Reuse. Reduce. Recycle. 
A strong mantra here at Eco Coach House.
Upcycling basically takes something old, tired or a bit broken and transforms it into a beautiful, purposeful item. With a new lease of life, it's put to use instead of being thrown in a landfill and also saves resources in making something new.
At the moment, when most of us are at home, it can be greatly rewarding and satisfying to save an old piece of furniture etc. and it can kill a bit of time.
My recent upcycles...
Garden cloche.
This rather beautiful cloche started its life as a greenhouse door. It was then up-cycled into a cloche by my grandad probably about 30 years ago (although the sides were still all different lengths). As the years went by, the panels broke and it was eventually forgotten about and became slightly buried at the bottom of my parents garden... until now! We've saved it and given it a revamp.
This probably would have cost £100 or more to buy new... we got it for the price of some new screws, hinges and some perspex we had spare.
Raised beds.
Firstly, please excuse my Dads Santa beard...
So, these aren't my raised beds - they're my parents (Jenny & Clive). But it's still a good example of how to take old and unused things and magically transform them into something amazing!
These raised beds started out as the old stable doors of The Coach House. When it was converted into Sarah's little home, they unfortunately couldn't stay. Instead of getting rid of them, my parents had a "lightbulb moment" and put them to very good use.
To expand their garden (and save bending down so much) they were upcycled into raised beds. The only additions needed here were some L-brackets to hold them together and a liner to protect them and extend their lives. These are pretty huge (approx. 1.5m x 1m x 0.8m). I can't find an exact price comparison online, but it looks like it would be upwards of £500! Now that's quite a saving.
Obviously I know not everyone will have the materials, time or the space to do big projects like this one, which is why I've included one for everyone below...
Jars.
Now I know this doesn't sound very exciting, but stay with me.
Pasta sauce, olives, jam. They all come packaged in lovely, reusable glass jars. But what do you do with the jar once you've finished the contents? Probably pop it in the recycling bin. Don't get me wrong, I do love recycling! But why not head over to your local plastic-free refill shop?
Jars are the perfect thing to fill with pasta, rice, nuts, seeds... the list just keeps going!
If you don't have a local refill shop by you, buying pasta etc. in bulk and decanting them into glass jars heavily reduces your plastic consumption - so this really is one for everybody (plus it's cheaper too!)
Make sure to tag us in any of your own upcycling projects on social media - I'd love to see them.
- Lydia
@eco.coachhouse
