Scrap Metal DIY Project Ideas

Scrap metal may not seem too wonderful or glamorous on it’s own but I can assure you that it should be treasured and sought after like rare gems.

Before we moved into our current loft, we had a home with a three stall garage. At times, this three stall garage could only fit one car because of all of that wonderful rusty sought after treasure. I will admit that at the time, I wasn’t real happy with my husband for his over zealous collecting of……junk! But, he had his welder and was going to use it.

Since his projects were normally a bigger scale, like furniture or yard art, the pieces of scrap metal he collected were also large. I tend to like small projects with gears, pulleys or springs that require little storage. We have since moved the welder to our cabin and now collect scrap metal on a as needed basis.

With all of our collecting, we had been able to piece together some nice industrial decor for our home. My favorite is this stool. Here it is shown in a rustic setting. You can also see it in our loft, which is more industrial, in my post Industrial Interior Design Ideas.

Scrap Metal Small Projects

Here are a few more ideas of smaller projects for inspiration:

I love the look of gears to use in industrial decor. I had my husband weld this one into a fun bookend.

These scrap metal trees were easily made by just unraveling and twisting industrial cable into shape. The end of the cable was then welded to another metal part to use as a base. Any type of part would work for a base as long as it would keep the “tree” upright and stable.  I like to hang bracelets from the smaller tree. With the larger tree, I wanted to keep it just for decor so I simply hung clear beads from the branches. This gives the tree the look of glistening ice in the Winter.

Here are some ideas I found across the web:

A scrap metal birdhouse by The Brambleberry Cottage.

Hummingbird metal art by American Metal Art.