The Benefits Of Upcycling & Top Tips
Index Digital takes a look at why we should all be upcycling – from simply reusing bottles to restoring antique furniture – and the benefits it will have to the environment and our bank balances.
Sponsored by Ballards of Tunbridge Wells.
With the combination of the world’s concern over the effects of climate change alongside the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, upcycling has never been more popular. But what exactly is it and how can we get involved?
Upcycling is a form of recycling, but more than just taking items in your home and sending them away to be turned into a new material, you have the chance to create something new and give those items a new purpose in life. It can even just be simply a case of updating something so that it looks better and is more to your current taste.
Already a much-loved idea and pastime, the push to start adopting upcycling as a way of life is steadily growing.
As fashions change ever faster, it can feel like we are living in a world where we are constantly trying to keep up with the latest trends and this is having an impact on both the environment and our pockets.
Why upcycle?
As well as being a fun pastime, upcycling has many benefits for the environment. The most obvious being the more we can upcycle the less is being delivered straight to landfills across the country.
Also, as a result of not having to create so many products from scratch we are reducing the natural resources we use up in the production process, and so save energy as well as reducing carbon emissions. In this respect, upcycling is even more environmentally friendly than recycling.
By creating new products you want or need from old items simply lying around your house – or heading for the dustbin – rather than buying new, you are also of course saving yourself money. All it is costing you is your time to create that item and if you enjoy the process too it is simply a win-win situation.
And with the cost of living playing on many people’s minds, upcycling could also offer the opportunity to make some money from items you already have by cleaning them up and selling them on – or getting something you need by swapping them for someone else’s upcycled goods.
Upcycling is also a cost effective way to keep the kids entertained – and educated – by making games and fun activities for them to get creative with from boxes, carboard toilet rolls, old wrapping paper, plastic bottles – or anything you no longer have a use for.
Celebrating old skills
Upcycling also offers the a chance to celebrate old crafts and learn new skills that will also be of benefit to you in the long run. Using old clothes or materials to create your own new pieces of fashion is not only fun but also teaches you skills, such as sewing, you can use to repair perfectly good items of clothing you like that you may have simply thrown out due to their being damaged or worn.
Upcycling is a great hobby giving people the opportunity to be creative and make something truly unique, which is especially rewarding in a world of mass production. And with a little imagination, who knows what you could create.
If you are new to upcycling, start with something small and simple – choosing a big project for your first outing may result in you becoming discouraged if you struggle to complete it.
Furniture restoration
More than just making something new from something old, upcycling also offers the opportunity to keep items that mean something to us in our home, rather than just storing them in the garage, attic or garden shed because they don’t fit in with our current style.
Maybe you have been left some furniture from a loved one and cannot bear to throw it away, yet it just doesn’t go with any room in your home. Or you’ve moved house and the newly decorated rooms just don’t suit your previous style.
These perfectly good pieces of furniture can easily be adapted to suit your home. A change of fabric for sofas and chairs, new handles for a chest of drawers, painting woodwork on a wardrobe to match your new colour palette are all ways of making these items blend in with your new look.
If you have a treasured heirloom that you want to be upcycled professionally, then when it comes to restoring and renovating antique furniture Ballards in Tunbridge Wells can help you. They are skilled in full antique restoration, so whether you are looking to simply change the fabric of a sofa to give it a fresh look, or take an essentially broken piece of furniture and restore it to its former glory, they have the skills required using their hand crafted traditional methods.
If you need guidance choosing new upholstery for chairs and sofas they can help you source the design and fabric for you, or if you already have the fabric of your dreams they will simply fit it to your item.
Any damage or faults in the woodwork can be repaired and the surface can be oiled or waxed to bring it back to life.
Maybe you have been put off using a chair or sofa as it is no longer comfortable and the support offered by the filling has worn through the years. This can be easily fixed as Ballards can restuff the chair – and they offer a variety of materials with which to do this, from foam to hand stuffed.
If you are looking to modernise the design of the item of furniture they will work with you to achieve the best outcome, but of course this will be dependent on the overall structure and frame of the piece.
Owner Steve Ballard began his career stripping three-piece suites for restoration, but these days he says the market is much more trending towards sofas, arm chairs and dining chair restoration.
If you are going to take on a task such as repainting old wooden furniture yourself, then preparation is key. Make sure to sand down the wood with sandpaper or wire wool and then wipe off all dust left behind before starting painting – as this will give it a lovely smooth surface.
5 ITEMS YOU CAN UPCYCLE IN YOUR HOME
Plastic bottles
Upcycling these offers the chance to help the environment and save you some money through growing your own produce! You can use old bottles to create a herb garden in your kitchen – not only making use of the plastic but creating a pretty focal point on your windowsill, as well as saving you having to buy herbs from the supermarket.
Glass bottles
Rather than just throwing an empty wine bottle or unusual jar into the recycling, why not give it a good clean, remove any labels you don’t want and fill it with fairy lights? Then place them on windows sills, side tables or in the corner of the room or even create a mini display of them. These are perfect for creating a relaxed atmosphere when you wind down for the evening on the sofa.
Alternatively you can still use jars for the main purpose they were made for – housing items – just choose something different to store in them.
Left over pieces of wood or palettes
Get a rustic vibe in your home by using pieces of wood to create storage boxes around the house. The beauty of this is the wood doesn’t have to match in colour or size, the very randomness of it will create a unique look. You can paint them whatever colour you like to suit, or simply leave them in their natural shades, and if you redecorate your home in future years they can be easily repainted to match the new look.
Old clothes
Clothes can get worn or damaged to the point they are past salvaging in the role they were made for, but that doesn’t mean they can’t become something else. If you still love the pattern, colour or material then why not give them a new life as cushion covers? This will add a fresh look to your living room to brighten up your surroundings.
Paint buckets
With all your upcycling you are bound to have a few empty paint cans lying around, so to celebrate your hard work why not clean one out, paint or decorate it to your style, fill it with ice, and you’ve got an ice bucket good to go! Then all you need to do is pop in a bottle of bubbly, sit back and toast to your upcycling genius!
The only limit to what you can do with unwanted items in your home is your imagination, so before you put anything into your bin or recycling box take a look at it and think:
- Is it fixable?
- Could I adapt it into something I would still like?
- What other purpose could it have by itself?
- Could it be combined with other items to make something new?
You could even take an old bike and turn it into a piece of art as well as a home for plants – just get thinking…
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