decorate on a dime, recycling as much as possible

NG had an old snowboard taking up space in the closet. We bought two small tables and lay it across. Its now a plant stand on the patio.

Our kitchen is completely white and to shake it up a bit we have been collecting beer coasters from bars (which the bartenders are happy to give out unused) and a fixing them to the wall with quik tak. Its a little silly and immature, but this apartment is lending to that kind of living.

Here is a pic of tone of the footstools I am making for the patio. It is vinyl covered cotton fabric and waterproof. I stuffed it with plastic grocery and shopping bags and to make two cost under $8.

The picture doesn’t do the paper justice, so here is a close-up.

Curtains are so expensive. And living in a temporary space makes curtains a waste of money. We have these horrid vertical blinds in our apartment which are really gross. Its hard to put up curtain rods and they take up space.
Today I went to the art supply store and bought three sheets of really cool paper to cover the windows in the kitchen with. It cost me around $13 and if we move here, since two of the three sheets remain uncut, I will be able to use them for something else.
And I gained the use of the window sill again, since the vertical blinds arent taking up the space.

Next on my list are:
make footstools for the patio out of canvas and grocery bags
a clock for the desk made out of a tea tin
placemats made out of decorative paper and either laminated or sandwiched between vinyl
a garbage can out of stuff we would have thrown away
window coverings so I can stop using the hideous vertical blinds
more bowls
candlesticks out of nuts and bolts

Tomorrow I am headed to a store in Oakland that is like a thrift store for recycled products. I cant wait to see what they have.

Today I made candle holders for the patio from the bottoms of soda cans. I punched holes in them with a nail and cant wait to light them tonight to see if they actually look cool or not.

a better pic…

it cost 99 cents..

needed a bowl for the fridge to hold all the lemons I was getting from work, so I turned a record into a bowl.