Re-purposing: A new concept

Well, it's a newer concept to me, at least putting it into practice.  I am such a non-hoarder (or it that anti-hoarder?) that I usually get rid of things that have have no purpose in their original state; I never kept anything long enough to really think of a new way to use it; I also am not really creative in this way.

But one way in which the blog community has really inspired me is how so many people take something old, unused, discarded or ugly and make an amazing, useful piece of something of it.

I have to work on cleaning out the stuff in the basement: get rid of it, store it, relocated it, get it out of the way, move it.

Some things are easy : Goodwill or dump it is. 

yes, that's a golfball; no, I don't know why

Other things are harder. I've hung on to this umbrella stand for years; my Pop-pop made it (and you can read more about him here).  I was trying to figure out what to do with this, really in a useful way, as opposed to just sitting empty, since we don't really have a lot of full-sized umbrellas around. 

And then I was putting this away, trying to figure out what I could buy that would keep these contained....and Voila! Two ideas collide into space again.

A new, modern, funky wrapping paper holder was born for my office.  I'll come up with something to contain the scissors, tape and other accessories (probably some leftover fabric), and I'll have a really cool wrapping station that won't take up much space. 

Thanks Pop-pop for the inspiration!

Here's more inspiration photos, just for fun:

stacked benches turned shelves



ladder turned plant stand



old table, cut in half, turned into hall table

door turned headboard