Featured Company: TerraCycle Turns Trash into Useful Products

It's great to see upcycling make it to the news headlines and big companies with funding emeging as a result:

TerraCycle make millions recycling trash and turn it into useful products, such as fertilizers.

Watching their video gives you a clear view of how much the company is doing for upcycling! Look at how they re-use glass bottles:

Or take a look at their chair beautified by candy wrappers!

Great cause to participate in!

10 Cute Tips for Upcycled Kitchen Decor

Upcycling is a really big hobby for many people these days. Part of that is due to the years of living under a difficult economy during the financial crisis. But for others, it is just a fun interest they have always enjoyed and continue to do so. There are certainly a lot of blogs and social media posts dedicated to the practice, and thanks to Macklemore, second hand shops are more popular than ever. At least some of what is bought there is sure to end up as part of a project.

To get tips on how to upcycle, such as projects involving kitchen d?cor, sometimes it is best just to look at what people have already made. Here are ten tips from upcycled items around the web, all having to do with kitchens.

1. Kitchen Utensil Chimes

10 Ways to Upcycle a Suitcase

Everyone should have a good piece of luggage, even if they only travel occasionally. But what happens when you no longer need a particular set? Maybe you got something new, or you went a little suitcase crazy and picked up too many at a second hand shop. Or you might just have worn it through and need to do something with the old luggage.

Don't be so quick to throw it out. Instead, check out these awesome and creative upcycling ideas for old suitcases.

1. Storage Ottoman

Upcycle Books into Book Couch!

10 Cool DIY Projects Using Old Tires

The other day I was in my garage and I realized something: we have way too many tires. Living where we do, we end up driving into the mountains a great deal, or further south and into the dessert. Both types of terrain can be rough on rubber, and we go through a full set of tires once a year. For a long time we just threw the old ones out, but now we have been patching and reusing them instead of purchasing new ones.

Obviously, this is better than tossing them both environmentally and economically. But we still have more than we need, and I had no idea what to do with them. Sell them? Give them away? That is when my Pinterest instinct kicked in and I knew I had to see if I could find some good upcycling projects for them.

These are the ten coolest I found.

1. Tire Swing

Upcycle Old Jeans into a Chair

What a clever idea and nice implementation: this chair looks cool and seems to be very comfortable.

It used several pairs of jeans, I guess, because the scraps are in different colors.

Denim is thick and reliable material, so it should be quite durable. Play around for more designs!

No matter why you need more outdoor furniture (for summer outdoors or renting), this is a great money-saving idea!

More cool DIY chairs for outdoors!:

• Old Toys into a Cool Chair 
• Beer Bottles Chair 
• Shotgun Shells Chair 
• Tennis Ball Chair

Old Toys into a Cool Chair

I have a three-year old daughter and her toys are everyone: on and under the bed, on almost all shelves in the wardrobe, in the attic, all around the floor (especially each evening). She doesn't play with most old ones but still doesn't want them to go.

When I stumbled upon this cool Hello Kitty chair on Flickr, I thought "Would she love that chair?" What are your thoughts?

Recycle Old-Fashioned Belts into a Garden Chair

If you have an old lawn chair that is already too old to offer your barbecue guests to sit on it, here's a great idea to renovate it: use your old forgotten western belts as webbing for the tired chair.



Breathe new life into your backyard chair!

Drinking Straw Furniture

Do you like drinking through a straw? You don't need to throw those used straws to trash. Because you can make plenty of cool things using them!

And on top of all, most of drinking straw gadgets look plain awesome (I mean it!) Take thisdrinking straw live light, drinking straw chair and this drinking straw furniture:

Rolled Newspaper Stool

The concept covered in this DIY project is similar to the one we already shared here: a magazine rack. These stools are no more than just tightly rolled newspapers but surprisingly they do look cool!

Beer Bottles Chair

I am honestly not sure how if this chair is comfortable or solid enough but its other benefits are obvious: (1) it must have a relaxing messaging effect (just like plastic bottle chair and tennis ball chair we've seen before) and (2) it is sure to appeal to your friends who come to visit!

Shotgun Shells Chair

OK, we already have all kinds of weird and fun chairs: a cardboard chair, a glass bottle chair, a tennis ball chair and even a drinking straw chair! And today we have yet another cool-looking, funky diy chair: a shotgun shells chair (warning: you'll need too many shotgun shells for that)!

Wine Bottle Corks Armchair

Yes, to be able to create this arm-chair you will have to drink a lot. Or you can ask your friends to store corks champaign and wine bottle they drink over this holiday season.

If you have many friends who can make fun, you stand good chances to create this arm chair in the very beginning of the next year!

And well, another reason to have a really happy holiday!

by Gabriel Wiese

Plastic Bottles Chair

I am not sure how solid this plastic bottles chair is but it looks like a comfortable one. I don't mean it is good for sitting there all day long but it does seem to have some relaxing massage effect we all need at the end of a long day.

All you need is to collect plastic bottles and glue them together!

by Pawel Grunert

Drinking Straw Chair

OK, to make this chair you'll need thousands of plastic drinking straws, ton of patience and a lot of really good glue, but, boy, the result is well worth it!

More Road Signs Chairs

While we have already covered chairs made of traffic signs, we find it necessary to share this diy project as it contains a detailed instruction on creating a road sign stool!

Egg Carton Footstool

If you still need more ways to recycle egg carton - apart from eggcrate lamps and other diy gadgets we posted on recently - man, you must have plenty of egg carton, here's another idea for you: a comfortable footstool.

The egg crates seem to be pressed and colored:

As a footstool it can be used upright or on its side for a relaxing rocking motion; it also makes a sturdy base for a coffee table.

FedEx Tubes Stool

We once mentioned one cool way to re-use FedEx shipping tubes: as a wine bottle rack. Here's another creative way to take advantage of FedEx triangular shipping tubes if you receive plenty of mail: create a FedEx tubes stool!

It doesn't look too comfortable to say at least but can be a good idea if you need a temporal place to sit on.

How to Make a Tennis Ball Chair

I am sure this chair has a cool massage effect: so you can just sit and relax! Great way to relax after a hard long day!

The tennis balls you see are not glued in place; they are held only by different-sized holes in the top and bottom sheets of plywood. The holes on the bottom are smaller so the balls don't push through when you sit on it.

DIY Wheel Stool

Need a quick stool for your porch? Here's a brilliant idea for you: a stool a of a wheel!

The wheel still spins, and a little red paint gives it a jaunty air

Not sure how comfortable it is but why not?