Recycled & Up-cycling - Tyres

I've no doubt that you've seen lots of tyres recycled in various ways, coffee tables, planters, chairs etc. But I have to admit that this is the first time I've seen them recycled into hand-basin holders; and I like what I'm seeing, especially the pretty blue one – I never thought of tyres as being pretty before but that's where interior design ideas come into their own!

Image: Top Interior Designs

Recycling & Up-cycling – Paint Swatches

Do you have difficulty choosing a paint colour for your walls? Yes...well there's lots of people who do, so you're not alone. Paint swatches are a great way to bring a sample home to see what it looks like in the area you're planning to decorate, they're also brilliant for deciding what the colour will look like at different times of the day.

However, if you're still undecided and torn between which colours to use you could always make a multi-coloured wall using the swatches – it's a bit like patchwork on a wall I suppose. Whichever way you look at the idea it's a fabulous way to recycle paint swatches – furthermore they're free!

Image: Babble

Recycling & Up-cycling Beach Balls

If last year's beach ball won't inflate sufficiently to use as a ball be inspired to transform it into a lampshade. You have to admit these fun lights would look fabulous in a child's playroom or bedroom!

Image: E-Junkie

Recycling & Up-cycling – Dressing Table Planter

Don't throw away an unwanted dressing room draw unit, instead give it a new lease of life by turning it into a fabulous planter. If you choose plants which help to oxygenate the air, (which is a bit of an understatement as all plants use oxygen!) however, there are some plants that can help improve the air quality of your home and if you opt for these the planter will give you more than a touch of visual nature inside your home.

Image: Inhabitat

Harvesting Rain Water Using Watering Cans

I love this ingenious idea for harvesting rain water using watering cans and pieces of pipe which feeds each one. My only query is that you'd have to have a pretty sturdy gutter to be able to take the load of 4 full watering cans and more to the point how do you get them down once they're full?

Water weighs an incredible amount – for each litre it weighs 1kg, so 5 litres = 5 kg each x 4 and the gutter has to potentially hold 20kg – unless of course the gutter are made from metal, like they are in France, and then of course there won't be a problem just as long as the gutter is securely fixed.

As for being able to reach them – well if they're hung from a shed or low roof then that will be fine!

I actually love them for their aesthetic looks and think they'd also make great places to hold trailing plants. Take a glance at the shadows as well, a great way to make a plain wall a little more interesting. If you want a little more vibrancy you could always use brightly coloured plastic watering cans.

Harvesting rainwater to water the garden or vegetable plot will also save money on your water bills – especially if you're on a water meter.

Image: via cc Flickr

Recycling – Skate-Board to Bird Box

What a great way to recycle an old skate-board. Perfect for a week-end project that could get your teens interested in. How 'cool' will it be to see their beloved skate- board become a home for wild birds and given pride of place in the garden.

Image: Judi Oyama

Interior Design Ideas - Recycling and Up-cycling Empty Wine Bottles

For those who embrace the recycling and up-cycling trend here's a great way to use empty wine bottles. With amount of wine bottles used in this fabulous chandelier style ceiling light it's a good excuse to break open a bottle!

Image: The Eggplant

Living with Nature

The trend for using recycled or up-cycled materials has never been so prevalent. This gorgeous bed room, with its statement headboard framed by reclaimed wood is the epitome of chic style and shows us just how wonderful a home can look with a little ingenuity and interior design flair.

The neutral colours of the bedding compliment the wood beautifully, resulting into a serene bedroom which is easy on the eye. What a lovely place to sleep.

Image: lorigami

Fabrics – Denim

The denim we know and love for jeans is a cotton twill fabric which is robust and sturdy – hence the hard-wearing jeans that were originally designed for work-wear. The fabric is made by the weft being passed under at least two warp threads. This process creates the diagonal ribbed effect and distinguishes denim from cotton duck.

The blue-jeans colour is created by only dying the warp threads, leaving the weft threads white – this is why jeans are white on the reverse side. It also means that denim is renowned for fading and within the fashion world has been used to create faded blue jeans, stone washed jeans etc.

For use as a soft furnishing fabric denim is strong and tough, but it can also easily shrink, so if you do want to use it to reupholster chair seats or make bean bags and pouffes make sure that you wash it a few times before using it or be prepared to have a non-washable soft furnishing.

If you love patchwork, recycling and up-cycling denim is a great choice of fabric – the variations in colour can create some wonderful visual effects.

Image: hownowdesign

Image: LA & OC Foodventures