50 Brilliant Upcycling Projects From HGTV Stars

Repurposing a Mason jar as a drinking glass is nifty and all, but have you seen a midmod concrete planter repurposed as a sink? Be inspired by our stars’ cleverest ways of making sure nothing — seriously, nothing — goes to waste.

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February 01, 2022

By: Lauren Oster

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The Life Changing Magic of Cycling Up

It’s tough to top the thrill of seeing a worn-out piece that’s bound for the scrap yard and realizing, with a MacGyver-like tweak, that it’s perfect for your home. (Home Town's Erin and Ben Napier, seen here dreaming up a second act for gorgeous wood, know it well.) If you’ve ever hummed “The Circle of Life” while wandering through an architectural-salvage yard or paused to admire a beaten-up barn that’s weathered just so, these something-old-is-something-new transformations are for you.

SEE MORE PHOTOS: 18 Upcycling Projects We Love From 'Home Town'

Wonder Wall

Hidden Potential’s Jasmine Roth hung on to the 60-year-old boards and studs she blasted through to open up her clients’ home, and those materials became a one-of-a-kind, midcentury-inspired piece of art that honors the home’s bones.

California Character

This antique door is a perfect example of how effectively vintage materials amp up the personality of cookie-cutter spaces. Refitted with a custom-cut piece of wired glass, it’s a full-fledged focal point in the kitchen. (Who knew a pantry door could be a focal point?)

See More Photos: 30 Ways Jasmine Roth Takes Homes From Cookie-Cutter to Custom

A Build for Baby

To outfit the nursery she and her husband built for their baby girl, Jasmine headed to the “hoarder’s paradise” that is the Long Beach, California, flea market and purchased a truly massive collection of vintage crates. She used them to create “imperfect perfection” with a built-in storage wall that frames a floor-length mirror (which just happens to be a perfect place to take photos with her daughter).

SEE MORE PHOTOS: Welcome Home, Baby: First Look at Jasmine Roth’s Nursery

Tools of the Trade

With decorative paper and a box frame, Jasmine turned pulleys and casings unearthed during the demolition phase of her renovation project into one-of-a-kind assembly art.

Inside Out

Restored by the Fords' Leanne Ford gave her clients dramatic new patio access with subterranean treasure. For a cool $30, she scored this trio of once-junky doors from someone who found them buried on an estate in Ohio. She and her brother Steve rebuilt, weatherproofed and repainted them, and, voila: a design moment.

Power Planter

This sculptural concrete piece began life as a garden accessory; it’s a Willy Guhl hourglass planter, designed to ornament outdoor spaces half a century ago. In Leanne Ford’s world (and her patient plumber’s hands), it’s a powder-room sink. Your move, MacGyver.

See More Photos: 20 Times Leanne Ford Went Gloriously Green

Cottage Cool

Leanne Ford made the most of her clients’ attic collection of vintage farm equipment by turning a tub accessory into an industrial-chic guest bathroom sink. If you’re starting to get the feeling that just about anything can become a cool sink with a little imagination, well, Leanne would agree with you.

Grate Expectations

Good Bones' Karen E. Laine went all out on upcycling in the guest house she and Mina Starsiak Hawk built in her backyard. Its crowning glory: A lacy quartet of salvaged grates that found new life as a framed-out custom railing for her second-story loft space.

Signature Ceiling

This new build has the feel of a classic continental farmhouse, thanks to humble, reclaimed barnwood installed on the ceiling beneath a series of exposed trusses. Inspiration for this showstopping look came to Karen as she gazed upward in a yoga class in an actual barn — proof that (day)dreams can come true.

See More Photos: Mina Starsiak's Best Design Ideas for Every Room

Demolition Trophy

The third score in Karen’s upcycling hat trick: A sink she plucked from a doomed kitchen in a house she and Mina flipped. Reglazed with a coat of fresh white enamel, fitted with new, oxidized hardware and framed with dramatic quartz countertops, it’s now her own kitchen’s handsome centerpiece.

From Church to Brunch

As Boise Boys Luke Caldwell and Clint Robertson might say, a good day starts with a good breakfast ... nook — sourced from a decommissioned house of worship. Luke rescued this 20-foot pew and tasked Clint with turning it into an eat-in kitchen’s spacious new banquette. Miraculous, no?

Historic Headboard

Drew Scott psyched out his sibling for the master bedroom in his Brothers Take New Orleans build by borrowing heavily from demolition discards on Jonathan’s side of their shotgun house. In Drew’s master suite, reclaimed wood frames the bed, then climbs all the way up the wall and halfway across the ceiling. Why not go big when you’re paying tribute to a home’s past?

See More Photos: Brothers Take New Orleans: Bedroom and Bathroom Transformations from Drew and Jonathan Scott

Imaginative Island

Drew’s haul from Jonathan’s side of their New Orleans project was so significant that he had plenty of well-weathered wood to create a paneled kitchen island as well. Upcycled paneling like this both adds character and can make a project much more affordable. Large slabs of new wood for an island like this one could have cost a pretty penny, but Drew got his statement-making material for free.

Reclaiming the Mantel

Lest you think Drew Scott acquired all of his raw materials from his brother’s New Orleans renovation project, let’s pause before his new mantel. He sourced this post from a home being rehabbed down the block. That’s a move worth mimicking in spaces where old material might not be available. If you see neighbors discarding building material, don’t be shy about asking for permission to salvage their stuff.

Trash to Treasure

Plucked from a dumpster and given a place of honor on the wall beside the front door, which was also reclaimed, the trumpet Drew Scott used to accent this living room is a fitting symbol of how New Orleans and the people who call it home find creative new ways to flourish.

Striking Countertop

Home Town's Erin and Ben Napier gave this ostensibly traditional Mississippi kitchen a quirky secret: This custom island is topped with wood salvaged from a bowling alley. (Spare material, as it were.)

Sitting Pretty

The bench in this foyer has history, but it isn’t the history you might expect. It’s a Ben Napier original, crafted with wood he salvaged from another part of his clients’ home.

See More Photos: 18 Upcycling Projects We Love From 'Home Town'

A Cut Above

Consider Erin Napier’s homemade kitchen accessory motivation to hang on to outdated cookbooks. While their recipes might not whet your appetite, they can become a clever and easily assembled knife block.

Second Draft

One could easily imagine an architect in this office, given its compass-inspired floor lamp, the baskets of blueprints on the floor and, of course, the drafting table. One could also imagine a musician there, since Ben Napier crafted that drafting table out of his clients’ damaged (but still beloved) upright piano.

Gourmet Leftovers

Erin Napier chose to replace the solid knotty pine paneling on this kitchen’s walls with crisp white subway tile and paint, but she didn’t let it go to waste: Ben stepped in and used the lumber to create the base of a bespoke island with both seating and a sink.

Now You Cedar

This Mississippi property lost an outdated carport and gained a breathtaking outdoor entertainment area when the Napiers arrived. They added a striking new pergola to the space using vibrant cedar they reclaimed from other parts of the home.

Into the Groove

Erin and Ben created an expansive new open-plan kitchen in their clients’ home by removing extraneous interior walls. Then they gave the space a gorgeous new floor by repurposing the tongue-and-groove pine they salvaged from the walls.

Splitting the Difference

This kitchen’s massive butcher-block island was far larger than it needed to be, but its materials fit the bill perfectly for what Erin and Ben Napier had in mind. Ben divided the wood and created two new, far more functional pieces: the table in the breakfast nook and the much-more-manageable island beside the sink.

Artistry in Industry

Could this be the loveliest propane tank of all time? Erin Napier envisioned a fountain with a massive metal bowl for this outdoor space, but new materials would have been prohibitively expensive. The Napiers’ friends split a decommissioned “spaceship tank” in half with an acetylene torch, and thanks to the magic of upcycling, Erin was able to realize her plans.

Rural Material, Urban Flair

Windy City Rehab’s Alison Victoria created a functional feature wall for this Chicago apartment unit by reconfiguring planks of barn wood reclaimed from a farm outside the city. These shelves and nooks are perfect for a space with a small footprint, and because they’re so shallow, a little lumber goes a long way.

See More Photos: Alison Victoria's Top Transformations

A Day at the Opera

This Chicago home now has transcontinental curb appeal, thanks to an out-of-the-box addition from Alison Victoria. The property’s double doors feature a dramatic gold frame that looks like it might have come from an Italian opera house because, as a matter of fact, it did.

More Than Doors

The delicate glass walls between this Chicago home's sitting room and kitchen demonstrate modern possibilities for salvaged, arched doors. Alison Victoria combined the vintage wood with all-new construction to create a high-contrast room divider that both embraces and updates the historic space.

Modern History

The dark stain and blocky silhouette of a vintage hutch would be an odd sight at eye level with the otherwise-airy cabinetry and tile in this Chicago kitchen. A dark and blocky vintage hutch repurposed as an island, on the other hand? Alison Victoria's design magic.

Something Old, Something New

This family-room addition is a century younger than the home attached to it, but a well-deployed antique gives it a similar sense of history. Alison created a floor-to-ceiling fireplace surround to complement and extend the impact of an intricately carved wooden panel.

Family Legacy

In creating this custom toy box for a little boy named Kingston, Ben Napier both built an heirloom-to-be and made sure the past would be present in this room. His construction began with wood he repurposed from furniture that had belonged to Kingston’s mom and late father.

Beginning a New Story

Ben also had history in mind when he created a gathering place for the same family. This solid-wood dining table — featuring an ingenious, integrated lazy Susan — is composed of lumber repurposed from the other side of Kingston’s family (that is, the wood shop that belonged to his stepfather’s granddad).

Warm Welcome

Though the front door that offered access to this now-cheerful family home was swapped out for a more vibrant piece, it’s still an essential element of the entryway. Ben reimagined it as a bench to greet newcomers, complete with hooks and cubby storage to add functionality.

A Little Goes a Long Way

This contemporary kitchen with playful industrial touches demonstrates that you don’t need a warehouse full of finds to create a significant piece with repurposed lumber. Karen E. Laine tapped a specialty woodworking shop to create a picnic-style dining table and benches with reclaimed-wood faces and stylish, heavy-duty iron crossbars.

Details, Details, Details

Karen and Mina used simple picture-mounting hardware to turn this trio of salvaged ceiling medallions into a whimsical wall installation. Look closer and you’ll see padded burlap at the center of each medallion: these objets double as diminutive pin boards for the kitchen.

Bloom Where You're Planted

High contrast, picket-fence-inspired paint and a bit of elbow grease were all it took for Karen E. Laine to turn these wooden pallets into budget-friendly raised garden beds.

Express Your Shelf

We’re willing to bet you’ve never seen a contemporary farmhouse space quite like this one. John Colaneri and Anthony Carrino of America’s Most Desperate Kitchens thought outside the open-plan dining area and turned a gorgeously weathered vintage barn shutter into a shelving unit. They then flanked it with short rakes that perform double duty as quirky wine-glass racks.

Farm to Table

John and Anthony created a rustic, super-functional room divider for this open-plan kitchen and dining space by wrapping a custom peninsula with antique barn wood. It complements the home’s exposed brick and beams, provides bar seating and serves as a one-of-a-kind frame for the cooktop and stove.

Study Break

Rehab Addict’s Nicole Curtis rescued this down-at-the-heels desk from obscurity and repurposed it in a new and much more glamorous setting. Paired with a mirror, indoor furniture can have a stellar second act outside.

Winning Combination

Nicole highlighted elements of this Minnesota mansion’s story by using an antique safe she found in the basement as a fanciful occasional table for the study. The perfect period-appropriate accessories? A classic desk lamp and an Underwood typewriter she found at an estate sale.

Personal Views

Why splash out an array of floating frames when you can create a much more dramatic (and budget-friendly) look with once-unloved windows? Nicole salvaged these pieces from another construction site, then filled them with family photos to create a display for the dining room.

Gourmet Flourish

Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent of Nate and Jeremiah: Home Project repurposed an antique to give this farmhouse kitchen a gorgeous finishing touch. The space is too small for a full-sized island, but a long, narrow table suits the room perfectly — and can be whisked away to another part of the home if the family needs more square footage right here.

SEE MORE PHOTOS: Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent's House Reveal

Main Ingredient

When the right sink finds you, you find a way to bring it along. Case in point: Leanne Ford stumbled across this old-school beauty in Pittsburgh, then trucked it all the way to Los Angeles to crown her own Echo Park kitchen.

SEE MORE PHOTOS: Leanne Ford's Echo Park Cottage Tour

Barn This Way

Leanne texturized the white-on-white bedroom in her Echo Park cabin without overdoing it on visual weight by mounting distressed vintage windows on barn door slides to provide closet access. Gauzy white drapes shield the closets’ contents from view and pair beautifully with the frames. Brilliant, no?

SEE MORE PHOTOS: 20 Ways Leanne Ford Got Creative With White

Raising a Glass

Steve and Leanne hung on to a mirror they displaced during renovation, then aged it with chemicals and installed it in a sleek wet bar. This dramatic DIY demonstrates how an already-handsome piece becomes an absolute showstopper with well-deployed leftovers and a bit of technique.

Easy as Pie

Leanne whipped up a one-of-a-kind gallery wall by displaying well-loved family recipe cards in assorted floating frames. An eclectic installation like this one standardizes ephemera that can be tricky to corral — and the less-is-more plexi allows plenty of graphic wallpaper to peek through.

get the how-to: How to Frame a Favorite Family Recipe

Family-Night Favorite

This graphic vintage game table would be an MVP as is. With custom notches courtesy of Jasmine Roth, it’s the perfect fit for a quartet of stools that double as storage bins. The strategic takeaway here? It’s worth your while to reconsider a piece that already works well, as a clever tweak here or there could level it up.

See More Photos: 30 Tips for Creating a Family-Friendly Living Room

Sleeper Hit

Listed Sisters Lex and Alana LeBlanc gave this Nashville bedroom a dash of rustic character with a reclaimed-wood headboard. A DIY like this one delivers maximum visual impact without calling for pro carpentry. Wall-mounted and trimmed with a simple frame, these refinished planks come together in no time.

Strong Showing

Erin Napier outfitted her client’s entryway in the industrial style he favors with an assist from his home gym. This piece began life as a weight-lifting bench. Paired with a gleaming gold floor lamp and a rich, intricate runner, it’s now a quirky perch that happens to be especially handy for racking up bags.

(Almost) Effortless Texture

On Flipping Virgins, renovation pro Egypt Sherrod helped her newbie partners save on materials by creating a feature wall with 5’8” milled boards. They deliver all the visual interest of thicker mixed oak planks (which cost three times as much), and their limited depth makes them simple to affix with a nail gun.

Instant Chemistry

Behold, a single piece that packs a novel’s worth of backstory into an itty-bitty footprint! Leanne Ford infused her clients’ cottage with classic country charm by combining a medicine cabinet, mirror and wash basin to create a spectacular vanity and sink. This powder room couldn’t be sweeter (or quirkier).