On the Suggest an Item page, Wendy recently explained:

We recently bought a new mattress after our Sleep Number bed (piece of junk, don’t get one) malfunctioned. We’ve saved the frame, which is made of black plastic and a lot of the cloth-like stuff that went around the air part. I was wondering if anyone had some nifty ideas for using this stuff. I am considering using the frame for raised beds or even a sand box.

If it’s how I’m imagining it, I’d make it into a raised bed — heck, I’d make just about anything into a raised bed at the moment. I get a bit obsessed about finding things I can grow stuff in at this time of year. If you already have enough bed space (you lucky duck!), it might be suitable to use as a frame for climbing plants – or if it’s light, you could cover it in clear plastic and make it into a giant cloche/row cover.

(Last time we asked about mattresses, someone posted a link to this radical recycling article – how to use every bit of an old spring mattress. It might be a bit too much for most people but I love the idea of a spring trellis.)

Any other suggestions? Any non-gardening ideas for people less obsessed than me? ;)

After a month of frantic renovation (which is nowhere nearly finished but a lot of the dirty work is done), we’re finally moving into our new home today – hurrah!

Until the weekend, we’d been focusing on the renovation stuff – pulling down ugly fake walls, cleaning out sooty chimneys and ripping down plasterboard in preparation for damp-proofing work (the last thing resulted in the discover of a secret new room, it’s sadly unusable without a lot of expensive work so we’re leaving it for now) – and so hadn’t given much thought to the finer points of today’s move, such as working out where all our stuff is going to go.

We’ve got a giant (120cm/4ft square) frameless mirror above our fireplace in the living room here (acquired from a shop changing room refit apparently) and I think it will probably be relocated to above the fireplace in the dining room of the new house – but I think its lack of frame will look odd there.

How can I make a frame using recycled materials and/or repurposing other stuff?

My first thought is to try something make from reclaimed wood because the fireplace’s mantelpiece will be an old building joist – I’m not an expert woodworker but willing to give it a go. Heh, actually, perhaps I should make a frame using my existing craft skills and knit one ;)

Any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Gayle:

What can I do with a picture frame now that the glass has broken? It would be cheaper to buy a new one than replace the glass but I don’t want to throw it out because it’s nice!

I’d keep it around for use with pictures or other pieces of artwork that stick out a bit too much to fit behind glass – for example, my Cats in Slacks picture (I’ve got Gordon, in dashing mustard slacks) needs a bit of breathing room because of the button, and Lego designs need loads of space.

You can also use them to store/display jewellery or take the old Friends approach, and use it around a spy-hole on a door (or a light switch etc).

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by qute)