Trash to Treasure DIY — by Guest Mom Lara Fishman

I don't know about you, but for me, Spring brings out the urge to turn the house upside down for a yearly purge. As I'm hauling things out to the curb I have to remind myself: don't be too quick to throw away the stuff you find in your garage — remember to keep your eye out for hidden treasure.

Some of my favorite trash-to-treasure projects so far (pictured above — click to enlarge the pic):

-I turned an old bank door handle that I bought years ago from an online auction into a new towel rack for our guest bathroom. A new coat of nickel plating and presto, it’s good as new.

-I found a group of old lamps from the seventies in storage and were able to revive them as Mediterranean-esque sconces for a client’s bathroom.

-I took vintage Moroccan lanterns and replated them with nickel. One made the perfect hanging fixture for a regal bathroom for a client. The other two were hung in my own kitchen.

-I also love to mix modern and vintage so when I found some amazing old claw foot bathtub pedestal feet, I refurbished them and used them in my master bath. They go really well with the clean lines of the modern cabinetry.

-It’s also relatively simple to take a tired old chandelier and give it new life with a few simple touches.

-And you can easily re-invent something by simply changing its function. I found a vintage Lucite umbrella stand ages ago but have recently started using it in our bathroom as a toilet paper holder.

Are you a trash-to-treasure kind of girl? Any success stories?