* I almost gasped when I picked up the newspaper last night for my habitual Sunday night “not-now-mommy’s-reading” time.  Was that an album bowl I saw, like the ones I made one year with 99-cent-record-albums purchased from Goodwill?  But, no!  These were “designer vases,” specifically ones based on a design submitted by Fulvio Bianconi for Paolo Venini back in something like 1949 (as I learned after a little sleuthing), and selling for a whole lot more than 99 cents!

* Granted, they’re not exactly the same as my record ones (which I filled with candy kisses or coins, as pictured, and gave as gift bowls, not vases) but c’mon, ya’ gotta’ admit, the record bowls are good.  See how to make them here.  They are one of my very favorite “recycled” projects yet.  (Okay, it’s time, once again, to show my favorite chair–made from recycled mass transit signs.) (And, no I don’t have one.)

* Another one that makes me say “cool!” is this shirt-hanger side table. (Look sideways at it and you’ll see the hangers.) Seriously, don’t you just love the ingenuity of this?  I found it on a blog named Apartment Therapy.

* Recycling old objects around your home into something new is not only fun, economical, and good for the earth, but it helps you to have a totally original decor.  Here’s a terrific example–a book shelf made from your own old books–not only is this clever, but it communicates your taste in books at the same time.  I found it on a blog which, by the way, has emerged over the past year I’ve been writing this blog as my number-one favorite home design and decor blog–Inhabitat.  (If you have books to donate, by the way, drop them in a Better World Books drop box or, if you don’t have any near you yet, take them to Goodwill–and pick up some record albums while you are there!)

See more clever,unique recycling ideas here (don’t miss the bathtub couch). Find interior decorators on Kudzu who can help you express your personality, and painters who can give you just the right “backdrop” for your artistic touches.