If you are looking for a way to reduce the junk in your home, try upcycling. No, this is not some new trend among environmentalists, because this practice has been around for many years. However, its popularity has been on the rise thanks to various TV shows and books that focus on home decoration. However, many people have fallen in love with upcycling because it is a very creative and eco-friendly activity that can also make a nice hobby.
What is upcycling
Do not mistake upcycling for recycling, because these are two completely different concepts. As you probably know, recycling deals with the reuse of basic materials, such as glass, paper and plastic. Once recycled, these materials are used for the creation of new, low-quality products. Upcycling, on the other hand, focuses not on materials, but on entire objects, like furniture and clothing. It is a process that involves the repurposing of an old item into something that has a higher quality and a better appearance than the original.
The Benefits
The process of upcycling offers many benefits one of the biggest of them is that it can help you turn the junk in your home into art or into a piece of furniture with a wide practical use. So, if you are a person who gets attached to the material things in your life and you are on the verge of turning into a serial hoarder, you may consider taking up upcycling as your new pastime interest. Other advantages of this practice revolve around the fact that it:
- Saves money
- Preserves the environment
- Inspires creativity
- Reduces stress
Getting started
Don’t worry if you do not see yourself as the most creative or arty person in the world. With upcycling, you do not have to be one. Still, you will need to acquire a key skill – learning to see the world from a different angle. In order to take a regular jar and turn it into something new like a lantern, vase or a terrarium you will need to view it beyond its current purpose. Well, if you find that hard, you can always look for inspiration online or in some interior design magazine. Put on some DIY home improvement show on the TV and see how others do it.
Next, look around your home for items that have a great upcycling potential. Focus your attention on things that you no longer use and which you have been storing in your garage or attic for many years. Giving a new life to an old piece of furniture can be really fun and easy because you can achieve a lot with a fresh layer of paint and some remodelling work. For instance, you can turn a dusty kitchen cabinet into a bathroom sink.
However, it is always best to start small. Try the jar-into-lantern project or create a vase out of a wine bottle. In that way, you will slowly make your way into the world of upcycling and maybe discover that you like it more than you thought you could.
