When you think of ‘trash to treasure’, what comes to mind? What comes to my mind are visions of “furniture collected from the sidewalk” turned “fit to sell on eBay” items….lovely vintage-style items that anyone would love to have in their homes. But to some, trash to treasure means something else. It could mean collecting someone else’s trash and turning it into yours (or someone else’s) treasure, but it could also mean dumpster diving for food.
No matter what it means to you, it is good for the earth because it keeps things out of the landfill, and for me and my family, that’s important. We believe that God gave man dominion over the earth, and dominion (to us) means that we take care of what was given to us. It means that we do what is within our power to harm the earth the least we can. We are still learning, but we do have some habits in place like using cloth napkins at meals, collecting rain water, composting, recycling, purchasing items that will last (within our budget, of course), staying mindful about our energy consumption, garden, and probably a few other things.
While I’m not comfortable with dumpster diving myself, the art of seeing potential in trash is one that I truly covet. Sometimes I can do it, and other times the possibilities just escape me. It’s such a blessing that there are creative souls out there that can inspire us with their wonderful ideas, don’t you think? Here are a few really wonderful projects that were submitted for this blog post by some really imaginative people:
Bridgett shares: “We wanted another shower in the downstairs for our teenage boys. We live on a ranch and they come in covered with everything under the sun. New special designed showers are so expensive tho! My husband took a stock tank and we put slate tile around it and made the guys a bathroom. Now it’s a favorite room in the house!”
Koreelah Farm has lots of old cast iron bath tubs. Seven of them are now herb garden beds, and work well.
To Koreelah Farm, they are treasures. This one is filled with chilies and chives. Lovely!
(Click on the photo to go to Koreelah Farm’s Facebook page)
Sherry says: “This is my favorite recycled thing EVER. I needed a buffet in my dining room so I asked my husband to keep any “upper” cabinets he could salvage from work or found on the side of the road or wherever. He certainly did. The whole bottom 12 cubby unit he had the whole time and was going to use for nesting boxes.”Thats CRAZY talk!!” I said. We need that for the buffet! So I showed him my drawing, he scrounged up 2 cabinet units to put on top, salvaged some old barn wood for the buffet shelf and top. Still looking for doors and I have to paint it, sand and stain the top but I LOVE IT!!!” (Click the photo to go to Sherry’s The Egg Plant Facebook page)
Aren’t those lovely projects? Their creativity and originality just energizes my mind and puts me in the mood to walk around my property to see what trash we have to transform into a treasure!
My Project
My husband bought me this adorable little metal windmill a few years ago, which I couldn’t wait to deposit into my garden–which I did. Then I pretty much forgot it was there. I gardened around it for years, and every now and then I would put a plant or two on it….which would inevitably die because–you guessed it–I would forget about it!
When I was thinking about the subject of ‘trash to treasure’, I was wondering when I would get the time to get a hold of something to make into a treasure–then I remembered my sweet little [formerly cute and now terribly rusty] windmill. I proceeded to pull it out of my garden, sand the rust off (as much as I could in a few minutes) with some coarse sandpaper, primer and give it a new shiny coat with a simple spray paint job. I probably spent about $9 on the primer and the red spray paint, and I already had the gold spray paint and sandpaper in my craft stash.
NOTE: Todd wanted me to make sure to let you know to be very careful when sanding any items that might make dust, as (depending on the item’s age) there is some danger of ingesting small particles of asbestos, which can lead to mesothelioma. What a good guy, watching out for you all, yes?
Anyway, since I’m not great at spray painting AT ALL, I decided that a tutorial would be a ridiculous prospect. Besides–who else will be repainting an old rusty windmill, anyway?
So to the right, you can see the first few steps that I took. I failed to get a photo of the sanding part, but I did that before I sprayed the primer coat. My sanding and spray painting skills are pretty poor, but I’m ok with a few extra ‘bubbly’ areas on my windmill, and Todd is ok with all the tiny dots on the concrete. We are confident that the sun will bleach them all to a fine shade of pink. *smile*
So are you ready to see the final project?
What do you think?
Have you ever turned anything from trash to treasure? I’d really love to see your projects, so feel free to post links to them in the comments!
Click to go to the next activity in the series, February Week 1 Activity: Planting Berries, Part 1 – Blueberries
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Oh yes! These are fabulous (and as a side note: I grew up on a ranch and a stock tank was my very first backyard swimming pool). Here are two small upcycle/repurpose projects my husband and I did – there are several more but I don’t want to wear out my welcome by putting up too many links. They are on the blog if you are interested. http://kellisretrokitchenarts.wordpress.com/?s=repurpose&submit=Go
This is a repurpose for my Nana’s many hankies and a fundraiser for 4-H which our boys were very active in and now our oldest son sits on the 4-H Foundation. This brought LOTS of money to a very good cause!
Oh Kelli–both are adorable! I would LOVE a chair like the 4H one you made! (My daughter is in 4H) Lovely projects, thank you for sharing them with me!
The chair we made with the 4-H Sweat Shirt? Boy was that was a big auction piece. Husband and boys were NOT thrilled at such a “girlie” thing but I told them there wasn’t a lot of things a girl in 4-H could call girlie. So happy you enjoyed them!
Yes! I love it!
Hi Kristi! Those are such great ideas for re-cycling, etc.! You did such a good job on the windmill! It’s lovely! Thanks for sharing! Blessings from Bama!
Thanks Bama Girl! Blessings to you as well!
I had to laugh when I started reading this post. My spouse frequently worries that I turn “trash” into “trash in our house”, so whenever I read “trash into ______” my mind automatically substitutes “our house” for “treasure”.
That being said, I did salvage 2 little faded but very sturdy wooden kid chairs from a preschool, sanded & sprayed them, and my little ones used them for years. I handed them down to another family because they really were made ‘like they used to’.
Thanks!
He he, I know what you mean, Kirsten. I used to do that myself—buy things and save them because I have “plans” for them, ha ha! Heck, I still do that, I’m just more selective now!
I love well-made furniture, it’s so worth fixing up! Thanks for sharing!
Oh, that is just super cute! You did a great job.
Thanks Jamie! It was fun!
Saw you on the HomeAcre hop and just called round from the UK to say hi. Thanks for an inspiring post – wonderful result with your windmill!
Hi Alison! Thanks for visiting, and for your comment!
Trash to Treasure is my favorite crafting idea. Its a fun challenge to use what you have on hand to make something beautiful and usable again. Love your windmill plant stand! What a great pop of color!
Yes, it sure is! I wish I was more creative, but every now and again I get a little spark! Thanks for your visit and comment!
Love your windmill! Thanks so much for sharing this on The HomeAcre Hop!
Thanks Lisa Lynn! My pleasure!
What a great transformation!!
Well Done, Kristi!
Thanks Laura!
Thanks for sharing this on Wildcrafting Wednesday!
http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/01/wildcrafting-wednesday-7.html
Thanks for hosting, Lisa Lynn! Always a pleasure!
Dumpster diving is OK by me, there are some really nice things that people just simply discard. I love the bathroom stock tank, how fun! I have an old claw foot tub that my brother in law left up on his property. Since they moved without building, and it’s still sitting there, I thinki I told my husband I want to grab it for growing deeper root veges that my rocky ridge won’t accommodate. My husband would love your windmill, he wants a John Deere green one.
Oh yeah, Kathy—I know what you mean–sometimes people get rid of the best stuff! Great idea with the bath tub, that would make a beautiful ornamental bed!
The windmill was just something I got from Big Lots, if you can believe that! Cheap and so cute!
Thanks for visiting and for your comment, Kathy! Always a pleasure to chat with you!
Beautiful! The red is perfect!
Thanks Nancy!
I’ve attempted several trash to treasure projects. Sometimes they look great, other times… Well, they still look like trash!
-Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures
Ha ha ha! I resemble that remark!
Thanks for stopping by, Marci!