Nikki Rock of Butler redid a room of her home in brown paper bags. The bags were cut in various shapes and sizes, soaked in wallpaper paste, stuck to the wall and, once dry, painted. She got the idea from a TV craft show.

From recycling bags to salvaging tractor parts, some homeowners put a new twist on old finds. What's old becomes new again, and what is used gets reused with these unique decorating ideas.

Grate Table!When the Petrus family purchased a home to renovate in Zelienople, they wanted to keep portions of its history alive. They refurbished an old heating grate and converted it to a coffee table.“The idea was actually my husband's and he just thought of it as we pulled it from the floor,” said Madeline Petrus.The coffee table is now part of their everyday furniture and sits perfectly on an antique Wilton rug.“We had it sandblasted to remove all of the old paint and then had it spray painted,” said Petrus.The family has been using the table for 20 years.“People often comment on it and like it because it is fairly unusual, but very few people realize what it is until we tell them,” she said. “There aren't many of them left in floors anymore, so many folks have never even seen a grate like it still in a floor,” she added.The family also used pieces of blue broken glass they collected in the backsplash in their kitchen.

Nikki Rock of Butler decided to try a new twist on wallpaper. She reused brown paper bags in a unique way to give a room in her home a southwestern look. She saw the technique on a craft show and decided to give it a whirl.“I collected brown paper bags and just tore them into all sizes and shapes. I took each piece and placed it into a bucket filled with thinned wallpaper paste,” Rock said.After it was soaked, she placed it on the wall.“When I wanted texture, I crunched up the pieces or smoothed them to fit where I wanted,” she said.After a 4-foot section was done, she coated it with wallpaper paste and then painted it after it was dry.“Everyone who sees the wall is amazed and totally surprised,” said Rock.She and her husband collected southwestern pieces and the wall coloring showcases their finds.“My husband had an aunt who lived in Arizona and created a lot of pottery. We needed a place to display what we had and these walls are very stucco looking, very Native American. I painted the ceiling with clouds. It has a very calming effect,” said Rock.<BR><BR>

The Campbell family of Winfield Township also give new life to old finds.“My husband (Dave) has always saved old things and then he started to reuse them,” said Carol Campbell.A general contractor, Dave Campbell often has access to items that are being replaced.“When someone would throw away stuff, he would look at it and think ‘This is cool' and save it,” said Campbell of her husband, who started by bringing home old milk bottles that he had dug up while excavating.“I thought it was a great idea. Little did I know that it was just the beginning,” she said.When an antique hot water heater was up for scrap, Dave decided it was just too cool. He came up with the idea of making it into a cabinet.“Dave gave it to me as a Christmas present one year. It really looks awesome and we have been using it for years,” said Campbell.The rusty appliance's internal parts had to be removed.<br><br><br><br><br><br>

“It was sandblasted and given a coat of paint. Some of the gold details had to be painted by hand and then shelves were installed,” she said.A 30-inch tall bird sculpture in their house is courtesy of their son, Jerry, who follows in his father's footsteps when it comes to reusing.“My son, Jerry, made the bird out of old tools that were lying around unused in the barn. It's made of a shovel, rake, rebar, harrow tooth and cultivator parts,” said Campbell.Campbell said when she tells people she collects unusual antiques, they have no idea just how unusual they really are. A corn sheller in their family room was used by her husband when he was growing up.<br><br><br><br><br><br>

Berenice and Bob Madjaric fill their cozy home in Muddy Creek Township with a variety of functional finds.“When we built the house, we decided we wanted it to be natural and so our furniture and décor had to follow suit,” said Berenice.UnconventionalWhen the couple couldn't find the perfect chair to overlook their lovely view, they decided to create one themselves.“I had seen these neat benches at the beach that could flip to face a different direction,” said Berenice, describing how she then created her own swing with oak salvaged from a barn. As part of the project, Bob then suspended the bench from an antique wheel that had been part of a hay rake, which he mounted to the ceiling.“The wheel enables the swing to rotate so that it can face into the living room or toward the window for looking outside,” Berenice said.Bob, a retired engineer, has modified many old items to serve the couple's present day needs. The log holder for their indoor wood stove is made from a wheel off a McCormick-Deering tractor circa 1940. The base is made from an oak timber from an old barn.An antique cauldron with a wooden lid holds the hose and attachments for the couple's sweeper. They also utilized old double trees from an oxen harness and bent antique nails to create a room divider in their entry way.Their butcher block table was actually a real butcher block.“I was at a local yard sale and approached by the seller who asked if I was interested in the blackened aged butcher block. I replied no, but when my husband came to the sale, he took the seller up on the offer,” Berenice said.

The couple sanded and cleaned the block with Bob actually creating a saw blade to even out the block. He also made table legs.“The table seats six and fits well with the cabin feel of the home,” said Berenice.While the couple was building their home, they unearthed a myriad of artifacts on site.“I created several small vignettes in the rafters with collections of the found objects,” Berenice said.Using things they collect or refurbish is important in keeping with their home's theme.“We really wanted our house to be simple as we built it. We've built cupboards and a buffet out of wormy chestnut from an old barn. Our furnishings are more special because of the effort we put into acquiring them and restoring them,” she said.

The Petrus family of Zelienople refurbished an old heating grate and converted it to a coffee table. They've been using the table for 20 years now.

Carol shows off a bird sculpted by her son, Jerry, from old barn tools, rebar and various parts.

The cabinet Carol Campbell's husband, Dave, fashioned from an old hot water tank. Carol received it years ago as a Christmas present.

Bob and Berenice Madjaric sit on a swing in their Muddy Creek Township home.

The log holder for their indoor wood stove is made from an old tractor wheel.