While most of us just throw away waste material from our homes without thinking twice, Gurgaon resident Abhay Chawla uses his creativity to convert them into unique decor items. From old car tyres and plastic bottles to broken glass, no waste material is thrown away. Chawla explains, “I use waste materials to beautify my house as this way, I could use stuff that otherwise ends up lying in dumping grounds.”
See it to believe it
Chawla’s mini garden has an abundance of yellows, blues and reds. Painted plastic water bottles and soft drink bottles are buried, upside down, halfway into the ground to act as boundary markers for different sections of the garden. He has also used old car tyres painted in red on the fencing wall and around the flower pots.
“I didn’t give away these old car tyres to a scrap shop, after I came to know that they are burnt for fire required for brick-making and add to pollution,” says Chawla. “The murals on the garden walls are made from thrown away marble pieces and stones that I collected from the riverside and from a trip to the Aravalis,” he adds.
Beautifying with scrap
Beautifying with scrap
Though the garden took around two to three days of hard work to complete, the murals on the garden walls took a fortnight.
“My son and I successfully managed to bring out a scenery on one wall, with a mountain, birds in the sky and the sun shining bright. To achieve this, we had to first smoothen the walls and then use cement to stick pieces of broken and otherwise unusable vases, marble and tiles to create the image. Once set, we used enamel paint to add colour to our efforts.”
Minimal investment
The upside of re-using waste is the low cost. “I used three different colours of paint, approximately Rs 150 each, and almost 10 kg of cement, that cost me around Rs 200. The rest was waste,” says Chawla. Maintenance, however, is a ‘hectic process’ if you have a dog who digs up parts of the garden to prepare to sleep! “Otherwise, it is hassle-free as the dirt that settles on the bottles and stones is washed off when I water my plants.”
A peek inside Chawla’s house reveals more showpieces — beautified wine bottles, CDs, clay pots, broken glass bottles, and more.