Reduce, Reuse, Luxcycle Series - Part 1 - Home Sweet Soul

Reduce, Reuse, Luxcycle Series - Part 1

Reduce Reuse Luxcycle

Your guide to UP-CYCLING and RE-PURPOSING items around the home

July 2022

Have you ever gone to throw something away and thought, 'This is too nice to throw away, but I don't know what to do with? In our brand new series we will take a walk through our homes and highlight all the ways we could reuse, repurpose or upcycle more of the items we have laying around, rather than just throwing them away.

1- Cover your furniture

  Give your bookcase a new lease of life with the addition of a roll of wrapping paper. I cant be the only one who has bought too many rolls of a design in the sales and now I'll never get round to finishing it. Using wrapping paper is a cheap (if not free) way to transform your bookcase from 'meh' to ''marvelous'. But on't stop there, take a look around your house. How about that plain looking chest of drawers or those floating wall shelves? The possibilities are endless.... In fact I think I feel a 'how to' video coming on, hmmm another one for the to-do list I think?

2- Upcycle old boxes

  If your are anything like me you have more shoes then Imelda Marcos (Google it Millennials x) Well, those shoe boxes can often make a great storage option for around the house. The unsightly logos or brash colouring on the boxes however is not so great. Rather than paying a pretty penny to get matching storage boxes, why not you cover all those shoe boxes with wrapping paper and you'll have all the matching boxes you could ever need (Find a great tutorial here- http://www.iheartorganizing.com/ 2013/05/dj-jazzy-jen-and-fresh-shoe-box.html)

3- Transform loved books and folders

 This one is a personal favourite of mine. There are many reasons why you might want to cover your books with wrapping paper. Maybe it is a well loved book who's cover has seen better days., or a book you want to disguise. Or maybe like me you abit obsessive about matching items and can see the sheer beauty in at set of books or ring binders on your shelf in complimentary patterns. Whatever the reason wrapping paper will do the trick. 

4- Frame It

   Wrapping paper comes in so many wonderful designs nowadays, they are a work of art in there own right (We should know !) Lets be honest the gift wrap can often be as nice as the present itself, so if f you have some wrapping paper you can't bear to part with, why not just frame. Picture here is the latest addition to our new 'Abstract collection'. See more in our store.

5- Handmade gift bags

   If you you are really feeling crafty when you need to give the next pressie to the special someone, why not make your own gift bag. A gift bag made from left over wrapping paper could seriously up your gift giving game with the additional benefit of eco credentials. It's a win-win.

6- Homemade custom envelopes

   Not up to doing a whole make your own gift bag thing? That fine, why not try an envelope or at the very least an envelope liner instead? They are super simple to do and there are scores of how-to videos online (no pun intended crafters)

7- Use it again for another gift

Afrocentric wrapping paper   In a more and more 'waste not- want not world ' It's now not only acceptable to re -gift, but also to re-wrap. When opening our presents, the thrifty ones among us, try not to rip the wrapping paper in the hopes of reusing it again. You can also be extra thrifty as see if you can make a matching tag from it too. 

 

Hopefully we've given you some ideas on how to make your gift giving go further. Please take some pics and share them on our socials - We'd love to see your creations. Thank you for reading Part 1 in the 'Reduce, Reuse, Luxcycle' series, keep an eye on emails for Part 2 soon. This was such a fun topic, I think there will be some tutorial videos on the horizon (We'll keep you posted)

-Much love from the HSS Team x

 

 

 

 

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