People from all walks of life are becoming increasingly concerned with their environmental footprints. Many are choosing to revive vintage furniture and crafts, instead of buying them new when it comes to decorating their homes. Reusing and reviving vintage furniture and crafts is much more environmentally friendly, because not only are you reusing something that has life left in it, but you are also reducing your reliance upon mass-produced furniture.
Reviving vintage crafts and using them to decorate your home is very simple. This article will tell you exactly how to do it:
Recycled Quilts
One good way of transforming old clothes, fabrics, and curtains into something usable again is quilting. One needs very few pieces of equipment to begin quilting. You simply need specialty quilting rulers, a sewing machine, free embroidery designs, steam iron, wadding, pins, needles, and threads. Quilting can be a lot of fun and is a great hobby to take up. Not only can you use quilts when decorating your home, but you can also sell them online. There are many online marketplaces where people sell handmade quilts. Selling handmade quilts can be very profitable if you take the time to perfect quilting.”
Wooden Furniture
If you have any old wooden furniture lying around, upcycling it is a great way to breathe new life into it. There’s so much that you can do to a piece of furniture beyond its intended purpose. You can of course restore it, repaint it, and use it as is, or alternatively, you can break it down into parts and use them for new things. You can turn table legs into lamps, panels into decorative wall art, and drawers into shoe stands. There are lots of other ideas available online for upcycling furniture, so check them out.
Making Pillows
In addition to making quilts from old, used fabrics, you can also turn them into pillows. If you are reviving old crafts for environmental purposes, then make sure that you fill your pillows or cushions with an environmentally-friendly filler. Duck feathers are a no-go, that is unless you have old duck feather pillows that you’re considering throwing away, in which case you can reuse them. If you don’t have any suitable fillings, then buy them new, as you will be sleeping or lying down on them, so need to be confident that they are clean.
Hollowing Books
If you have any old, leather-bound books that are no longer readable, then you can convert them into paperweights or a book stand. Hollowing out books is very simple and there are lots of tutorials available online. Make sure that the books are unreadable before you proceed, however. There’s no point in destroying a book when it still has life left in it. There are plenty of shops and charities that accept book donations and then send them abroad for charity or into prisons and schools. Hollowing out books should be a last resort but is a good way to improve your home’s decor.
Sofa Upholstery
If you have large pieces of unused fabrics, you can use them to upholster your sofa. This is an especially good idea if you have curtains, blinds, or wallpaper that matches the fabric. This will give you an opportunity to create a uniform design throughout your home, something very few people have these days. Matching your sofa’s upholstery with your wallpaper and curtains can be very effective if you are going for a farmhouse or rustic design, particularly if the fabrics themselves have flowers on them. You will need to send your sofa to a professional upholsterer for this to be done, however. It can be expensive.
Making Curtains
Another way to reuse old fabrics is to make curtains, though as with sofa upholstery, you will need a large piece of fabric to do this. Making curtains is a very effective way of reusing fabrics and if you have basic sewing skills, you will be able to do it yourself. Making curtains can be quite a difficult task, but it is very rewarding. If you can, buy more of the fabric so that you can use it for other things. You may also be able to get a custom wallpaper printed as well, which you can then put up around your home. If you aren’t very good at sewing, then you can send your fabrics to a seamstress to have your curtains made up. This should not be very expensive, though it can be sometimes.
If you have vintage crafts or furniture lying around, then why throw them away when you can reuse them? Reusing old items is a great way to give your home artistic flair and its own unique theme.
