Turn clutter into something useful - Upcycle

One thing I love about my career is that I get to work with creative people.  As you can imagine, when I work with a creative person, we both bring valuable ideas to the table (mine usually being function and efficiency oriented).  

As a green organizer, I like to find new ways to use old things. You can imagine how many times I have used a bookshelf as a toy storage unit or used a dresser as a scrapbooking center.  Truly innovative ways to turn clutter into useful or beautiful things (i.e., upcycling) is fascinating to me.  
According to Wikipedia, upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.  I found this photo on Facebook, someone used slides (like the kind we had back in the 1980"s that people used in projectors) and made a window treatment!  Pinterest.com is awesome for upcycling inspiration.  If you don't have an account, I highly recommend you get one.  

A word of caution: only hold onto waste materials if you have a defined project in mind and time set aside for the project on your calendar, otherwise it just adds to the clutter.  

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