1. Old Clothing/Donations turned Throw Pillows:
Before: outdated clothing
Nostalgic clothing took up space in boxes banished to the attic. (But how we once adored that Mexican embroidered shirt!)
Before: Broken dishes, After: Patio flooring
Tumbled pottery bits with rounded edges are sturdy enough to walk on and settle nicely on the ground. Their vivid colors and patterns lend a playful note around a blue Concreteworks lounge chair(510/534-7141) in a San Francisco garden designed by Shirley Watts.
Before: Shipping pallet, After: Outdoor table
Shipping pallets lurk everywhere: abandoned behind grocery stores, stacked in the corners of big-box parking lots. Bay Area bloggers Matti Salomaki and Megan Speckmann decided to remake a piece of this suburban flotsam into something useful—and beautiful. Taking apart a pallet, they constructed a tabletop from its boards, coated it with natural wax stain, and attached legs they’d found at a garage sale. And the genius touch? A living table runner that consists of a sunken, succulent-filled box (complete with drainage holes) secured to the table’s underside. Succulents grow slowly, don’t mind being packed in like sardines, and need only occasional watering (which is unlikely to cause the wood to rot). We can’t think of a better addition to an eat-in garden.
