I find it astonishing to see just how much material goes straight to landfill these days. It’s been at the forefront of my thoughts since I started renovating our property, seeing skip loads of wood, metal, glass and fabric being discarded. With a little more time, care and imagination it’s easy to repurpose and upcycle perfectly good materials. You would be helping to save the planet, breathing ‘homemade’ character into your home and saving money. So when Sunny reached out to me to help spread the word about the #upforupcycling campaign, I cherished the opportunity. Sunny are spearheading the upcycling message and I feel every bit as passionate as they do.
New research from Sunny reveals that 82% of renters spend their own cash on making home improvements, spending on average £880. The cost of turning a house into a home doesn’t have to be that much, it could be as little as £10!
Whether you rent or own a property, there are such easy, affordable and joyful opportunities that everyone can do. It will breathe life back into something old and make it something to treasure. Last week Sunny challenged me to upcycle some unloved items in my home, with exactly that in mind, and I was excited to get crafting and produce something resourceful. Here’s what I came up with…
If you’ve paid my blog a visit you’ll have seen that I love character filled interiors, the farmhouse-inspired, rustic kind. Our utility room was really lacking in character which I strongly believed was down to everything being so ‘new’ in there, and it lacked collectables or personality. It became a bit of a dumping ground.
I decided that I’d upcycle a few things on a super tight budget to make the utility space a little more charming. The first thing on my list? A cover up for the washing machine which I always thought really spoiled the view walking into the room. I found it glaring and unsightly, and I wanted something to not only to disguise it but also be practical enough for me to load and empty the machine and washing powder drawer easily.
I looked around my house – instead of Amazon! – for solutions, and found some old fabric I purchased on Gumtree a while ago collecting dust in our loft. I adore William Morris prints, and this fabric I’d bought on a whim because it resembled Morris’ Willow Bough pattern. Initially, I wanted to make cushions with it, but time got the better of me and the fabric just sat in the loft and became forgotten about. I got real inspiration from the piece. ‘How about if I was to whizz it through the sewing machine and make a little curtain to cover the washer?’ I thought. Just like the little country cottages that have curtains hanging under their countertops – the ones I coveted.
So I set to work and ordered a simple net curtain rod to help me fashion a curtain and install it above the washing machine. All that was required was for me to simply cut the fabric to size, hem 3 sides and make the top an open hem to feed the net curtain rod through ready to hang.
The whole project took me about 1 hour to prepare and sew the fabric, and drill in a tiny refillable hole for the rod to sit under the worktop. It was so simple to do, only costing me £6 for a new rod, yet it really did transform the room. It is a simple hack for renters too, as the tiny pilot holes that sit under the counter are virtually unnoticeable and even easier to fill.
The fabric itself I adore so much more now that I’ve upcycled it and it solves a problem I had. In fact, the branches on the fabric inspired my next 2 upcycling projects in this room which I have been documenting on my Instagram Stories. They are: new shelving for plants using scrap wood in our garage, and new plant prints using wrapping paper I had lying around for ages. All of which have a plant theme thanks to the inspiration I found from that old piece of fabric.
I just love how this theme and repurposing the fabric has has brought life and charm into our utility room. I’ve found myself feeling so much happier going in there now – I’ve saved money, repurposed something old that I now love, and created something unique for my home.
What have you upcycled recently? I really encourage you to look around your home to find unloved things you can turn into treasures. There’s something so therapeutic about the process, and I’ve learned it’s a sure fire way to bring charm to your home!
