1001 Little Ways to save our Planet!

As you may know, we are big advocates or recycling and reusing (with many of our products being recycled themselves). One of our books in our Ellie Ellie is this little gem: '1001 little ways to save our planet'! 

Some of the brilliant tips inside include: 

- Get Loose: Next time you're in the fruit and vegetable section of your supermarket, put fruit and vegetables into your basket loose rather than automatically reaching for a plastic bag. If you really need one, keep it and reuse it next time. 

- Unplug your Equipment: If your electrical equipment doesn't have a sleep function (not that this is not the same as standby, which uses energy), make sure you turn it off and unplug it when it's not in use. 

- Peg a Wooden Line: For eco-friendly outdoor clothes' drying, make sure you use wooden pegs (clothes pins) and not plastic ones. 

- Draught a Plan: To prevent draughts coming in through external doors, buy a fabric wadding-stuffed draught excluder that lies across the bottom of the doorframe and prevents wind from coming in underneath! 

These are such small steps you could make for a much greener planet, if you do something small each day we can work to create a much more eco-friendly world! 

Have you made any small changes to make the world a greener place? 

For your Autumn Home!

Autumn is a great time to make some changes in your home, putting the cosy blankets back on the sofa and thinking about what you could add for a new season. Upcycling old pieces of furniture is an interesting way to add something new to your home, an old chest of drawers could be transformed into a new TV unit, or an old suitcase could become a bedside table, the possibilities are endless.

This table is made from a piece of tree trunk to create this unique table, perfect for Autumn.

This shelf unit has been made from old crates that would have otherwise been thrown away. If this one in particular is too big, you could create all sorts of sized shelves with the number of crates you have. Alternatively you could create one shelf from just one crate to add some rustic charm to your home this Autumn.

These coffee tables have been made from scrap pieces of wood, cleaned up and made into the tables they look as good as new. Make all kinds of different sized tables for a very Autumnal feel.

If you have a chest of drawers or drawer unit you are thinking of throwing away, think twice.These flower planters are made from old drawers, and could be painted any colour to go with the exterior of your home. If you have bigger draws indoor shelving could also be a great upcycling project!

Recycle Week is here!

We shared these great facts last year on recycling and as it's recycle week this week, we thought we would have a recap on the benefits of recycling. During recycle week see how much of your household waste and cardboard, plastic and glass you can recycle, once you start it will become second nature to do your recycling every week!

At Ellie Ellie, we fly the flag for redesign, recycle and relove, making sure all our products promote a responsible and sentimental lifestyle. We insure all our products fit within our ethos, with our recycled jumbo bags, lunch box bags and rugs being our top recycled products. Our jumbo bags and lunch box bags are made from recycled plastic bottles and our rugs are made from recycled wool.

A lot of people wonder what their recycled plastics and glass gets turned into, here is an interesting table showing exactly how your recycling is used!

Happy Recycle Week!

Our Favourite Pins this Month!

I don't know about you but we love Pinterest at Ellie Ellie, it is such a great place to find inspiration and our Pinterest boards include some great product ideas, recycling ideas and our own gifts that we have pinned.

Here are some of the best pins we've found this month, featuring great ideas for upcycling and redesigning everyday things into something else. All these pins are on our Flying the Flag to Redesign board. 

What do you like pinning on Pinterest?

Find Ellie Ellie on Pinterest!

www.ellieellie.co.uk 

Some fun Redesign!

Commonly known as upcycling, our Redesign part of our Ellie Ellie ethos takes something that's been unloved and gives it a new lease of life with a little TLC! Redesigning forgotten treasures into something new, current and lovable!

Find out more about our 'Redesign, Recycle, Relove' ethos!

Here are some great redesign ideas for turning unused things in your home into something loved and useful again!

Adding crayons to a simple lamp will brighten any room!

These wine shelves made from old palettes are genius and would look good painted too!

Using an old jar as a light fitting adds an interesting twist on a normal light, mix it up with different coloured jars!

Using old maps or atlases for bunting is great for an event or if you want to add a new feature to your home!

Have you redesigned any of your things so they have a different use?

Post Christmas Deco!

Your house can always feel a little empty after you have taken down all your Christmas decorations, your Christmas tree and Christmas cards. Ellie Ellie have what you need this January to put a little bit of sparkle back in your home after the Christmas season! All it takes is a little imagination and some simple things you normally find in your home.

This is a great piece of wall art, made from used corks, just save up your corks, make a backing for the artwork and stick on your corks, you can make different shaped ones too!

A cheese grater is a family staple and can always be found in the kitchen. This light fitting is a innovative way of making use of an old cheese grater and would it perfectly in the kitchen area.

Although this lampshade looks lovely and pretty, it is actually only made from plastic bottles! This is an example of a great way to get creative and see what you can make from such an easy object, your end result may not look like this but there are many ways in could be done to look great!

An ingenious way to reuse an old rake from the garden to make a wine holder for the kitchen! If you had more time you could paint it as well to match it to the decor and colours in your kitchen!

 

This is the simplest way to refresh your home in the new year, clean your old jam jars and add some flowers for the prettiest arrangements with a vintage feel on your mantelpiece or windowsill.

 

What are you doing to your home this January?

Recycled and Upcycled Furniture!

Putting a new lease of life and redecorating is a great way to refresh
your home. There are some great ways to add something new to your home, by using something old and pre loved, which was previously used for something else!

The use of this chair for a new shelf and a place to hang towels is a great way to reuse this piece of furniture, that may have been thrown away or scraped.

There are so many ways to reinvent pieces of furniture that you would otherwise throw away! Here are some great ideas, including this way to reuse an old coffee table for a fun and unique shelf. It would also look great in a bright colour to add more of a feature in a room.

This use of an old shutter for a console table or hall table is a great way to upcycle an old shutter, which could also be used as a great room divider and feature piece for a room. It's simple yet interesting for a room!

Pallets are becoming more commonly used for furniture and storage and are a great way to get a vintage look in the home! This way of using them to display pictures is an innovative way for a feature in the home! They would also be great to store magazines or bits and bobs that would otherwise be lying around the house.

Finally the use of an old ladder, spruced up and painted is a simple way to inject colour to the home and a great addition to a bathroom for towels, or like this for shelving! If you decide to redecorate your home it is easy to paint and remodel to suit any room.

Have fun up-cycling and reusing furniture! A great way to relove a piece of furniture that would otherwise be chucked away!