Sustainable Practices

Upcycling Projects

Being innovative feels great, on top of doing our part to minimize the impact of over-purchasing. Here is an example of a now, one-of-a-kind watercraft carrier and storage solution.

We found this old pop-up tent trailer for sale on Kijiji. It's top had already been dismantled (much appreciated) enabling us to look at the trailer with a fresh set of eyes. We worked up a plan to maximize storage for a canoe, two kayaks and two stand-up boards as well as life jackets and paddles. Finally, a solar powered light was installed as a practical way of working in the darker hours if needed. We had the cedar shingles (which we had purchased very affordably off of another Kijiji listing) and then purchased the lumber and marine carpet. For transporting, we were careful to assure the build design did not exceed road allowance width or height, that all items were securely fastened, tail-lights were working and plated.

Tips for Trying an Upcycling Idea:

You do not have to try something big your first crack at an upcycling project!

Your confidence will build as you experiment, trial and error and persevere. Don't feel like a failure if the first thing you try doesn't seem to work. Often projects like these come over time.

The best attitude is to make it fun but sometimes things will form as a solution out of necessity too and that is also great!

Try looking out of curiosity on Market Place or Kijiji for free items or people wanting to trade. Often people want the help removing something. Where there is a will there is a way. Sharing a project with a few, talented and resourceful people is what works best at times!

We have found free hot tubs, pools and kitchen cupboard doors to name a few that we put to great use either by fixing up to get working again and tweaked to make it our own. If you have the storage space you can keep some things like old furniture and parts as they may find a new home someday.

Free cupboard doors we turned into a hutch and cabinets!

Free 24' above ground pool and all its equipment. We had to disassemble it and transport it. Then when reassembled the side walls were reinforced with cedar wood tops to replace the older, metal ones. It made it smell great when the heat beat down on the cedar!

We bought this camper for $6,000 and renovated its insides by replacing paneling with shiplap, redoing the flooring, painting the cupboards, finding a new fridge (on-sale), changing the ceiling tiles and bringing in furniture, bedding and curtains we'd kept in our garage and basement.

In this upcycling project, we purchased an old hay wagon for $1,000 and turned it into an insulated and wired, mobile bunkie during the COVID. We also reused an older window and patio door set we found on Kijiji, especially since things like this were more expensive during this time. It had a 12 foot ceiling, allowing the option of a bed/loft in one corner but it remained open so that it could be used as desired by a prospect buyer. A guest house, an office space for those working from home at the time, a small gym, playroom etc.. Again we had to design its dimensions around road-worthy regulations.