Everyone wants their new home to be a beautiful, stylish reflection of their personality. But décor can be expensive, and don’t even get me started on interior designers. Luckily, with a little elbow grease and a lot of creativity, even basic household items can take on a whole new life.

Whether you’ve been looking at rustic homes for sale in Vancouver that could use a little color or barren apartments in Chicago that desperately need some chic furniture, here are three ideas for how to turn your unwanted junk into dazzling decorations.

Create Unique End Tables from Hardcover Books

Reading isn’t just fundamental, it can also be fashionable! Got a box of old textbooks left over from college? Maybe you found a whole bunch of hardcovers at Goodwill that were missing half their pages. Even that outdated old encyclopedia set can still serve a purpose now that its information is no longer relevant (hint: when a book talks about the Soviet Union as if it was still a thing, you don’t have to feel bad about retiring it).

Simply stack one book on top of another, using hot glue to bind the covers together. Keep stacking ‘n’ gluing until you achieve your desired height, then slather the whole thing in a layer of paint. This will not only cover up scuffs and tears, it will also stick the pages together and prevent the whole thing from resembling one big paper accordion. The final result is a one-of-a-kind end table with a fun, quirky style.

Frame Calendar Images to Make a Wall of Art

The great thing about calendars is that every month you get to look at a brand new portrait of a gorgeous landscape, sleek vintage hot rod, or outrageously adorable kitten. The bad thing about calendars is that once the year is over, all those images usually go right in the trash. That’s a real waste if you ask me.

Just because it’s no longer 2019 doesn’t mean an eye-catching picture is any less eye-catching. Give your calendars a stay of execution by cutting out the individual images and framing them as individual, inexpensive art prints. A single calendar can yield an entire wall’s worth of affordable art, all with a consistent theme that makes it look less like last year’s leftovers and more like a carefully curated collection. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.

CD Shards Can Add a New Shine to Drab Furniture

Everything old is new again except, it seems, all your old NSYNC “Bye Bye Bye” singles. It’s okay, the 90s were a confusing time for all of us. While vinyl records have made a big comeback in recent years, piles of shimmery, CDs continue to take up space in secondhand stores everywhere. It’s practically an epidemic. Luckily, I have just the cure (not to be confused with The Cure, although I have a couple CDs from them, too)

CDs may be DOA, but holographic patterns are still trendy and cool. Give a drab piece of furniture a silvery shine by soaking your music discs in hot water for about ten minutes, then carefully snipping them into shards of various shapes and sizes. Just be careful while doing it, and make sure to wear eye protection in case any sharp little splinters go flying. When you have enough to cover the outer surface of a small shelf or cabinet, brush a little glue on the back of each piece, allowing you to apply a glimmering jigsaw pattern that’s sure to turn heads.