Your Leftover Soup Cans Make Cute Wall Décor

Your kitchen affords plentiful opportunities for turning trash into treasure. For instance, old baking pans can be repurposed into cute magnetic memo boards, attractive soap dispensers can be made from empty glass olive oil bottles, and a chipped, broken, or stained coffee mug can be repurposed into a cute planter. Another pantry staple you should think twice about tossing out is empty soup cans. While they may not seem overly salvageable, they can actually be upcycled into cute wall décor.

One simple way to decoratively alter soup cans is to compress one end of the can until the two sides are pressed together, leaving a round top and a pinched bottom. With one end pinched closed and the other round and open, you have the basis for a very pretty hanging wall pocket or wall vase.

The cans should be washed out, and the lids should be removed with a can opener. Pinching the bottom opening together can be done by hand, merely squeezing the two sides inward until the aluminum bends; you can then press down on one end of the can with something heavy, using your body weight to apply added pressure; or the sides can be pounded together with a mallet or hammer.

From there, decorating is the fun part. Paint, decals, decoupage, or trimmings like ribbon and lace all work well, as does punching a pattern into the tin with a hammer and nail. Finish it off by attaching a length of rope, chain, or ribbon for hanging, and tuck in some silk flowers or dried herbs for a final flourish. And voilà, adorable décor piece!

Another way to reuse old soup cans for decoration is by turning them into freestanding holders for your kitchen. In this case, you only remove one lid. The finished project is perfect for holding cooking utensils on your counter or near your stove, storing forks, knives, and spoons on your table, or keeping dish wands and bottle scrubbers near your sink. They can also make cute matching planters for a kitchen herb garden.

To decorate the cans, you can go for a rustic look by removing the soup label and using the raw tin. The glue can be easily melted off with a heat gun on a low setting. You can then add country-style touches like denim, eyelet lace, raffia, or jute or hemp ribbon.

Using hot glue, you can also wrap the entire can in rope or cover it with burlap for a rustic look. You can glue on sticks of similar thickness and length vertically around the can for a more natural appearance.

The cans can also be decorated like wall pockets, using paint, decals, and other accents that match your kitchen style. Decoupaging old newsprint—or craft paper printed to look like it—creates an antique-style finish. You can also add "legs" by gluing corks or small thread bobbins to the bottom of the can and painting or decorating them as well.