You never know when inspiration might strike, and lately, inspiration has been found in the junkyard.

Old or broken cars can be more like piles of stress. And figuring out how to get your car out of impound without car insurance is frustrating enough without the added pressure of thinking about what you’re going to do once you get it back.

Cars often represent milestones in our lives, which is why what we drive often holds strong emotional connections. Eventually, every car meets its expiration, but if you’re having to wave your once beloved vehicle goodbye, consider some of these possibilities so that your old car can bring you off-the-road joy.

How to Make Old Things New
Restoration and vintage pieces are the new old trend. No matter what you’re decorating, vintage and repurposed pieces add a specific aesthetic needed to perfectly accent a space.

Anyone can look at Pinterest or duplicate staging ideas from Ikea or Target, but there’s a personal and emotional experience that comes with tailoring the look and function of a piece.

Creativity can be hard to hone, and after hours spent Google surfing, what you want and how you want, it turns into one jumbled equation. Using car parts is a timeless way to spice up any indoor or outdoor space and, because of its durability, will last as long as you wish to keep them.

Adding a Unique Touch to Your Garden
One of the most beautiful ways to display a car is surrounded by plants. This isn’t the old country barn junker turned chic. Using vehicle parts in a garden is a purposeful piece that combines modernism and nature. Something fun about this is that you can tailor practically any car part to be the base of a garden or repurpose it as a pot.

Popular trends like broken fountains or refurbished wrought iron to decorate your rock garden are flourishing, and items like car frames, mufflers, and doors create an artistic touch to the pieces you might already be using.

The exciting part here is that you can decorate your repurposed piece to look as polished or as worn as you like because it’s outside. Go with your garden’s energy and allow the art to change over time as it settles into the garden oasis you create.

No More Office Posters
Does your office still have the 80s and 90s positivity posters up? Take them down and put up something that truly sparks inspiration.

Having something dimensional and creative to look at helps you be more productive. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking to decorate your home or a commercial office space because you can make car part decor as budget-friendly as you need.

Choose a big part like the custom rim, bumper, door, or seats, and you can make anything from shelves to a functional piece of furniture. You can make almost any part of a car into a desk, table, or even an office chair. Get creative and make a staple piece that will give you and your visitors a source of inspiration.

Wall Decor that’s Different
There are endless creative ways you can display art in your home, and it’s more meaningful when there’s a story behind it. If you don’t see yourself as an artist, now is your time to shine.

Cars can be meaningful possessions that we want to hold onto or that have been passed down to us, so what better way to pay homage than to give something that was once loved a new life?

Personally, my drawing abilities don’t go past loppy circles and crooked triangles, so if you’re like me and need some ideas past freehand painting, here is a list to help you get your theme board started:

● Yarn wrapping: This is an easy-as-pie method that is excitingly cheap. Pick some pretty colors and wrap away. This is great as a non-mess project to do with kids as long as the rust is removed from the car parts beforehand.

● Tracing: Either project or print out the design you want and trace it with a pencil or Sharpie. You can even use glue and pick glitter, stones, or anything of your choosing to make your piece pop.

● Wax dripping: I love this method. Playing with fire has never been more fun. Buy a few different colored candles and drip the wax however you’d like. Allow it to dry before moving, but this method is an easy ticket to a masterpiece.

● Watercolors/ Tie-dye: Take your skills to another level and paint and dip your piece into making a beautiful colorful art piece. You can do this with metal, but paint it white first, or cover it with fabrics from car parts.

● Controlled corroding: Sometimes, distressed items make the perfect piece, but if what you have isn’t there yet, you can manipulate the process of corrosion. Remember that soda pop experiment from high school? It’s basically that but in reverse.

● Metal wrapping: Crystal wrapping isn’t the only use for metal bending. You can pick from a range of colors and layer new metals over the old, making a unique piece that could work in any room or hallway.

● Knitting: There’s something peaceful about the process of knitting. If you have an old steering wheel or small car part using a knit sleeve, you can create a refreshed intended design for your space.

● Framing: Step one, find a frame. Step two, hang around your piece. Step three, admire.

When you think of hanging pieces, you may naturally think to keep it small, but you can hang almost anything with the right tools, so don’t let the bigger projects scare you away. I suggest either hiring a contractor for the heavy pieces so it is appropriately hung and secured, or disconnecting the parts to create multiple lighter ones.

New Uses for Old Parts
If you want to try your hand in some more technical ways, find ideas that use your car parts to function as a needed home tool. You can manipulate any part of a vehicle to serve almost any purpose without needing practically any previous engineer or electrician’s education.

Here is a short list to spark some inspiration for what car parts could be turned into along with what parts are fit for the job:

● Chairs: Use tires or refurbished car seats.

● Beds and headboards: The hood, windows, or even a hollowed-out body makes the perfect frame for a child’s bed or adult headboard.

● Tables: Putting a glass top on anything makes it a table. That’s just the facts. For easy, stylish looks, you can use hoods, engines, rims, and grills.

● Bookshelves and cases: Use hoods and trunks.

● Lamps: Mufflers and practically any part big or small, from the screws to the headlights, can work. There are no ways to go wrong here.

These are only a few ideas, but you can refurbish a car into sinks, swings, couches, or anything you imagine if you’re willing to put some time and effort into it.

Hit the Gas on Interior Design
In true artist spirit, just do something. You can weigh ideas for a lifetime, and there will always be a reason as to why you’re too busy. You can never finish a piece if you don’t start it.

So YouTube away and look over your home for what room could use an artistic touch. Personal value is priceless, but who knows? Maybe this will be the start of a small business venture. Get messy and get hanging.



Danielle Beck-Hunter writes and researches for the car insurance comparison site, CarInsuranceComparison.com. Danielle is an insurance expert who specializes in do-it-yourself projects. As a young homeowner, she likes to keep her decor budget-friendly by making the cool pieces that inspire her.