#upcycling

#upcycling

Traveling to different home trade shows is a big part of my job, and sometimes it's hard for me to fully turn my editor brain off after a day of scouting new products and design trends. The fallout? I'm always looking at my surroundings and snapping photos of clever decorating ideas I see "in the wild." And what I mean by that, of course, is that every restaurant, museum, hotel, store, and so on has something to share.

It was an overwhelming first time at the bins, but also fascinating to see how they process donations and get everything into those big blue bins. While thrifting has always been popular, it seems to be having a major moment right now, especially among a certain demographic. Inside the outlet, also called "the bins," items are not organized by size or color on racks or shelves.

Stroll into nearly any Italian restaurant in the country and you'll likely get a glimpse at a row of oddly shaped bottles sitting in the oft-forgotten back bar. Those bottles contain grappa, a spirited sip most often enjoyed after a lengthy dinner when belts start feeling tight, when diners recline in their seats taking lazy last bites of half-eaten desserts.

Paper milk and juice cartons are great for starting seeds because they are waterproof and strong enough to hold soil. You can cut the carton in half or make a window on one side, fill it with potting mix, and plant your seeds. Home Baked Bliss recommends cartons for bigger or fast-growing plants. When you're ready to move your seedlings, just cut off the bottom and plant the whole carton in the ground to protect the roots from pests.

Name: Divorce rings. Age: Relatively new. British Vogue is reporting that they are a thing. And if it's in Vogue the chances are it's in vogue. Appearance: You know, they go on a finger, generally made of metal, might include a gemstone or two. So, not unlike an engagement ring, or a wedding ring? Physically similar maybe, but ideologically different. Because it marks not hitching but unhitching? Not just marks, but actually celebrates. It's fun rather than miserable, jewellery designer Annoushka Ducas told Vogue.

If you're a true whiskey fan, you may have pondered what you could do with a used whiskey barrel. Specialist artisans called "coopers" painstakingly craft whiskey barrels, which then become vital drivers of flavor, aroma, and color for the whiskey. These barrels cannot be reused for bourbon in particular, though they're often repurposed. Other distilleries use them to age other spirits, and breweries use them to mature beer. But these long-lasting barrels with their rustic aesthetics also make their way into bars and restaurants as furnishings, which may get you thinking about how cool a whiskey barrel would look in your own home. If that's the case, you'll need to know how to actually procure one.

One of our favorite kitchen trends to follow this year is the shift away from minimalism toward personalized, eclectic style. That means mixing and matching vintage and modern kitchen items, layering assorted textures, adding pops of pattern and color, and leaning into more unique expressions of your preferred aesthetics. Not only will this approach make you happier to be in your kitchen, but it can be its own new hobby.

Did you know that the National Sleep Foundation recommends you replace your pillow every one to two years? This may not seem like long, but pillows go through quite a bit of wear and tear. And because you rest your face on them, they can accumulate quite a few unpleasant things like saliva, skin oils, makeup, dead skin cells, and yes, even dust mites and mold.

At first glance, these lamps appear almost impossibly delicate. Strips of fabric hang like fringes around drum-shaped modules, creating a textured exterior that filters light into something warm and inviting. But look closer and you'll notice the clever engineering at play. Each module starts with a metal frame fitted with a 3D printed cover, which becomes the base for hand-weaving reclaimed fabrics. The result is a lighting element that feels both handcrafted and high-tech, a sweet spot that's increasingly rare in contemporary design.

The world's first upcycle timber high-rise and Denmark's tallest timber tower, TR, is a 78-meter beacon of circular construction, showing that large-scale architecture can combine reused materials, biogenic resources, refined aesthetics, and high performance without compromise.

Here's something you don't expect to sit on: surgical masks. Nearly 10,000 of them, to be exact. But that's exactly what Design PY created in Hong Kong's Tai Kok Tsui neighborhood with Tidal Stories, a spiraling urban installation that quite literally traces where the ocean used to be. The concept is brilliant in its simplicity. Tai Kok Tsui was once a coastal area, but over a century of land reclamation pushed the shoreline further and further away.

A spacious backyard can be a relaxing sanctuary, but turning it into a functional, beautiful space often feels expensive. With creativity and strategic planning, you can renovate your backyard on a budget, creating an inviting oasis without breaking the bank. Keep reading to explore cost-effective ways to revamp your backyard, blending practicality with charm. Plan with purpose and repurpose Start by envisioning your ideal backyard-whether it's a cozy seating area, a veggie garden, or a play space.

Perhaps you've placed an order and they're standing right outside your front door. Shiny. Pretty. Insulated bags loaded with yummy items. Silvery plastic padded bags are increasingly common in when food delivery and pick-up services for refrigerated and frozen items. While they seem to work nicely for delivering frosty food, the empties deserve attention. We're doing just that. We're featuring useful ideas for repurposing them as well as focusing attention on how they factor into the plethora of unnecessary plastic waste.

"There was barely any storage, the tiny fridge was inconveniently low, and the overhead cupboards blocked a lot of light," Allan says. "The layout didn't make good use of the space, and the dark ceiling just made it feel more closed-in. It felt like a room that could work really well with the right updates. It just needed a complete rethink."

I always stop by the as-is section before checking out, and most of the time I can find like-new items of what I already have in my cart,

Because fragments vary in size, shape, and color, the final design is nearly impossible to replicate. The second is quality. Many fragments, especially those sourced from demolition sites, come with flaws. Rather than see these issues as limitations, van Dievoet embraces them, allowing constraints to shape the work. "Creating from materials that have already been used forces me to take into account their shape, thickness, and any breaks," she explains.

But mostly I craved the bedrooms, specifically the four-poster beds, where I would brush out the braids of my many sisters after the Netherfield ball. There was such a sense of dignity to the four-poster bed, such elegance. It was a world of its own, in which you could pile on and gossip and sleep beautifully, long locks stretched across a pillow.

This was not your usual fashion show. First, I've rarely seen a more exuberant bunch of models all unpaid volunteers living their best lives. Second, everything was secondhand, from a charity shop called Second Life in East Sussex. And third, half of it was sold that day, even the damaged pieces. Second Life's annual fashion show, held over the summer, is just one of the creative ways the shop keeps its harder-to-sell clothing out of incinerators, landfill and developing countries' illegal dumps.

Start by cleaning the container (any size works) to remove any trace of milk or juice, then cut open the face of the container to create the planter. Fill the space with multi-purpose compost, preferably peat-free, pressing the soil down to compact it and create a flat surface. Sow your chosen seeds densely on the surface and spray with water, gently but thoroughly enough to soak the soil completely without washing the seeds away.