Repurposing

If you’re venturing into indoor composting for the first time, use this guide to get a sound start and a superior compost for your garden.

Is your recycling bin overflowing with old wine, beer, and soda bottles? Glass bottles fill local dumps and monster landfill sites all over the world. While households can cut down on unnecessary waste by reusing glass bottles for food and liquid storage, many of us simply have more old bottles than we know what to do with. If that’s the case at your home, it’s time to get creative! Sometimes, simply adding paint, twine, and other decorative craft supplies is all that’s needed to give an old bottle a new look and new life. For the more ambitious, learning basic glass-cutting skills opens up even more possibilities for making the most of those old bottles. Still stumped? Here are 16 new ideas for upcycling your old bottles. Give one a try, or maybe use one as inspiration for creating something uniquely your own!

This fizzy refresher and cocktail mixer has many surprising uses beyond the bar. Here’s how club soda can simplify your household cleaning and maintenance routines.

The next time replacing the batteries in an appliances leaves you with a couple spent ones in your palm, you might wonder, “what do I do with these now?” The answer isn’t always straightforward. Read on to learn how to properly dispose of all the different types of batteries you might have in your home.

Houseplants aren’t particularly picky about the containers they reside in—so long as their roots have enough space and water can drain properly, they’re set to be happy campers. So why settle for the standard clay pot? Don’t limit yourself! Take a look around your property, and you may find one of these unexpected items to remake into your own unexpectedly creative planter.

The refurbished items will be restored to their former glory, and sold at a fraction of their original price.

Have your online orders left you with more cardboard boxes than you know what to do with? Once their contents have been gifted, don’t recycle the boxes—put them to good use instead.

Practical, flexible, and customizable, the room divider is one of the unsung heroes of the home design toolkit. An attractive version can add textural interest to a bland space, define living and sleeping zones in an open loft home, or disguise a cluttered corner in any room. Want to divide and conquer your space? Check out these inventive, wallet-friendly room divider ideas to DIY or buy.

Declutter your home without adding more trash to landfills with these creative upcycling ideas.

Certain household items are so commonplace that we scarcely notice them anymore. But it may be time to take another look at some everyday household staples—like plastic wrap. That kitchen mainstay can be pressed into service in many different ways, doing double-duty in everything from paint preservation to wine rescue. Here are just a few innovative uses.