Menggunakan kembali segala sesuatu (tua atap sirap, palet, mesin jahit, rak majalah, andA lebih!)

"\"\\\"\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\nWalking around our home recently, I realized that about 85% of our furniture was given to us by people who were downsizing, inherited from deceased relatives, or salvaged from someones trash and refinished.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nWe think long and hard before we dispose of anything. You have to be careful doing this so that you dont end up with a lot of clutter, which would make finding things difficult, and you have to be willing to part with things if you really cant come up with a way to reuse\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/repurpose\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/upcycle them, but with a little effort, most things can be used again when theyve outlived their original purpose. I thought Id share a few recent ones from around here.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nThis past summer my mother-in-law downsized from a large home to a condo. She and my husbands father (who passed away about a year and a half ago) lived in their home for many years and had acquired a lot of furniture that was stored in their basement. She needed to get rid of this furniture before moving. Weve acquired some of these items from her and have been having an interesting time figuring out how to fix them up and reuse them.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nOne such item is an old pedal sewing machine. My MIL has two others, both of which work, so we didnt feel like this one needed to be saved for actual sewing. All summer it served as a plant stand in the garden, but the summer rains warped the mesin jahit singer 8280 cabinet badly.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nThis fall, Phil removed the old wooden cabinet and we used it as kindling during a backyard campfire.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nHe sanded and painted the metal base and used some salvaged wood that he sanded and stained to make a table top for it:\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nI may continue to use it as a table and plant stand, but Im also thinking of moving it into the kitchen as a stand for the bread machine, bread box, cutting board, and bread knives.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nI liked the look of the old sewing machine and it was heavy as can be very well made so I decided to walk out near the woods and place it on an old tree stump just as a kind of woodland garden art:\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nI will probablydispose of it eventually, but for now it reminds me of the Chilkoot Trail in Alaska, which is considered an outdoor museum; all along the trail you can see abandoned items from the Gold Rush years in the late 1800s. Its a neat hike, and it is fun to discover all the old items from prospecting pans to old steam engines hiding in the woods and on the rocks.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nMy mother-in-law also gave us an old magazine rack:\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nIts nice heavy wood but we didnt need it for this purpose. What I did need was some place convenient to put baking sheets and cooling racks, so my husband cut the legs off shorter for me so that it could fit on a shelf, and then I used spray paint primer and then two coats of glossy black spray paint so that it matches the black granite counter tops in the kitchen.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nI thought it looked pretty good for a freebie!\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nWe also received a VERY beat up painted wooden table with a white enamel top.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nIt reminded me of a table my parents had when I was little, so I didnt want the top refinished, only cleaned, but Phil stripped and sanded the wood and then repainteditwith watered-down light grey latex paint to make a sort of grey white wash effect.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nWe already had the paint, so again this was totally free and is now used as a kitchen table where I can keep the fruit stand, my aloe vera plant for treating kitchen burns, and as a prep surface. The drawer has cutting boards stored in it. I may grow a winter herb garden here if I get out to the garden and dig up some things; most of the herbs survived the last freeze, but it wont be long now before theyre gone for the year.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nGot some old leftover roofing shingles hanging aroundh They can be laid out overlapping to make a walkway! As Ive mentioned before, I put this one in a place where we wanted a walkway but which we could not install a cement or paver pathway because its over our septic drain field (most people dont realize that septic drain fields are only located about a 6-18 inches below ground). I just laid the roofing shingles right over the grass. For the first season, you might catch your foot on the overlap, but after that, the grass will have grown over the edge a bit and will hold the walkway down securely.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nAlso, Ill probably separate this one out into its own post, but old wood pallets also make nice walkways through the woods, especially if there are soggy, mucky areas.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nIve mentioned this before, but we are always on the lookout for pallets that are being thrown away, and Ive been working on a pallet walkway since we moved in.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nIts pretty long now and both the children and the dogs like to walk on it.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nI put old cardboard under the pallets to keep weeds down, but I also use old paper bags full of junk mail, newspapers, and the like under the pallets.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nFallen leaves eventually cover the cardboard and paper bags so that you cant even see theyre there.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nThe next one was a wobbly old side table, absolutely filthy and painted with peeling bile green paint. The lamp was just the base and so dirty you couldnt tell what color it was underneath. But they were free and we needed a table and lamp for the guest bedroom which we had just painted a sort of New England grey. After lots of scrubbing, the lamp proved to be a bit, how shall we saywell, tackybut with a new socket and lampshade, it serves its purpose just fine. Phil tightened up the table to eliminate the wobble; it wasnt worth his time to do much more to it, but I gave it a good scrub, two heavy coats of primer, and then three coats of whimsical purple spray paint.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nI added a cloth made ofhand sewn lace and embroidery made by my great-grandmother. And then one day thatumunique little glass bird figurine appeared there. I dont know exactly where it came from, but I suspect it came from my husbands grandmothers house and probably holds some kind of nice childhood memory for him. And all I can say is thank goodness this is the guest bedroom. :)\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nMost of the stuff we save and refinish isnt quite this kitschy, but if you ever come spend the night here, youll repose in a room that will remind you of your great Aunt Helens sitting room, I guess. :)\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nMy husband has a bunch of other salvaged furniture in the process of or waiting to be refinished in his workshop:\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nWith as much as we both enjoy salvaging, refinishing, and upcycling (this word annoys me for some reason it sounds too hipster maybe but you get my meaning), Im almost beginning to think this might be an enjoyable and profitable side business for us. Modern furniture is of very poor quality, which you know if youve bought any made-in-China particle-board-n-veneer crap recently. But older, better-made pieces are often either rather beat up (and not in a cool antiqued way) or badly out of date (and not in a cool retro way). Fixing them up gives good quality items new life for a fraction of the price of new stuff and helps us all extricate ourselves a little more from the anti-family hyper-consumerism that grips our modern culture.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nIll end with one that is awaiting refinishing and mechanical repairs. This one actually caused an argument between Phil and me, as I seriously questioned why he brought this home from his dads old shop before the business was sold last year:\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nYouve got to be kidding me! I complained. What on earth do we need an old, broken refrigerator forh\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nThen I learned from Wikipedia that these models are antiques fromthelate 1920s\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/early 1930s,and you can find them on ebay selling for around $1000. So that pretty well shut me up. My husband is planning to fix it up and is debating whether to sell it or keep it as his beer fridge in his workshop. I told him I voted for the former, upon which he informed me that I dont get a vote in this matter. :)\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\"\\\"\"



http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=sewing+machine