Ooops, there it goes again! Another plate fell on the floor and smashed to pieces. How often does that happen in a busy household? Often enough, right? But don’t throw those ceramic chips out! You’d be surprised what pretty objects you can make with them!
In fact, almost any broken household item can be brought back to life in some other form, and reused. It’s a win-win situation – repurposing can be a fun project, an inexpensive way to add a new décor item to your home that’s completely your own creation, and you’ll be keeping things out of the dump and being environmentally friendly. There are so many ways to make broken household items whole and useful again.
Broken Plates and Ceramics
Hope you didn’t throw out those plate fragments! You can use them or any other china or ceramic chips to decorate your plain terracotta planters. Just attach the broken pieces to the planters with strong glue, using a mosaic method. It won’t take long before your planters are an eye-catching novelty décor item for your porch!
If you’ve collected a lot of smaller pieces of plates, saucers or other china, you can toss them together around a tree or bush in your garden, to make much more colourful and unique filler than just some mulch or pebbles. If the plates broke into just a few large pieces, you can glue them back together, and while they won’t be functional at dinner time, they can still adorn the walls of your kitchen. Plates broken in half (more or less) can make a pretty border for garden areas—simply stick the halves into the ground around the flower beds.
Old Tables and Desks
Have you been thinking of throwing out that scratched kitchen table? How about cutting it in half, sanding and painting the halves, and then affixing each to the wall in your kids’ bedrooms? They will serve your kids well as homework desks.
Do you have an old desk that’s just taking up space in the attic? If it has two identical drawer towers, you can cut them out, paint them to suit your bedroom décor, and reuse them as nightstands!
Re-inventing Appliances
If you bought a new washing machine, and the old one is too worn out to sell, there are a few ways you can reuse its parts. The washer drum, for instance, has the perfect shape to serve as a fire pit for the backyard. It might take a bit of work, and you’ll need to use a high heat paint, but what a great way to reuse an appliance part and get a cozy addition to your backyard.
A washing machine drum can also be re-made into an industrial-looking coffee table. It just needs to be covered up with either a round piece of glass or wood. Or, if you need a stool, fill the center of the drum tight with stuffing, or place a round piece of wood upholstered with foam and fabric on top of the drum, and there you have it.
How about a great way to keep on using an old refrigerator, as long as it still functions? Turn it into an outdoor ice chest. Just place it in your backyard, flip it on its side and cover it in cedar wood.
Converting broken household items into new, unique, and useful household items is only limited by your imagination. The trick is to take a long, thoughtful look at the item or the item’s parts and imagine them in another function. For instance, how could you still use bent or broken spoons and forks? Well, they could make a funky wind chime, or herb garden markers. What can be done with a ladder that is no longer safe for climbing? If it’s still intact, it can be hung on the wall as a bookshelf or form the base to a bird feeder.
However, the objects and parts you’re thinking of using for any remodelling project need to be solid and intact. If the furniture pieces, appliances or other household items are seriously damaged and irremediable, it’s best to just call a junk removal company to come and take them to their final destination—the dumpster!
