DIY Life

CDs are wonderful things. Beyond providing 800 MB worth of storage for your growing lolcatz picture archive, they can also be used to make gaudy desk organizers, tacky Christmas ornaments, and, of course, flimsy wind chimes. Let's face it, the majority of used CD projects are pretty lame (said while placing coffee cup on an old AOL disc), which is why I was so surprised when I found two that were actually pretty cool.

The first tutorial uses old CDs and a 6" fluorescent bulb to create a really cool lamp. Now, I know you're probably thinking to yourself, "why would I want a lamp made out of CDs?" And to that I say, "I don't know." Typically lamps are used to provide light, but I'm not sure how much usable light this little guy's going to spit out. Even still, there's something eerily calming about the light it gives out -- kind of like a futuristic lava lamp, but without the lava. You'll probably need about 60 or 70 CDs for this project, so if you start saving AOL discs now, you should have enough by Tuesday of next week (*rim shot*).


Instead of using CDs, the second project uses the plastic cylindrical drums that hold your CDs when you buy them in bulk (like this, but taller) to create a handy dandy flower pot. Simply poke a few holes in the bottom of one of the drums, stick it inside another drum to catch excess water, add dirt and a plant, and voila, you now have a nice see-through flower pot. Prior to finding this project, I always lamented the fact that I couldn't find anything useful to do with my old cylindrical CD drums... aside from banging on them incessantly while listening to some drum-heavy hip hop, which would inevitably end with my wife taking away my precious plastic cylindrical drum. *sigh*