13 Ways to Reuse Wood Pallets

Wood pallets are so abundant that you can pretty much find them for free anywhere in the country.  Look on Craigslist under the free section, or drive by some companies and you'll find them stacked on the road with a "free" sign attached.  I've even heard of some businesses paying people to take them away!  While all that free wood might not be the highest quality, with a little imagination and hard work, you can take those pallets and make them into something worthwhile.

DIY Adirondack Chair

Arctic Plank is a company that designs high quality flooring and furniture using 100% recycled wood pallets that would otherwise be destined for demolition.

Find out how to make your own Potting Bench from Better Homes & Gardens

Pallet Table by French Canadian designer 

Another amazing design from French Canadian Designer Steph

Here are some fairly basic instructions for a  DIY Wooden Pallet Shed

If you have enough space in your home you can build a Home Theatre

Save money and trees by building your own Outdoor Furniture

Make a cute Doggie House  for Fido

Make this Vintage looking Door from old pallets and an old door frame

This bed is a more refined way to reuse pallet wood

I love this simple idea for a Bottle rack 

Here's another one a bit more complicated, but so cool for the wine lover!

Using Recycled Shipping Containers as Housing

I've been seeing a lot lately about recycling old shipping containers into living spaces. It's hard to imagine living in what is essentially the back of a truck, but with some architectural engineering and interior design, what once was just a steel box, becomes a sustainable home.  This one is an orphanage in New Jerusalem.   Stack a few on top of each other, at different angles to create depth and complexity, and you almost forget you're looking at containers.

This Student Housing complex solves the problem of housing many students in close proximity to each other.

Build a Costa Rican Home for under $40,000.

 Container City in London.

When the employees are done working for the day, they can close up this Coffee Shop...literally!

SEED  is a project that aims to provide emergency housing to people that have been devastated by natural disasters.

Recycled Egg Carton Egg Holder

For those of you that buy your eggs fresh from a farm, here's a great idea for carrying and stashing your eggs.  This beautiful egg holder is made from newspaper and, wait for it.........a recycled egg carton!  Who woulda thunk?  Ingenius!

Egg Carton Fairy Lights

Most everything we buy comes in some sort of packaging.  Be it toothbrushes, cereal, soap, shoes, even eggs...the average person gives little thought to what it comes in.  They open the package and discard it. Why wouldn't they?  It's not the package they're buying, it's the item inside. It's understandable. It's a necessity of life.  We couldn't just have eggs flying around the back of shipping trucks without something holding them in place...that would be a big slimy mess!  So we have egg cartons, to get them safely from one place to another.

But have you ever thought about the amount of garbage you accumulate simply from packaging?  I know that's the majority of my trash, and I think about it every time I have to take it out, which unfortunately is a lot.  Why not do something creative and useful with some of the packaging, therefore creating less waste and more art?

Hence, egg carton fairy lights.  This is a great idea for Christmas,  a little girl's room, or even for a porch or veranda.  I put mine up for Christmas in the kitchen and they produced such a beautiful glowing light at night, that I never took them down.  Here's how you do it:

Egg Carton Fairy Lights

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The materials are simple...all you need are egg cartons, scissors, and a hole puncher! And of course, some LED Christmas lights.  Important: make sure they're LED because other types of lights may produce heat, which could be a fire hazard.

 

This particular egg carton had 6 eggs in it, so it will only make 6 fairy lights.  If you have a strip of 50 or 100 Christmas lights, you will obviously need to make more.  I used a strip of 100, but only covered every other light, so I made 50.  Cut each egg "holder" into separate pieces.

After they're cut into separate pieces, cut and shape them a little more so they look like flowers.  Then use the hole puncher to punch holes in whatever pattern you see fit, to let more light shine through.  Make sure you poke a hole through the top so you can slide it onto the light. 

And there you have it.  Egg carton fairy lights.