Ashley from Make It and Love It needed a solution to her cell phone charging situation. Since she had to plug it in at night, she left the cell phone on the floor, which meant “those phone cords seem to be everywhere.”

Since she couldn’t buy the right holder, she made her own out of a lotion bottle. All it took was cutting the right shape out of the bottle and covering it with fabric.

I love when people use material they would otherwise throw away to solve their problems.

Following up on Monday’s post about turning an old TV console into a dog bed, Better Homes and Gardens suggest you turn an old side table into a dog bed. From the site:

Pamper your pooch by building a bed made from an unused side table. Remove the top and doors, then cut away any support pieces. After sanding rough edges, apply a fresh coat of paint that will complement your space. Finish by placing a fluffy dog pillow inside.

Like with the TV console, this project uses a piece of furniture that proliferate thrift stores, the octagon side table. You know, one of these:

I have often eyed those tables and wondered what you could do with one. Now I know.

Adrian at Fried Okra bought this old TV console for $4. Personally, I wouldn’t know what to do with it, but she turned it into this nifty dog bed:

What an original use of an outdated piece of furniture–and quite a conversation piece, too. [Unconsumptiom]

I feel dumb. I’ve been looking for a scooper that Mr. Savvy can use for scooping grain when brewing beer, when all this time I could have just used the top of a large bottle. Real Simple suggests a bleach bottle, but a one-gallon milk jug would also work.

In addition to these four ways to store plastic bags, you can also use a coffee can to store plastic bags.

Finally, apparently you can use the top of a water bottle to seal a plastic bag. Cut the top off the bottle, fold the plastic over it, and screw on the lid for an air-tight seal and easy pouring. (I’m not sure it works with thicker plastic, however.)

Ahh, there it is again on my front porch: the phone book. Talk about an antiquated business model. I haven’t used a phone book for ages.

I tried to opt-out of getting a phone book, but the company wanted my e-mail to do it, which seemed like it was inviting even more hassle than simply getting rid of the phone book in the first place. So here are 10 Ways To Reuse A Phone Book:

1. Recycle. Remove the plastic and stick in the recycling bin. Done.

2. Fire starter. Like newspaper, you can use the phone book to start fires in the fireplace or a grill. You can even make it into a log.

3. Mulch. Some people use phone books as paper mulch, although I have had bad experiences with this method.

4. Make A Bow Topper. Great for a gift.

5. Use As A Cutting Mat. If you are doing projects with a lot of cutting, the phone book makes a good mat to absorb the extra cuts.

6. Make Paper Beads. Ever tried it?

7. Use In Paper Crafts. The phone book can be used for papier-mâché, oragami, or decoupage. Some people even carve it as a book sculpture.

8. Make An Envelope to send in the mail.

9. Use As Packing Material. Cushion packages using crumpled up phone book pages.

10. Make a lamp like this one.

What do you do with your phone book?

This Cardboard Chandelier tutorial shows you how to turn a cardboard box into an awesome light fixture. Download the templates, cut them out in cardboard, assembly, and paint. Just make sure to use a cooler LED lightbulb to avoid it becoming a fire hazard. [Unconsumption]

There is no end to bad paintings in the thrift store, so artists Chris McMahon and Thryza Segal decided to add some monsters in them. The results are awesome:

I want one.

NPR has a story about a company, JBI, that is converting plastic to oil. They have a machine called the Plastic Eating Monster, which takes “thousands of pounds of shredded milk jugs, water bottles, and grocery bags,” melts it down, vaporizes it, and turns into a usable, standarized fuel.

The company has been getting the plastic from dumps all over the United States, thus reducing the amount of plastic in landfills. In addition, the plastics used are low-quality, dirty, or mixed-plastic types, all plastics that are not usually recycled in other circumstances.

This plan sounds financially viable to me–it costs JBI $10 to produce a barrel of oil, which they can then sell for about $100–but many are skeptical whether converting plastic to oil in this way helps with the bigger issues of our mass consumption of plastic. Certainly, cutting back on plastics is a good place to start with this issue, but I also like to see these kinds of common-sense innovations taking place.

What do you think?

Check out these cool lamps from Evil Robot Designs. They are made from old toys.

Toys from movies and cartoons like Star Wars, Mr. Incredible, Shrek, and He-Man are arranged sculpture-style around the base of a lamp and then finished with a high-gloss paint. Pretty cool. [notcot]

I often see cool vintage canisters in antique and thrift stores and wonder what to do with them. Well, TOMT turned them into a cool kitchen light. Great DIY inspiration. [Unconsumption]