We are so happy to be back from our little break!
We’ll be posting soon about our first show and display booth from President’s Day Weekend. Until then, here is an item that we had in our inventory at the Bay Village Antiques & Vintage Show.
It is a fairly simple DIY / up-cycling project, and such a great idea:
How to upcycle a birdcage into a desk organizer.
Karen found this old birdcage, you know where… on a tree lawn!
Karen stores many ideas in her brain (way too many for me to ever remember) so when she picked this birdcage up she knew she would make a desk organizer out of it.
SUPPLIES:
- Spray paint.
- Wooden dowel rods. These can be bought at hardware stores or local craft stores like Pat Catan’s.
- Pieces of scrap wood / plywood. Or you can purchase a sheet at your local hardware store and they’ll cut the pieces to size for free – Karen has Bob, I have the lumber guy at Lowe’s 🙂
- Decorative items to embellish—flower, ribbon, etc.
TOOLS:
- Staple gun, glue gun, wire cutters, handsaw.
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Thoroughly clean the bird cage and remove the bottom pan.
- Spray paint the cage, let it dry overnight.
- Use wire cutters to cut openings on one side of the birdcage and remove the bottom pan, leaving the back and sides in tact.
- To create ledges for the wooden shelves, cut the dowel rods to size and create a groove on the ends so the birdcage wire fits snugly into the grooves. Use glue (Gorilla Glue or a glue gun) to help secure the dowel rods to the wire.
- Place your pieces of wood on top of the dowel rods; Karen painted the plywood white. You probably want to slide the plywood pieces into the birdcage before you add the dowel rods so you can fit the pieces of plywood into the cage
- Use a piece of wood to create a base for the organizer, we recommend a thicker piece of wood. The base can be attached with a staple gun.
- Add a decorative touch to the top with flowers, ribbon, etc.
The final result is a pretty way to organize and display your desk items!
Our friend Rochelle bought this desk organizer at last week’s show. She took it home and sent us pictures of her newly organized desk items almost immediately!
We love the way it looks!! Thanks, Ro!
Linked up here: Funky Junk Interiors
Birdcage Desk Organizer (Sold)
Happy Salvaging! -Kathy & Karen
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What a great idea and so beautiful!!! Thank you so much, now I will be on the lookout for old birdcages!
Thanks! We’re on the lookout for some more birdcages too 😉
Wow, absolutely beautiful, and goes so well on top of the table. Makes the two of them very elegant. Found you on SITSgirls…… Have a great day.
Ray recently posted…My First Concert Ever!
Hi Ray, Thanks for the compliments. We’re always happy to see fellow SITS girls! We’re following your blog BritishMumUSA.com on Twitter now 🙂
Wow! I will never look at a bird cage the same , again! This is such a creative and cute idea. Thanks for sharing. Found through Sits Girls.
Kim
Kim recently posted…No-Sew Burlap Easter Bunny Pillow
Thanks, Kim! I felt the same way when my sister, Karen (and partner in Salvaging), finished this project 🙂
How chic, clever, and cute! I love it!
Found you through the SITS girls Pinteresting party! So much fun!
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom recently posted…I Think I’m A Hypochondriac
Hi Jennifer! Thank you! My sister Karen actually worked on this project and I was impressed myself 🙂 Now I find myself constantly searching for old birdcages. So happy to have you here from SITS…all SITS girls are always welcome!
I was so thrilled to find this! Paper management is my downfall, and I have a pretty birdcage that I inherited from my aunt, so this is a win-win! Thanks so much for the great idea, and the chance to use something meaningful to me.
Hi Kimberly, we love to inspire people to recycle and upcyle but it’s always better when the item actually has meaning! Good luck with your project. If you’d like to share, we really like to see a pic! 🙂
Wow! Love it! What a neat idea. Never would of thought of making a birdcage a desk organizer. It works though, looks really pretty, and holds a lot of stuff. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Linda. Now we’re always looking for bargain bird cages to make more 🙂