Innovative uses for ordinary household items

Find extremely creative uses for ordinary household items that give your home a rustic, homely but contemporary feel.

As a crafty homeowner, you'll pride yourself on your DIY skills. It's a good icebreaker for family and friends visiting your home, to be able to tell them about your interior design and show them your home projects, whether that be a beautifully painted mural wall or even just simplistic but stylish decorating.

Items used in a innovative manner can really get your guests admiring and shaking their heads – finding extremely creative uses for ordinary household items that give your home a rustic, homely but contemporary feel.

The ideas are limitless, but here are a few to get you started:

Egg basket for your bathroom

You can find plenty of small, cute and super simple egg baskets to store things. Consider tying a rope and hanging it from the neck of your shower head, or using one of those S-shaped hooks. It makes for a little shelf that's minimalistic to store soaps and other products.

These are also great to store toothbrushes or rolled up facial towels. Display at an angle on your sink next to the soap dispenser, and keep the rest of your bench free of miscellaneous items.

The wire frame also prevents a build up of water and soap scum, so that there is no slimy residue from a continuously wet surface. It'll help to declutter your bathroom, especially if you have large shelves or leave your shower products on the floor.

Just make sure that the metal is stainless steel and won't rust – that won't be a good look!

Pair with neutral, pale colours like Resene Solitude or Resene Half Sea Fog, which Houzz explains will make your bathroom appear more spacious than it actually is.

Fancy shower cap to protect your fan

Whether you like it or not, your fan collects dust. On the blades and on the metal grill, it's extremely annoying, hard to clean, and can affect anyone with asthma in your home.

When your fan is not in use, invest in a fancy shower cap to stretch over your fan, preventing a build-up of dust over time. It's also a very inexpensive way to spice up the look of it, and possibly even tie it into your interior design if you find a shower cap from the same colour palette as your home decoration.

You'll no longer be faced with meticulous cleaning of each nook and cranny when the hot seasons roll around, and can leave it to sit in the corner of your lounge looking fancy and stylish.

Old dishware as candle holders

Every renovation calls for more candles. You can never have too many, and while they make your house smell lovely, they also make for great decorative items.

However, it's a big pain when wax drips out everywhere, so you'll need a holder, which, paired with candles, can turn out to be more than your bank account is willing to part with.

The great thing is, you can recycle old and unused dishware from your cupboard. Small saucers are great to catch wax drips, and MyHomeIdeas.com even suggests using wine glasses.

They don't have to be super decorative and embellished – you can make your own!

On a flat tray or even a few thick layers of newspaper (and preferably in either a well-ventilated or outdoor environment), spread out a thin layer of Resene Gold Dust. Roll the edges of the saucer around in the paint until you've got a nice border of gold. Don't worry about pristine paint lines – the rough, uneven border just adds to the creative appeal and makes a unique item for your home.

With the glass, upturn into the paint to coat the rim in gold. This repurposes your simple wine glasses so that they're not just ordinary drinking vessels anymore. Fill with a little bit of sand, place a tealight candle inside, and voila! Your very own stylish candle holder to set the mood for a romantic home cooked meal.