Design^Sprout | Your Guide to Green Design

Shipping Palette Sofa - Fab Idea!

The creativity behind this romantic sofa is inspiring and super chic. Made from two discarded shipping palettes, an old door, casters and covered with vintage pillows. Gorgeous! (source:apartment therapy)

Steal This Look! The Design Stylings of Suzy Hoodless.

    London superstar Suzy Hoodless is rising fast among the design elite - as you can see by these pics - for good reason! Her fearless use of recycled finds, clean lines and local sourcing of materials makes her someone we can feel good about emulating! I scoured her site for inspiration that I can bring into my own home without paying her hefty (ahem..clearly, deserved) price!

   These shadow boxes are actually a cinch to make and an be pretty affordable. Grouped together they have such an impact! Check out directions here.

     Using an easy-to-find lamp kit - you can turn anything your little heart desires into the light of your life. Lowe's has some pretty simple instructions here.

   For only a couple hundred bucks you can turn your precious photos into museum worthy attractions. There are a ton of spots on the web that do it - I like Artisico.

When You Have Nothing But Time...

     Yeah, it took two weeks. Yeah, it's completely useless. I don't care. I love this totally handmade, plush Nintendo system. Designer blueblythe from Craftster dyed the recycled felt, hand-sewed and embroidered all the details.  She even made interchangeable Duck Hunt and Super Mario screens for the television. Altogether, one of the most enjoyable wastes of time I've ever seen.

DIY - CD's Are For Suckers

   Finally, the moony, jr. high  mix-tapes you've been carting around in a dusty, old shoe box all these years (yes, I speak from experience) are reborn as an oh-so-hipster coin purse!!!  FreePepper from Craftster came up with this clever repurpose DIY and I am loving it. At last, Bel Biv DeVoe sees the light of day!

A Cute Idea

     What a great way to display your kids' artwork! The bright drawings give this stark white wall a much needed pop of color while putting your budding Picasso on full display. Best of all...it's cheap, cheap, cheap! Flexible, wire curtain rods, like the those pictured, can be found at Ikea for just $4.99.

DIY - Make your own darling thumbtacks!

     Thank God for creative people with time on their hands because these fabric-covered thumb tacks are the cutest little buggers I've seen in awhile. Jessica Jones, crafter extrodinaire, from the blog How About Orange came up with this DIY tutorial (below), proving to us laypeople that it does in fact take a special talent to turn 1/4" of space into a work of art. Thanks Jessica! You tiny-fingered genius you!

Start with a pack of "Wedding Gown Size" (size 20, 1/2") metal buttons to cover (available at fabric stores for about $1.50). Pull the loops off all the button backing pieces with a pliers or wire cutter. Cut your fabric scraps into circles slightly larger than a quarter, or use the circle template printed on the back of your button package. (Since the edges get tucked in under the metal backing, you don't have to be a careful cutter.)

Following the package directions, use the "pusher" tool that came in the pack to cover your buttons with fabric. This step is easy and the most fun! Then use a generous amount of hot glue to attach a tack to the back of your button. A standard tack should fit perfectly. Your cork board will thank you.

POST SCRIPT: You can buy buttons to cover that have flat backs so you don't have to yank off the wire loops! Get some here at J Caroline Creative. I did NOT know this when I made mine. Shoot. Could have saved myself some work.

You can check out Jessica's FANTASTIC blog here!