During the month of January, we'll be posting photos and tips on DIY renovation projects from our readers. The first twenty submissions posted will receive an AT bib or T-shirt. Please click here for all the details.
The lesson here- the next time you're about to toss something- be sure to think about whether or not you can use it for something else- maybe a fun project for the kids. That's just what this reader did, and look how great it turned out.
Your city and location: Ghent, Belgium
Details of your project (what you did, materials used, how long it took, level of difficulty, etc.): I turned an old wooden towel rack into a puppet theatre for my two year old son. Whole project took about 2-3 hours over the course of a weekend.
The towel rack was left by the previous tennants in the house we rented, but didn't look good because the wood had suffered from too many wet towels. I was going to throw it away but then thought of a different use for it. I turned the top part of the rack from vertical to horizontal position. I then took out the three middle bars with a small hand saw.
I fitted an old piece of plywood and painted it with chalkboard paint (two coats). I attached the plywood to the towel rack with 6 screws.
I dyed some left-over fabric red (two old 'hydrofiel-luiers') and sewed on the felt flowers to add some color.
The curtain rail is a thin metal bar from the hardware store, which is held in place by two screw eyes and two wooden beads (one on each side).
Your best tip: One: Recycle
Two: Make things that can be used for different purposes (e.g. chalkboard + puppet theater)
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What a great transformation of a towel rack! And now your son has two toys - a puppet theater and chalkboard easel. Very cool!
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