Repurposing and alternative use, or breathing new life into old things

Ever wondered how to give new use to old things, or in other words, repurpose? Well, here are some ingenious ideas! Some of them are being transformed into new objects, whereas others show new approaches to home chores or DIY.

• Get any of the big vases which you can now buy everywhere (or perhaps you have one in your home collection?), and use it to store toilet paper. Depending on your level of quirkiness, choose either a transparent, or more discreet opaque version.

Vase as toilet roll holder

• Want to get rid of old bubblegum stickers of Kevin from Backstreet Boys you taped onto your mirror as a teenager? (OK, was that only me??) – try the good old mayonnaise… who’d guess!

Mayo as adhesive cleaner

• OMG! Can this be true?? Just last night I had to soak my new IKEA side plates for a few hours before those stubborn stickers graciously decided to allow me to scrape them off and now – this! You’ve got to try this out – just heat the labels and…

Hairdryer heat softens label glue

• OK, I’d now say: ‘Enough of those useful ideas! Let’s see something impractical!’ And yet, even this use seems very relevant now, as we all have our photos on our drives rathen than in albums (unfortunately). Be honest, when was the last time you developed (gosh even this word sounds strange already) your holiday photos? So, here is what you do with the spare albums – use them as business cards holders! Or, even better for design maniacs, you could use them for wallpaper scrappings, pieces of fabric, etc etc…

Photo album as business cards holder

• …and this DIY project will add interest to your hall – simply cut off part of your hangers, and either use industrial glue, or nails. If you don’t have such strong glue, you can still use it e.g. as jewelry rack.

Hanger as ... hanger 🙂

• OMG once more – this is ingenious 🙂 Run a sticky side of a post-it note between keys of your keyboard (if you are me, if will be full of tea, coffee, cookies’ crumbs, nail polish chippings and other ‘items’) to clean it.

Post-it notes as keyboard cleaners

• And finally – the bizarre.  Check out this amazing bench 🙂

Ski bench

Gosh, I absolutely love such practical ideas (…perhaps apart from the bench!). Putting one or two into practice make me cheat myself that I am not as disorganized and inefficient as I am 🙂

If you liked these, check out AltUse which claims to be the ultimate website for alternative uses (DYI related).

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