Up-cycling challenge with Emmaus for recycle week
It is recycle week! Recycle Week (25th of September till the 1st of October ) is a celebration of recycling in the UK. The aim of the week is to encourage the public to recycle more, by demonstrating the benefits of recycling items from all around the home. A few weeks ago Emmaus got in touch asking if I want to be part of their national up-cycle challenge for recycle week. Having worked with Emmaus in the past and knowing what a brilliant charity they are of course I said yes.
Emmaus supports formerly homeless people by giving them a home, meaningful work in a social enterprise and an opportunity to regain lost self-esteem to help rebuild their lives. There are currently 29 Emmaus communities across the country, supporting more than 750 companions (formerly homeless people) in the UK. The main business activity for Emmaus communities is collecting donated furniture and household goods and selling them in their shops. Some items are refurbished, some are up-cycled in stunning new items. I've previously visited one of their workshops where a brilliant crafter turned too damaged to sell leather sofa's in amazing hats and caps. Over the last year, Emmaus communities across the UK have recycled and reused 3202 tonnes of goods. Profits from recycled and up-cycled goods fund their communities and help get homeless people off the streets. You get new items for your home, at a very low price, you safe furniture from the landfill and you are helping homeless people. A win, win, win situation!
Two weeks ago I went to the Emmaus shop in Dover to look for an item to up-cycle for the Recycle Week challenge, have a look at the video to see how I got on.
What do you think? Like the new look of the stool? It definitely got dragged back into the 21st century. I was so tempted by the giant koala though! What would you up-cycle it in? I was thinking rug but would have felt really guilty in cutting him up :)
Have a look again at the before and after.
The stool will go on sale at Emmaus Dover to raise money for their birlliant community.
I love making the fabric scrap rope, such a great project to use up all those pieces of fabric that are cluttering your work table. You can make it in any colour you want, I like using bright fabrics with small prints but the rope would look nice in just one tone as well. Still want to give jeans a try, think it would make a lovely rope for a white stool. The rope is also great for knitting or crocheting, especially for cushion covers or small rugs.
The paint I used is Rust-Oleum's Satin Finish Furniture paint in Cotton. The fabrics all came from my massive stack of cotton scraps.
Have a look at the Emmaus website to see where you closest by community and shop is and pick out a piece of furniture to up-cycle yourself! My stool makeover can be done with any kind of stool you can get your hand on as long as you can take the seating off. Doesn't matter if it is made from wood and fabric like mine or if it has a rattan woven seating. Just cut the rattan off the stool so you are left with just the frame.
Now in its 14th year Recycle Week is a celebration of recycling in the UK. The aim of the week is to encourage the public to recycle more, by demonstrating the benefits of recycling items from all around the home. To mark the occasion we’d be interested challenging you to make something bespoke out of an item chosen from an Emmaus charity shop to highlight the importance of recycling/upcycling.
Curious to see the projects of the other UK up-cyclers? Have a look at the round up over on the Emmaus website.
Are you into up-cycling pieces for your home? Do you like a furniture hack? I would love to see your before and afters to feature in my newsletter.
I'll be back next week with a new episode in my Meet the Maker series, see you then! xx Hester
