Making your own home décor items is definitely on trend. Whether you have a beach house, rustic styled farmhouse or live in modern or industrial styled houses, making one-off unique home décor pieces are sure to be a winner in your home.

One of my favourite things to do is collect unwanted furniture and odd unwanted homeware items. It’s not as tacky as it seems – I promise!! Last year I started my own business doing exactly that. I love revamping undesired objects and transforming them into exciting new pieces for the home. I’ve listed some great Christmas gift ideas that you can make easily from your own home. Plus, you will be helping the environment by saving unwanted items ending up in landfill. Who knew Christmas shopping could be made so easy!!

A Colourful Wooden Pot Plant:
I found this pot the other day and decided it badly needed a makeover. I took it home and gave it a quick sanding to remove oil stains. I undercoated it with a paint primer for two reasons. 1. To block any previous oil stains that may pretrude through the finished paint job after time and 2. To help the paint better stick to the pot, especially as the pot may be kept outside. (For an easier option you don’t have to prime the pot, but it will make the paint better stick and oil stains not to show over time.) Plant a gorgeous happy plant inside your new pot and you have the perfect outdoor gift idea.

A Beautiful Shell Stack
My mum was throwing away this old pasta jar and I asked her if I could instead keep it. I cleaned it thoroughly with hot soapy water and glass cleaner until it looked like new, then filled it with beautiful shells. Take care in arranging the shells to show off their best features, as all shells are different. It would make a truly unique gift idea perfect to display in a beach home.

 

Beachy Table Centrepieces
What else says ‘beach-house’ better than a beachy table centre piece of shells, sand and beach materials? Deep bowls make the perfect table centrepieces. The white bowl below has a beautiful shell arrangement inside. Similarly, the image of a shallow heart shaped container has simply been re-filled with small shells. The little glass round pot has also been complied with shells of the same kind. Bowls, open trays and shallow containers can all be reused to make the best unique table centre-pieces that certainly are cost-effective.

 

Succulents
Succulents make the best gifts. They are easy to look after, indoors or out and look great in any home. Get creative by planting these little shrubs in bright colourful pots, bowls or jars. They look great with colourful pebbles placed on top of the soil. Have fun with them!

 

Funky Ladders
A raw timber or painted colourful ladder is the perfect addition to any home. I cleaned up this first ladder using a scrubbing brush and soapy warm water. After leaving it to dry for a day, I placed it inside my home and dangled a beautiful shell hanging I made from the top of it.

This second ladder I also cleaned in the same way, gave it a very quick sanding, primed it, then painted it with a couple of coats of a natural sandy beige coloured paint. Ladders make the perfect pieces indoors or out. They are great hat, bag or scarf stands, are fabulous towel holders in bathrooms or can even be placed outdoors near a pool to make the perfect towel or sarong hangers. Ladders are very versatile home decor pieces!

 

Scented Jars
WARNING: Collecting old jars and filling them with beautiful things can become addictive. Not only because jars come in all different shapes, sizes and colours but they make great cost effective home décor pieces. I collect jars like the one below and fill them with yummy scented air perfumes and wooden skewers. You can buy the perfumes for next to nothing, but they often come in small jars with tacky labels. Having the perfume in a bigger jar allows the perfume to better dispense nicely throughout your home. And who knows, the small tacky jar might make the perfect decorative shell jar for a bookshelf for similar display.

 

Scented Candles
Who doesn’t like a refreshing smelling candle burning in their home. Here’s a couple of inexpensive gift ideas any female is bound to love. Firstly, if you can find any one-off unique little trays, shallow containers or deeper bowls that you can use these to make the perfect tea-light candle holders. You can fill these with pebbles, sand or shells and place in the centre a yummy scented candle. Scented candles are quite cheap to buy these days especially from market stalls.

 

For more home decor and restored furniture ideas, check out my website 

Have fun and feel free to share any ideas that you come up with!