These days, upcycling seems to be on trend. On TV, particularly natty-looking hipsters demonstrate how to re-purpose ordinary household objects into beautiful, inventive items, often made for little money—and sometimes sold to “boutique shops” for a handsome sum. In countless cafés, you’ll find up-cycled tin cans as cutlery holders and canning jars as drinking glasses….

Longtime readers of this column may remember the reader who wanted to know where she could donate her fabric scraps. I offered details on a small organization in Texas that turns new fabric scraps into quilts for shelters, churches, and other charities. Apparently, reader G.W. was not the only reader with fabric scraps too good…

You may have noticed the recent movement toward huge picture windows and fancy bifold doors being fitted into people’s homes. Maybe you’re one of those people. Maybe your neighbors are (and you secretly envy them). What’s fueling this desire to install gigantic plates of glass in our walls? Simply put, it’s to bring the outside…

One of the greatest joys of travel is happenstance, and for several years now the pandemic has robbed us of such foreign joys. Many artisans reliant on tourists and in-person visits have suffered financially because of endless lockdowns. For instance, the UK-based Heritage Crafts Association found that the stress of running a business during a pandemic…