Trash To Functional Treasure : Upcycle Part 1

by Kimberley's Joy

6 Materials

4 Hours

Easy

Driving through my development several months ago I spotted a weird shelf like thingy on the side of the road. I had to stop and inspect it, as soon as I did I knew it was very salvageable and had to come home with me.

Upon further inspection I realized it's original purpose was to hang wet clothes on then fold up when not in use. Cool concept! Several key pieces were broken which I assume is why it was discarded. I considered fixing it and using it for the same purpose but it's much too big for my home plus It's very heavy!

I decided to take the "accordion" components off, clean up and repair the main piece and repurpose it. The result is a Beachy shelf with hooks great for Florida lifestyle ie: hang bathing suits, towels and beach bags near a pool area, dressing room or bathroom.

I still have many pieces left and will show you in part 2 and 3 how I used some of them.

Accordian Drying Rack Bed Bath & Beyond

This is what the drying rack should look like. When I found it the hooks were corroded and the accordian was broken in several places.

I completely took it apart then sanded down the surface and filled in any holes.

Dry Brushed Surface w/Craftsmart Sailing Sky

Once the surface was sanded and cleaned I applied Craftsmart Sailing Sky with a large dry brush

Drying rack after cleaned, patched & painted

This is a picture of the piece after the accordian was removed. I patched the holes, gave the entire piece a sand then cleaned it well.

I painted the hooks with Craftsmart Silver paint and dry brushed the body area *the part I wanted blue* with Craftsmart Sailing sky

Two 8x11" pieces of paper taped

To create a graphic I taped two 8x11" pieces of paper length wise then folded it in half

Two 8x11" pieces of paper taped and folded

I then folded the paper at the taped area and drew the outline of a sea turtle.

** Note, I technically only drew half **

Then I cut along the edges of my drawing; once opened it was a full sea turtle template

Sea Turtle Template

Doing this gave me the flexability to determine if the size and placement were to my liking. Once it was I gave the middle area of the template a little pressure which made the tape adhere just enough to stay in place when I traced it with a pencil.

The Turtle outline in pencil

I simply traced the outside of my graphic very lightly with pencil. Originally I was going to do a pattern inside the graphic but opted for a solid bright green.

The components of my bright green

I settled on a solid bright green which I created by mixing Craftsmart Bright Yellow and My Studio True Green. The ratio was about 70% yellow to 30% Green

Finished Turtle

Sometimes less really is more. My original plan was to do a lot more detail on the turtle but I really like the simplicity of it this way and decided to just leave it.

Varathane oh how I love thee

Whenever I apply paint I let it dry then seal it with a few coats of Varathane Polyurethane Spray. Once that's dry I apply even coats of Varathane Polyurethane with a disposabe foam brush.

In the past I found my painted areas would smear when poly was applied first with a brush.