tips? Have you found any clever ways to re-use and recycle items in your own life or home?