Turning Trash into Treasure: 7 Creative Ideas

Posted on 23/01/2024

Awesome Ideas on How to Turn Regular Old Trash Into Treasure

Have you any idea how many items you have in your attic, basement or garage that when seen, you will immediately think waste disposal, but are actually hidden treasures? Put a hold on that waste removal button and go through them one by one, applying as much imagination as you can into turning that seemingly useless rubbish into something brand new to add to your home and use to make life easier at the very least by not having to go out and buy something similar. So many of the items you treat as junk can be used to fill a hole in your everyday life that you wouldn’t believe. Learn all about repurposing and here are some ideas to start from.

1.    Corks
Why throw a whole collection of corks when you can create a multitude of new items with them? For instance, if you cut the corks once vertically and take a cardboard surface, you can glue the corks flat-side-down on the cardboard and make a corkboard for pinning notes and messages. Hang it up in any room and enjoy the new method of communication.

2.    Wine bottles
Refilling the bottle is only one idea, but how about you cut them in half instead and make custom glass lampshades for your dimly lit basement? Or just cut them in half and use the bottom half as a pen or pencil stand. Turn the other half upside down, fill it in with soil and plant inside, and voila, you have a glass pot.

3.    Old ladder
There could be no possible use from an old ladder, right? Wrong. At the very least, you can add hooks, nail it to a wall and turn it into a coat hanger, or even hang it from the ceiling. You can also nail it horizontally on a wall, and make organised shelves between all the steps.

4.    Old hats
Now what possible use could an old hat have? Well, you can make a lampshade from it, if you don’t want to be creative. Or, you can plug in a few holes, fill it with soil and make a hat pot for your flowers. How do roses planted in a cylinder hat or even a hard hat sound? Definitely better than an old hat on the top of a junk disposal heap.

5.    Plastic bottles
Plastic bottles have plenty of use, depending on how you cut them; they can be everything from flower pots, to decorations, to drainage systems, to toy bowling pins, to extra storage for water, to organisation bowls in a box. The various uses you can get out of them make them some of the most valuable “trash” in your basement.

6.    Old tools
Old tools are useful even after their supposed usefulness has expired. While you already have a new wrench and don’t want to use the old one, that doesn’t mean you should throw it out. Instead, you can warp it and turn it into a hanger. Alternatively, you can get a rake top and turn it into a tool or pot rack, or, again, a hanger. There are just so many items you can turn into hangers!

7.    Broken CDs or DVDs
Just because a CD no longer plays your favourite music doesn’t mean it should necessarily end up in a rubbish removal list. Instead, you can turn it into various items, starting with the effortless coaster to protect your surfaces from cup circles, to stringing different discs together and making a disc curtain, to breaking it apart and making a mosaic decoration.

Next time you venture in house clearance, think about how you can use everything you come across. Many items have more than one use and many other items can be repurposed to be useful in ways their creators never imagined them to be useful in. So exercise your imagination and see how you can lower the number of items for waste disposal and increase the useful items you can implement in your home.