Repurposing and Reimagining

I first started thinking about repurposing things when I talked with a friend about some books we were reading. She loves her Kindle, mainly for its portability and adjustable font size, and told me she no longer buys physical books. I have been revamping my apartment, purging some books I have no need for, and plan to start reading books using Kindle. But I have so much book shelf space in my apartment, mainly in the living room and study, that I started wondering what to do with the space if it no longer held books.

There are various solutions for this dilemma. Simply taking down the shelves or getting rid of bookcases can solve the problem of empty shelves, but that might require some redesign of the walls involved, and some repainting. I would also have to figure out what to do with the newly freed space, and it might be costly to get new furniture to fill the spaces that had bookcases. Leaving the shelves empty is also possible, but I think the bareness would feel too stark and cheerless.

Another answer is to display more of my tchotchkes, or small decorative objects. I have lots of candy dishes, figurines, decorative gifts, and little framed photos that I have collected or have been given to me. I could move around the ones that I already have on the shelves, and take others out of the drawers that have been their homes. They would fill up most of my book shelf space.

But that doesn’t seem like an attractive or practical use of this new-found space. Here’s another possibility: I have complained about not having enough closet and cabinet space in my apartment; I wonder if I could put some of my clothes, or even kitchen staples or bathroom supplies, on these former bookshelves.  People might be surprised to see these items on my living room shelves- but hey- it’s for my convenience. And it might even start a new trend.

This got me thinking of other things that I could repurpose that I no longer  use. Like scarves. Over the years I have collected and been gifted many scarves. They used to go well with suits that I wore to work. But now that I am retired, I have no use for them. They are colorful and many are too pretty to discard or give away.  Hmm – too thin to use as tablecloths, but maybe they would look good draped over those bookshelves.

And there are other things I need to repurpose, some not tangible. Since retiring I have more choices as to what to do with my time.  I used to use a lot of my time for worrying, about many aspects of my life at different stages – about my teenage children when they lived at home and were out late, about work projects, especially those with deadlines, and about what to wear for social engagements.  My life has changed over the years and I don’t worry much about these things any more. I have young grandchildren… but let their parents worry about them. So maybe there are some things in my life, like worrying, that don’t need to be repurposed… just jettisoned. And I can use that time for the activities and social events that I enjoy relatively worry -free.  

Finally, when I go into my kitchen, I see lots of things I don’t use anymore, mainly because I don’t cook very often. But I have found that repurposing can happen there too. I have a large collection of wooden spoons, and I recently found that one was a good stake for a plant that was bending. Others can be used to push out food items or pills that have rolled under the cabinets. That stack of plastic storage containers and lids to store leftovers- they don’t get much use anymore, but I found they make nice safe playthings for my young grandchildren. And cookbooks – I have many of those, but when I want a recipe for a dish I am making, I generally look it up on my iPhone, and follow the instructions from there. That means that all the cook books I have collected are no longer of use- the shelves that held them can be emptied. Hah- this brings me back to where I started this essay- the challenge of reimagining bookshelves that no longer hold books. Maybe some of those tchotchkes would look good on my kitchen shelves.