10 Ideas For Repurposing Your Old Incandescent Light Bulbs

Now that everyone is switching over to low energy LED lighting, what’s going to happen to all those unwanted incandescent light bulbs? Sadly, they aren’t recyclable, so most of them will end up in landfill.

However, using a bit of ingenuity, you can transform an old light bulb into almost anything!

Before doing anything though, you’ll need to hollow out your old halogen bulb. Luckily, the guys over at Team Droid have put together a step-by-step tutorial on how to do this.

1 - Tiny Terrarium

There are literally thousands of tiny terrariums on the internet, made by filling up an empty light bulb with sand, small pebbles and preserved moss. Besides the stuff actually going into the bulb, you only need needle nose pliers, scissors, long tweezers, a flathead screwdriver and goggles!

The one pictured above is courtesy of The Hipster Home.

2 - Salt And Pepper Shakers

You can create a salt and pepper shaker from a set of 2 light bulbs by poking holes in a couple of 16 oz. bottle caps. The detailed tutorial from Apartment Therapy goes through which size bulbs work best.

3 - Spice Rack

Coming from inhabitat, this creative idea involves using cork stoppers, instead of bottle caps to store herbs and spices, though you will need to ensure that you give your old bulbs a good clean beforehand.

4 - Oil Lamp

Although you can buy these separately, it’s almost always more fun, and cheaper to build your own. Find out how to do so at wonderhowto.

5 - Hanging Vase

These makeshift vases can be created really easily using a piece of wire or hanging chain. Fill them with flowers of your choice and hang them around your house, or in the garden for decoration.

6 - Christmas Decoration

It’s never too early to start preparing for Christmas. Using some glue, glitter and paint, you can create some unique decorations for your tree, come December. The ones in the image above come via Kelsey Bang.

7 - Ship In A Bottle

Ok, so it’s not in a bottle, but as you can see it works just as well. You can see how to make it by visiting wonderhowto.

8 - Concrete Wall Hooks

An old light bulb filled with cement makes a pretty nifty wall hook with a very industrial feel. They’re really easy to make, you can find out how by visiting Apartment Therapy.

9 - Lamp Shade

If you have a lot of bulbs, and an equally large amount of free time, you could have a go at making one of these lamp shades. German retailer Bulbs Unlimited actually sells kits for creating different kinds of lamps.

10 - Hot Air Balloons

These light bulb hot air balloons are simply adorable – and great for either special occasions or general decorations. All you need is some PVA glue and some patterned fabric. This idea comes courtesy of rookno17.

So once your old halogen bulbs come to the end of their life, don’t throw them away – recycle them and turn them into something cool and unique!

When they do stop working too, give us a call on 0116 321 4120 so we can sort out LED replacements for you. You can also email us at cs@wled.co.uk.