For fun: Redneck Inventions.

My fiancé sent this You Tube link to me and I couldn't resist posting it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgDCCI_g9WY
This video is about a redneck's way of rethinking and reusing!

Repurposing mason jars...

I don't mean to be such a DesignSponge junkie, but I found another great repurposing idea on the site: making lights out of mason jars. (http://www.designspongeonline.com/2008/06/diy-project-whitneys-mason-jar-lights.html)

The link above offers do-it-yourself steps to turning mason jars into lights. The idea is to hang them in a cluster.

I also think it would be a great idea to put candles in the mason jars and cluster them somewhere outside--maybe hanging from tree limbs or porch rafters. The same concept as the overhead lamp, but using candles instead of bulbs.

Company Profile: Knack in Greenville, South Carolina.

For full disclosure, I found out about Knack Studios from DesignSponge. I followed the DesignSponge link to www.knackstudios.com where I discovered that it's a Greenville, SC-based studio. I lived in Greenville for two years so I fell even harder for Knack. (To the left is a snapshot of Knack Studio's Barb Blair's desk.)

I contacted Barb Blair to learn more about her work and below are some of her favorite pieces. I cannot wait until I can get back to Greenville and visit her at Knack Studios. Her work is based entirely on repurposing and refurbishing objects. Please visit http://www.knackstudios.com/ for more information or visit the studio at 1207 Pendelton Street, Greenville.


This dresser retails for 395.


















The desk (to the right and below) retails for 425. It's one of Barb's favorites. She found the desk with those funky legs and refurbished it. She painted it, added knobs and papered the top.








This bright orange piece is, to quote the artist directly, "truly Barb Blair." She loves "the cohesive coverage and the mix of modern and vintage. Clean lines." This retails for 525. The wire chairs are 175 each and the driftwood chest with diamond knobs is 425.

From TerraCycle: Reincarnating Wine Barrels

My uncle sent me something interesting not too long ago: an article about reincarnating wine barrels.

A company in Trenton, N.J., called TerraCycle has started recyling beautiful, hand-crafted wine barrels into composters and rain barrels. The winery Kendall-Jackson is their biggest supporter. The repurposed barrels are avialable in stores such as Sam's and Home Depot for around $100.

The article is avilable in full on Wines and Vines' site: http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?section=news&content=55644#


Pictured above: A rotary composter on the left and a rain barrel on the right.

Trash to Treasure: Shutters as art.

A friend of mine repurposed red shutters that she found on the side of the road as wall art! I'm sorry I don't have a better picture. The photo to the left is of one of two red shutters that hangs on either side of a window. Obviously the cost of repurposing these shutters is zero. Zip. Zilch. The hardest part is finding them!