Give your design a boost...with caffeine

Who knew all the great things you could do with leftover coffee and tea!? I was watching television the other day and I heard someone say a good way to stain light wood (such as pine) is with leftover black coffee! Not only is it a great way to re-purpose java but it's also all natural so that means it's great for the environment, I've heard it's best to use as stain when the coffee is a little cold. Of course that sent me on a search, so here are some other uses...

1. Use coffee or tea to dye and stain fabrics, shabby-chic design (as shown below) is a great example of a setting in which the method would work well with the color pallette.

2. Use coffee or tea to dye and stain paper or canvas to create art and accessories. I think it would be a great look if you were take varying sized strips of paper and dye them in different shades with coffe and tea, arrange them in a large white frame and hang it. I also thought the portrait below was interesting.

Now if you really want to go all out, check out Filipino artisit Sunshine Plata, all of her works are created with coffee.

3. Finally don't forget all the great ways to display and store coffee beans. Fill an apothecary jar with coffee beans and leave it on the kitchen counter as storage and decoration, or fill the empty space between your candle and glass candle holder with coffee beans; you could also use the beans as a filler when doing a floral arrangment for a really unique look.

4. Don't forget to use that old, cold coffee as stain for light wood tones!