6 ways to upcycle your bedroom
Making over your bedroom can be a time-consuming, expensive, and altogether overwhelming project. If you throw in the added factor of wanting to be eco-conscious in the process, it may seem nearly impossible. But that’s only if your Pinterest game is off. Upcycling your old stuff or thrift store finds into DIY masterpieces is as simple as searching your friends’ pins for, “How do I make my own grown-up headboard for cheap?” Here are a few ideas to get you started, even before you scour your favorite Insta designers’ pages for inspiration:
- Turn old vegetable or fruit crates into under-bed organizers. Okay, so you most likely don’t just have crates lying around. But if you go to your favorite Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s and ask an employee at customer service, she’ll probably tell you that they do. Once you have the crates in hand, take them home and use them as a much cuter alternative to those bulky plastic drawers you’ve been lugging around since college. Bonus points if you hand-paint “Socks” or “Underwear” onto your new under-bed organizers.
- Wrap a boring lampshade in a sweater. Spring has sprung, so it’s time to unload all of those sweaters that were on fleek for a season, but will be woefully antiquated come fall. Instead of donating all of them, keep one or two to spruce up your lampshade. There are tons of DIY ideas for old sweaters, but one of the simplest is cutting a sweater to the size of your lampshade and affixing it, resulting in a cozy glow.
- Transform shutters into a headboard. Again, you’re probably going to have to actively search out shutters (you can actually buy them on Amazon), but feel free to go as cheap as possible. These shutters won’t actually be protecting your windows. Instead, you’ll spray paint them and mount them over your bed to create a rustic-chic headboard worthy of a humble-bragging status update.
- Organize your drawers with cardboard packaging. If you’ve ever been frustrated by the amount of packaging that comes with virtually anything you order online, time to fight back. Repurpose the cardboard matrixes that come in boxes of jars or bottles as organizers for your rolled-up socks or underwear, even t-shirts, and stick them right in your dresser drawers.
- Convert a tablecloth into a bed coverlet. Have you ever found something beautiful at the thrift store that you didn’t quite need—perhaps a tablecloth far too big for the tiny table where you usually eat? If you haven’t, keep an eye out for a vintage tablecloth, because it could serve as your next bedspread. After a solid wash, of course.
- Craft new curtains from vintage handkerchiefs. If you haven’t made curtains out of old handkerchiefs yet, you need to step up your social media game, because they’ve been all over the DIY blogs. Scour your favorite thrift stores and secondhand shops for cheap, colorful handkerchiefs, then piece them together to create new window coverings in your bedroom.
34 Clever Ways to Upcycle Flea Market Finds Into Stylish Home Decor [Country Living]
25 Ways to Upcycle Your Old Stuff [HGTV]
Turn Your Trash Into Treasure: 8 Upcycled Home Decor Projects for Spring [Good Housekeeping]