Turn Old Frying Pans Into Clever Upcycles For Every Room In Your House

Step away from the garbage bin with your old frying pans! Just because you're done using them for cooking doesn't mean you can't upcycle them into something new. Whether your old frying pans are banged up, burnt on the bottom, or falling apart at the handle, you can find a DIY project to transform them into useful objects again. From wall art that will get your guests talking to clever storage hacks, you can find plenty of fun and unique ways to breathe new life into old pans. 

Some of these upcycling projects involve a lot of steps while others come together quickly. There are also DIYs that will test your crafting skills and others that are more beginner-friendly. Remember to be safe when handling your old frying pans, especially ones that are made out of heavy materials. And you should also never attempt a do-it-yourself project that requires cutting or sawing frying pans unless you have the right equipment and proper experience. It's also a good idea to thoroughly degrease your frying pans before starting these DIYs. Grab Krud Kutter Liquid Cleaner and Degreaser from Home Depot to remove any layers of grease and debris or DIY your own degreaser out of baking soda and soap. Otherwise, your paint or glue might not stick properly.

Keep your unwanted frying pans because they can still be useful in your kitchen with a few cosmetic changes. A pan with a deeper body is a good blank canvas for a countertop storage bowl. After removing the handle, paint the pan all over in a white or beige color. Then, use decoupage to add a pretty vintage floral pattern to the outside, like creator LanaS DIY does. For a more modern look, use a checkerboard pattern instead. You can lift this upcycled bowl off the counter by gluing painted tins onto the bottom, or you can leave it flat.

The rounded shape of a frying pan makes it a great base for creating miniature holiday scenes. Depending on the time of year, you can turn your old frying pans into holiday wall decor before you know it. Along with super glue or a glue gun, grab a few decorations from a store like Dollar Tree to create your holiday scenes. You can place trees and reindeer alongside Santa for Christmas or a tiny haunted house for a spooky Halloween vibe. Finish the look with a sprig of faux holly and berries or a bunch of autumn leaves tied around the handle.

This DIY is a two-for-one special. While the final product is a tiered tray created from two frying pans, you can separate the trays to form decorative bowls. For this upcycle, grab two frying pans, with one pan slightly larger than the other. Try to use pans with removable handles, too. Decorate the pans as you please, perhaps by painting them a different color or adding a ribbon trim along the rim. To form the tiers, thrift a wooden candlestick holder or a fancy glass. You can then set them on a side table filled with potpourri or decorative knickknacks.

Beauty sometimes lies beneath the surface. In the case of an old frying pan, that beauty might be hidden beneath its plain, practical design. But with a little bit of paint, decoupage, ribbons, and florals, you will have a refreshing piece of wall art. While one person may choose to use purple as the main color, you can vary this depending on your living room's accent colors. For a more rustic vibe, try old-timey artwork and a muted color palette. 

A little chalkboard paint, like the Rainbow Chalk Markers Limited Blackboard Paint on Amazon, takes a frying pan from drab to fab. This upcycle is one of the quickest, but make sure that it is as clean as possible to allow the paint to stick properly. You can use just about any frying pan, although one with a hole in the handle will be easier to hang. After giving it a thorough once-over to remove grease, apply the chalkboard paint to create a perfect surface for writing messages. Hang it up in the hallway near your garage door to leave reminders.

Whether you need a spot to store spare toilet paper or hand towels, the solution might start in the kitchen –- not the bathroom. You can turn a frying pan body (sans the handle!) into a simple storage basket using popsicle sticks, cotton rope, and fabric scraps. By gluing popsicle sticks upright at intervals around the edge of the pan, you can create a frame for your woven basket. Then, weave the cotton rope between the sticks to form the sides. Embellish your bohemian storage container with brightly colored fabrics or wooden beads for feet.

With the help of a medium-sized terracotta pot, a deep frying pan can become an elegant decorative bowl. Once you are finished, you can use it to hold flowers, candles, and other decorative items. To make this type of centerpiece, first remove the handle from the pan. After painting the inside and outside, also paint the pot the same color. Simply glue the pot onto the base of the pan to create a stand. To give your new bowl an extra glow, use string lights to decorate around and inside it.

If you love displaying wildflowers from your walks or blooms from your garden, try creating a rustic display with an old frying pan. Wrap the handle, which you will use to hang your creation, in jute or sisal. Wrap the outer edge of the pan in rope or paint it for a clean look. Then glue strands of sisal or twine from one side of the pan to the other, forming a pocket across the bottom half. The finished pocket is perfect for displaying flowers. Remember to swap out the flowers regularly with real blooms from your cut flower garden.

What time is it? Well, it's not time to fry eggs, but it might be time to upcycle a pan into a wall clock. First, decorate the bottom portion of a frying pan to suit your personal style. Maybe you will choose a sophisticated print or elegant Roman numerals. Or you might select a basic, bold primary color with large, black numbers. The key to turning a pan into a clock, however, is the clock movement mechanism. You'll need to make a hole in the center of the pan to install it. Try something simple, like the TIKROUND Clock Replacement Parts on Amazon.

Design a unique bowl to set at your bedside to hold your reading glasses, sleep spray, and other nighttime necessities. Remove the handle from a frying pan with a deep body. Then paint the outside in your favorite color or to match your bedroom. Using decoupage, transfer a matching print to the inside to add a little more interest. You can glue thrifted wooden knobs to the bottom of the pan to lift it up.

By bending the handle of a frying pan to a 90-degree angle, you can make a statement piece for your bathroom wall. Once you have hung the pan to the wall securely, add some pebbles to the bottom of the tray part. Then add a few small houseplants, perhaps utilizing humidity-loving indoor plants that thrive on pebble trays. Just be sure not to overcrowd the pan's base or make it too heavy. In the end, you will have a highly unusual hanging planter that you cannot find in stores.

Craft a unique way to keep plastic shopping bags contained using a frying pan base. Flip the base around to see the inside. Cut a piece of cardboard to fit inside the pan, leaving openings at the top and bottom for adding and removing bags. Then, glue the cardboard in place to create a storage compartment. You can then pull one bag partway through the opening so it peeks out the bottom. Decorate the outside of the pan to match your kitchen. Using the handle, hang this bag keeper somewhere easily accessible.