When we do our weekly cleaning of our home how many things are we throwing out with the tag, ‘useless’ or ‘waste’! Some may be mere plastic or some decomposable! If we are able to make use of our creativity we can create magic from those items. No need to buy expensive decorative items for show cases or fancy bags. If we have a little time to spend and a mind to build a creative idea, we can even make it a small business at our home. I am giving a few tips for you to change those useless wastes to decorate items for your kitchen and living room.

Human medicines are good for plants too

How much medicine are we throwing out seeing its expiry date or after our use? Now, no need to throw them in dust bin. If it’s homeopathy syrups, add a little water to them and pour in your flower pots. Plants will grow healthy. Aspirin tablets, after expiry date, just crush them and sprinkle in flower vases of your living room. Flowers will stay live for a few more days.

Wine bottles and medicine bottles as flower pots

First, remove the stickers and clean the bottles well. Make those bottles attractive by oil paintings or tattoos. If you have an artistic mind, you can make them candle stands. While candle burns, melting wax can give more patterns to your candle stand. You can make use of colourful glues or clay to make those bottles more attractive.

Flower pots from broken cups

We buy a lot of decorative items for our kitchen including beautiful cups. Such expensive cups, if damaged can’t be used for our purposes. It’s a common practice to throw them away to vacate space. Such broken cups and ceramic plates can be used to plant plants in the living room.

Broken tyres can decorate your garden

Old tyres can be used in your home garden to plant small flowering plants or vegetable plants. If you have three or four such useless tyres, paint them with any colour of your favourite and fix them one above the other. Then seal them using a wood piece or plywood. It’s a creative ‘art’ chair for your garden.

You can even use such tyres as swings in your garden. Just tie them to a tree using strong rope. Kids can make use of them.

Clocks from cycle rims

It’s a great idea to make clocks using cycle rim. Old chappathi tawas can also be converted to clocks by applying a little creativity. Just make them attractive using attractive colours.  

Magazine racks from cardboard boxes

If you have a little time to spend, instead of throwing old cardboard boxes to waste bin make useful racks to store weightless things. First you need to cut the upper part of cardboard boxes neatly. Then colour it or cover using gift papers to make them attractive. If you find a little time to stick designs or draw paintings, it’s really a nice idea. Kids can place their toys in such beautiful boxes. If you provide small pouches inside such cardboard boxes, you can keep small cards or papers for future use.

Mouse pads for tea saucers

If you cut circles out of useless mouse pads, you can use them as saucers for tea cups. Just need to provide some additional designs or colours to make them attractive. When you treat your guests at home, tea served in such sauces can surprise them a lot. Also, you can cut your mouse pads to pieces and place them below legs of tables, beds and chairs to avoid scratches on floor.

Newspapers in your garden

After removing weeds from your garden, just spread some old newspapers and cover them with sand. It can prevent the growth of weeds of a lot. If you have earthworm compost at your home, tear some newspapers and give them to worms as food.

Old tooth brushes are good for cleaning

To clean joints of tiles, small gaps and wash basins old tooth brushes are excellent. To clean vehicles also, tooth brushes can be used.

Old saris for bags and bed covers

While giving old clothes to someone free just check if you can make use of any parts of it. Expensive saris do have colourful and beautiful borders that won’t damage easily. Silky saris can be stitched to beautiful hand bags or bags for storage. It can be used for stitching pillow covers and mattress covers as well.
Now, many people are using old saris to make a new sari, by combining different parts of saris together, making use of its designs and borders. Just you need to be aware of colour combinations and matching designs.

Old jeans for carpets

Carpets, cushion covers and bags – wisely make use of your old jeans for these purposes.

Sell your milk plastic packets

Since plastic packets of your milk are reusable ones, you can collect them and sell to nearby shop, instead of burning them.

Old CDs for your dining tables

Never throw away your old CDs. Instead you can decorate them and use in dining tables to place hot items as costars. You can buy woolen threads or borders to decorate their edges. No one can easily identify that they are CDs. Also, CDs can be beautifully coloured and used for making decorating items for your show case.

Old plates and glass vessels – make them flower pots

If such glass vessels are bowls, you can make them attractive using colours, wall papers or oil paints and can use them as flower pots. Soft drink pans can be used for flower vessels in your living room. You can cover them using wall papers or design papers as well. Such soft cans can be used as coin box too.

Leaking clay vessels as flower pots and hanging lights

Clay vessels are used in kitchen for preparing dishes more tasty. Yet, if they damage somehow and start leaking we can’t use them in kitchen. Please, don’t throw them away. Use them as excellent clay pots for planting plants. Same is the case of edge broken earthen pots. You can make them more impressive by painting them with brick colour and providing designs. If those vessels are too small for a plant pot, make a hole in the bottom and insert a small colouring bulb and electric wire. Paint it with some attractive colours. You can provide with creative drawings as well. It forms a good hanging light for your visitor room or living room.

Exchange old mattresses

It’s a nice idea to exchange old mattress for a new one. Making cushions and pillows using its fibre or cotton is also a nice idea. Just you need to dry the cotton once before reuse.

Cycle wheel as decorating light

Colour your old cycle wheel using attractive colours. Attach them to a decorative light and hang in your kid’s room ceiling. It makes it more attractive adding a creative touch to your kid’s room. You can make use of many useless things around to decorate your kid’s room in a grand way.

Old food for compost

Instead of throwing old food and vegetable waste in waste bin, use them for compose or biogas. It saves you a lot of money in buying gas for lighting your stove.

Old frames of spectacles for sun glasses

Never throw them away. Instead make them sun glasses.

Old calendars and table calendars for photo frame

Your art and creativity can be exhibited well while making using of old calendars and table calendars. If you take print outs of your photos that can fix the size of calendar papers, they are good photo frames. You can include many creative ideas to make it a photo album.

Old wash basins and flush tanks

Such plastics are not disposable or bought by anyone. Instead plant some flowering plants or vegetables in your garden in such useless tanks.

Bags from T-shirts

You can stitch the lower side of T-shirts and fix an elastic or zipper, after cutting its hands and neck. A good cloth bag is ready for your use. You can shine among your friends as well.

Yes, how many things are we throwing away without thinking, ‘how can we make use of it?’ Instead we buy such expensive items from shops, which may not last as well. If we are willing to spare a little time we can really create magic from such waste things.