Crafting at the Hardware Store
One of my favorite places to visit for inspiration and ideas is my local hardware store. I love hardware stores because it’s a great place to find raw materials that have yet to be imagined or used for an intended purpose. A LOT of my upcycling projects seen in my books have started with trips up and down the aisle of the store… like this hose clamp found in the plumbing section became….
Wine cork trivets… just fill, tighten, use.
White tile just under $1 a piece….
Faux bois coasters using just porcelain glaze (from Michaels) and a wood graining tool…..
Sheets of plexi glass (they look frosted now because of the protective sheet on top) can be bought in pairs and pressed leaves or artwork can be placed in between two panes. Seal the edges with metal binder clips and you’ve got instant art!
Leaf silhouettes from my book Upcycling. These are just two plexiglass panes and metal binder clips…
And this guy. I know it’s for something to put outdoors to vent something (HELP ME HERE), but I think inverted, it could be a great pendant light fixture in the home…
Outdoor seating or side table! A metal pouf. I wonder if it was inverted it would be good for composting because the vents would allow for air circulation.
Danny – that wind turbine roof vent can vent any pipe connected to it when the breeze blows! So eco-fabulous.
I sealed and insulated the low crawlspace under my kitchen, but dug a trench and added perforated pipe and gravel in the dirt before I sealed it. One pipe is left coming out of the ground in the crawlspace, and I hope to vent it up an interior wall to the roof and add one of those awesome wind turbine roof vents so I can naturally exhaust radon and soil gasses and moisture from under the house and keep it out of the basement.
The stack effect will pull the gasses and moisture up on it’s own, and when the wind blows it will be a bonus.
Loretta