Recycle, Reduce, Reuse- Be Creative

Everyone is going "green" these days trying to save the environment by keeping waste out of the land fills.  I have a few projects that you might want to try with pre-existing materials or furniture you have or can cheaply purchase from local thrift shops or free off of craigslist.  There is a "free" section on craigslist that has a huge variety of items people have set on the curb- first come first serve. 
On my last visit to my local City Union Thrift I found a pair of old dining room chairs for $6 a piece.  I purchased some black fabric 1/2 price from JoAnn's to recover the seat cushion and the chair back, along with some thick foam (also half price) to cover the wood on the back of the chair, and a pint of black paint from Home Depot. Below is the before and after photos of my repurposing of old dining room chairs made into a little fancier office chairs. 

 

 

 

Below is another quick and easy project using an old canvas and fabric.  Cut the fabric a little bigger than the canvas, staple the fabric to the back of the canvas and hang. 

 

 

 

This is one of my favorites, you can use small canvas, cut down pieces of wood, foam, or just use thick paper as a backing.  To create a similar look to the below you need to pick out several different patterns of paper (scrapbooking works best), cut down the paper to the size of your canvas/wood and glue to the backing, and hang.  Simple and creates an interesting wall art. (The backing is left over wood from a wood working project-free)

 

 
 

Below is random lengths of wood painted different colors and nailed together with initial of my last name(the C was left over from our wedding decorations), we use this as wall art in our basement bar.

 

 

Below is the actual runner from our wedding backed with a canvas, surrounded by wedding memorabilia. 

 

 

There are tons of DIY projects on Pinterest and Google images to start getting your mind in creative mode.  This will  help keep unwanted items out of the landfills and create new purpose or meaning to old furniture or house hold items and possibly spruce up your home at the same time.  I think these DIY projects are fun and bring out your creativity, you can make something NEW again. Feel free to share your ideas!