Happy New Year to you all!

Ahhh, the New Year. Plenty of people make resolutions of what they want to achieve, whereas others are more focussed on revamping their personal space! People’s homes are being scrubbed from top to bottom, and personal belongings are being sorted into piles of ‘keep’ or ‘throw’.

Except here at Blue Door Property Guardians, we don’t like to see people throwing their perfectly good personal items away, just because they might have received something better for Christmas. We also know that you can buy some great things from secondhand shops or websites to improve your home. Have you ever heard of upcycling?

Upcycling is the process of taking something ‘old’ or used and breathing some much needed life back into it. Whether that’s giving it a lick of paint, or just changing the purpose of it completely. Upcycling provides you with new projects, the opportunity to learn new skills, and opportunities to enhance your living space.

Upcycling is very beneficial for the environment too. As you’re giving a new life to something previously owned, the amount of materials and waste being sent to landfill is minimising. The production of new items is also slowed down, meaning greenhouse gases and other pollutants are decreasing too. Another great thing? You can keep these incredible new items for yourself or sell them for a little bit of pocket money. Win, win!

So, what can we upcycle? Here are some ideas…

Move over wardrobes, it’s time for clothing rails

Clothing rails can be a perfect addition to your living spaces and you don’t need to head to the shops to buy one brand new! Take a ladder, some screws, spare wood and some paint and voila! You have yourself a brand new addition to your home.

Clothing rails are great to show off your favourite pieces of clothing or to keep in your hallway to store your coats and shoes.

Wooden crates are for more than just transporting goods

Have you had any new deliveries and received them on wooden crates? Or do you know somebody who has plenty of wooden crates that they don’t know what to do with? Keep them.

Wooden crates can be attached together and painted to create new shelving units of bookcases. You can choose the layout, the size and the design of how you want it to look. A perfect new place to store your favourite reads or most prized possessions.

New plant pots for new plants!

Unless they really can’t be used anymore, don’t throw away your old buckets. Your old buckets can be transformed into the most gorgeous planters and new plant pots to redesign your garden.

Buckets come in all shapes and sizes, so you can really turn your thumbs green and start your own green corner!

Egg cartons are for more than just eggs…

Don’t know what to do with your old egg cartons? Sure, you can recycle them but you can also use them for your upcycling projects.

Egg cartons are great for storing those Christmas decorations after the festive season. If your decorations have personal value to you or are valuable in general, then you want to keep them in perfect condition for the next year without any damage coming to them.

Another great use for your old egg cartons is to keep them to grow some windowsill herbs. These are super convenient for your cooking and it saves you pennies on the shopping!

Second-hand furniture can be a first-class success

One person’s trash is another person’s treasure after all, right, Orinoco? So much joy can be brought back into second-hand items and with a little bit of TLC you can bag yourself a brand new addition to your home, or even make some pocket money for yourself.

You can get furniture such as sofas, chairs, drawers, wardrobes and more from second-hand stores or websites for a great price, and then the decision is yours for what you do with them. This is the perfect chance for you to be creative and create bespoke items where you can’t get anywhere else!

The list for upcycling projects is large and you can pretty much give anything a brand new life and purpose. Not only is upcycling great for the environment and you’ll be doing your bit, it is also cost-effective for you too!

We’d love to hear about your upcycling projects and what you’ve managed to achieve, so make sure you pop us a message with your new creations: admin@bluedoorpropertyguardians.co.uk.