Spring is coming, flowers are blooming and with them many new ideas to have fun in your garden. If you, like many others, have a garage with a full set of old furniture, tires, containers and plastic boxes, it is now time to pick an intelligent (and green!) way to turn them into wonderful and incredibly original pieces of decor.

So here are 10 DIY ideas to let your imagination run riot and recycle everything you thought you’d never use again, let alone in your garden!

10 DIY ideas for your garden during springtime

1. Lovely wood stools

Wood stools, garden, photo via Pinterest
Wood stools, photo via Pinterest

With a few wood stumps, some plywood and comfy colourful pillows, you can create some lovely stools for your garden. It’s not as complicated as it looks! You’ll just need to place the plywood on the stump to create a base and secure it with a staple gun, then take a piece of fabric and staple it again on the plywood but make sure to leave a hole in the fabric to fill the future pillow with some soft cotton batting.

In this way you’ll have created some original garden stools, which will surely dazzle your guests!

2. An original and colourful coffee table

Garden coffee table, photo via Pinterest
Garden coffee table, photo via Pinterest

Let us guess, you have two spare tires and are thinking about throwing them away? Why don’t you choose a greener alternative and create a brightly-coloured coffee table? Tires are indeed one of the most creatively reusable objects and they are also a great support for tables, as opposed to the usual 4 wooden legs!

Remember to wash the tires properly and then choose the spray paint which will look best with your garden in order to give it a little splash of colour…add a glass plate on top, et voilà!

3. A rustic buffet table for your garden

Table with wine barrels, photo via Pinterest
Table with wine barrels, photo via Pinterest

For your spring buffet, lunch, happy hour or dinner, you can now build a wooden table on your own, something with a rustic but authentic charm, built up by using wine barrels as the board’s support.

In this way you’ll give your garden a simple but sophisticated look and eating outside in your garden will start to feel as if you’d gone back in time, in a 19th century’s fair, among wine barrels and a romantic candlelight.

4. A lawn chair to relax in your garden

Lawn chair, made from an old fruit box, photo via Pinterest
Lawn chair, made from an old fruit box, photo via Pinterest

Who would’ve thought that a plastic fruit box could actually become a comfortable lawn chair? And yet here it is, you just need to follow a few steps to complete the transformation: take a box and make sure it is big enough to sit in it, then wash it and cut one of its edges off to create the “chair-effect”, then finish off by adding some pillows for your legs and chair!

If you want to go a little wilder you can also paint it with some coloured spray, just like we did before with the tires, in order to make your garden look more cheerful.

5. From old milk jug to vintage side table

Vintage side table, garden, photo via Pinterest
Vintage side table, photo via Pinterest

If you have an old unutilised milk jug and do not know what to do with it, there’s a creative and ecological solution for you!

Put together the big jug with a polished piece of wood that will work as a surface for your vintage side table, on which you can put your plants or flowerpots…you can paint it and personalise it just as you like to make it look perfect in your garden!

6. Funny small couches for your garden

Couches, photo via Pinterest
Couches, photo via Pinterest

You don’t need to queue in shops to buy some new couches for your garden when you can easily go for greener and innovative alternatives. By reinventing some unused steel drums, you can create eco-sustainable couches and armchairs, completely recycled from already existing materials.

You can visit Drum Works Furniture‘s website to discover some other ideas of eco-friendly design!

7. An ingenious hanging table

Garden, hanging table, Foto via Pinterest
Foto via Pinterest

If you’re looking for somewhere to put your drinks and glasses of wine on during a spring or summer happy hour, this hanging table/shelf is the perfect solution! You’ll just need to choose a piece of furniture which is not too big or heavy for the tree branch and the magic is done: you’ll have your flying glasses holder!

8. A fully furnished living room at zero cost in your garden

Living room made from old tires, photo via Pinterest
Living room made from old tires, photo via Pinterest

That’s right, with some old unutilised tires you can not only create a small table to enjoy your coffe or play cards, but also some chairs of just the right size to relax and rest a little bit…So basically, it’s an actual recycled living room in your garden!

The chairs’ backrest is made up of twisted threads of different colours and compositions, which you can choose based on your own taste.

9. A swing for your children

Garden, swing, Photo via Pinterest
Photo via Pinterest

A quite creative idea to let your children have some fun: a swing composed of a wooden board and an old tyre (cut in half) to create one of the oldest (but still working) playground games ever!

The process is a little more complicated than the others, but the final result is definitely worth it. That being said, remember not to throw away your old tires because one day they could become a special and DIY game for your kids!

10. Last but not least, a wooden wet bar

Reusing a vintage door as a bar, garden, photo via Pinterest
Reusing a vintage door as a bar, photo via Pinterest

You might also happen to have an ancient abandoned door in your attic or basement, too bulky and out of the way to be reused as a door, but too valuable to be thrown away. What should you do then? Why not transforming it into a lovely wet bar for your garden?

You just need to get rid of the dust, repaint it, add some shelves and let the garden party begin! You can easily serve your guests and choose the perfect setting for your bottles and beverages: would you rather go for a casual or vintage look?

And you? Do you know any other idea of creative recycling for your garden? Leave us a comment below!

Cover photo by Martin Kníže via Unsplash

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Recycling: 5 pallet decorating ideas

8 easy tips to start your springtime balcony


Author: Margherita Potrich

Born in Rovereto, Margherita studies Modern Languages for tourism and business mediation at the University of Trento – Literature and Philosophy Department. The knowledge and use of English in a work environment is her main objective; thanks to Ecobnb she had the chance to combine languages with the emerging topic of sustainable tourism.
More posts by Margherita Potrich →


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