Up-cycle, Reuse, Repurpose

Growing up my grandpa had an old shed. The shed was filled with coffee cans full of old nails, nuts, bolts, and screws. There were old motors from trackers torn apart, extra wood leftover from building fences, and many other odds and ends. I remember the big table saws he had, as well as the giant hand crank drill, and a large vise. I would beg him to tighten the vise as hard as he could, so I could try with all my might to loosen its grip. The shed had a dirt floor, was dimly lit, and was full of spiders, which I hate, but I have very fond memories of summer days spent inside the shed making things out of the scraps.

Anthony’s story is similar. He remembers spending days watching his grandpa work in his wood shop. There were many days he spent time on job sites pulling old nails out of scraps of wood. Riding around from site to site learning to use tools to build a variety of things. The scrap bin was in the wood shop and it was a place to find treasure they could use to make arrows for their homemade bows.

Our grandparents lived through the depression and because of that nothing was taken for granted.

My grandparents had a big garden that fed all of us throughout the summer. It gave us canned and frozen vegetables that lasted through the winter too. When spring came around we started picking strawberries to slice and freeze or make freezer jam. There were Sunday’s where the whole family would go to grandma and grandpas house early in the morning to pick the corn and then spend all day preparing it for freezing. In late summer we would go pick green beens everyday or every other day so that we could can green beans for a month. Yes it was a lot of work, but it was worth it once winter came. Just in case it was clear before, we spent a lot of time with our grandparents. They were an integral part of both our childhoods and we am blessed because they were there.

Now you’re probably wondering what grandparents have to do with up-cycled projects. Coming from a family full of people who save, reuse, and repurpose we learned that old things aren’t instantly trash. Grandpa used old wood, old nails, old screws, and whatever else he could repurpose to make things. In todays society we replace things as soon as they get old or outdated rather than trying to fix them. If our phones are a year old and haven’t been upgraded people are shocked. Our landfills are overflowing with partially used items or items that weren’t made to last. Admittedly products aren’t built to last anymore. So anytime I can find a way to repurpose or up-cycle something I jump at the chance.

Thystle Design prides ourselves in up-cycling and reusing use old pallets to create things. We have made signs, planters, a mail holder, a yard flag, and of course clocks.

Sometimes we use the wood from pallets that is in great shape and other times we use the more broken beat up pieces. The mail holder included a piece that was broken in half. From the moment I saw the way it broke I was inspired to create something instead of just throwing the piece away. The broken piece is my favorite part of mail holder.

Recently we also repainted an old cabinet to make it into a cute working table.

On Friday last week Anthony came home and ask me to come out to the truck to help him. He told me that he found a new project for us so I figured it was more pallets. I paused making dinner and went out to the truck to find that he has 4 wooden spindles in the bed of the truck. They have been turned into chairs at some point, but they are getting old.

For year now I have wanted some old wooden spindles and now we finally have some. We are excited to up-cycle these and repurpose instead of throwing them away. Next time you’re thinking of just throwing something out take a second look, maybe it can be repurposed.

Thanks to our grandparents for teaching us to reuse and repurpose. Our lives are more full because of what they passed down to us.

The old saying is true. “One persons trash really is someone else’s treasure.”

Until next time...keep on creating!