Apartment Therapy: recycling & donating

Best Decor with Bottles

We grabbed this first image from a Country Living article on tips for cleaning, but what really stood out was the use of colored bottles. The visual impact of matching stems in mismatched glass bott...

Painted Dresser as Kitchen Island

Another testament to the transformative power of paint: this dresser-turned-kitchen-island. With a fresh coat of paint, a few new accessories and a proper top, it makes a perfect budget-friendly kit...

Finally! The Official Chicago Freecycle

Since May '03, Freecycle has been helping consumers purchase and throw away less, by encouraging an active community of exchanging and recycling goods. Listed as either "offered" or "wanted," the conc...

Tennis Racket Trellis/Screen
ReadyMade Issue 41

For use as an outdoor trellis or an indoor screen, this tennis racket structure shows interesting new life given to old rackets (these were gathered at Salvation Army)... ...

Inspiration: Telluride's Free Box

The premise is simple: take what you need and give what you don't. The Free Box is a Telluride, Colorado tradition that's been in place since the 1970's. It's been rumored that it closed earlier thi...

15 Recycling Solutions from IKEA

We hadn't really thought of IKEA's Trofast system as something to use outside of a kid's room until a reader mentioned repurposing it as a recycling station. Since then, we've noticed lots of differ...

Dealing with Downsizing
Part I: Start a Schedule

To make some extra money, my parents have decided to rent out the lower level of their two-flat condo, and I'm helping them out. We're clearing out the rental apartment, which involves halving their...

Scavenger Success Story: Dressing Table Finds a Home

You may remember seeing this dressing table featured last week in the Chicago Scavenger. We found it listed in the Apartment Therapy:Chicago classifieds section on Thursday and used it for our lead ph...

The Craigslist Drafting Table and the Tough Move

You may have read our earlier post about the filming in front of our apartment. That same evening, a buyer was scheduled to come by our place and pick up the drafting table we were selling on Craigs...

Plum Tomato Tin Planters
Toronto

Yum. A pizza shop goes through a lot of these big tomato tins. One Toronto resident reused such cans from a local pizzeria and put them to re-use, creating a garden on an urban brick wall......

Custom Vintage Silverware Garden Markers

click thumbnails for larger picsWe saw a tweet from gochrisgo of Our Brooklyn Roof Garden, declaring that these custom garden markers made from vintage silverware are stunning. And we agree......

Roundup: Online Book Swapping Services

Back in March, we surveyed you (over in D.C.) to see if you used an online book, CD, or DVD swapping site. From your comments and not surprisingly, it appears that the most popular thing to swap is bo...

Best Sources for Packing/Moving Boxes?

It seems silly to purchases boxes when so many can be reused and so many others are being thrown out. Upon hitting up stores recently that often give their extras away from the warehouse, one friend...

Lucy Renshaw Furniture & Interiors

click thumbnails for larger pics Lucy Renshaw is inspired by junk. She works with recycled fabrics and reuses found materials to create everything from lamps to large furniture. She combines techniq...

Before & After Projects: Make Mine Eclectic

Last week we praised dumpster diving extraordinaire Diana (aka Fine Diving in Chicago) and some of her recent projects. Reader jessimarie33 linked us over to Make Mine Eclectic, where we found even mo...

Tool Sharing

Sharing is always good: zip cars, bicycles, houses, food... Now we know about tool sharing, too. Some cities have organized "Tool Libraries" (libraries unto themselves; others may be part of a regula...

8 Things to Recycle as you Declutter

Rather than spring cleaning, we usually embark on a couple weeks of spring decluttering. We round up any unwanted items that have been collecting over the last few months and send them on their way....

Look! Plastic Cup Hanging Lamp

Spotted at a campsite in west Texas: these DIY plastic cup hanging lamps with (Christmas) lights woven in and around. This would be a fun project and addition to any outdoor space -- yards, decks, pat...

"Walls" Made from Salvaged Drawers & C-Clamps

Total inspiration! A London temporary pop-up shop created walls to section off the space out of drawers and c-clamps. An interesting look reminiscent of built in bookcases, it is a slightly funky and ...

Benita's Projects for an Organized Home
Chez Larsson

click thumbnails for larger picsBenita is really on a roll. We are always impressed with the beautiful (and beautifully organized) home of Benita Larsson, but in just the past few weeks she has blogg...

Melissa's Triple-Duty "Superstar" Armoire

Does everyone have a piece of furniture like this? A basic that you have grown to love and one that you will most likely hang on to forever - because it simply works. Move to a new place and in whatev...

Pegboard Recycling Stations

Recycling stations don't have to be ugly. These sorting areas from Crown Paint (left) and Martha Stewart (right) are outfitted with pegboard and basic recycling supplies, adding some color and creat...

How To: Make an Inventory of Your Home
... And Use It to Declutter

A home inventory list serves multiple purposes. It provides documentation of your belongings for an insurance company if your home is burglarized or damaged; it helps you keep track of items that re...

Problem Solver: Recycling Magnets

We have yet to label our recycling containers. Even though it's easy for us to remember which bin is paper and which is plastic, we always have a problem when company comes over. Trash is inevitably t...

The ReBuilding Exchange

Having just celebrated its grand opening on Friday, February 13th, The Rebuilding Exchange has been collecting donations for a while now...and it's finally open to the public! The concept and ongoing ...

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Posts tagged “recycling & donating”