Old License Plates

July 28, 2010 1:04 PM

What are some creative ways to reuse old license plates?

I'm moving and I've come across a cache of three old license plates from various cars I've owned. They have various levels of sentimental value which is why I didn't recycle them in the first place, so I was wondering if anyone had some ideas as to how to make them useful instead of just sitting around. I'd like to hear about things like this dustpan from Make magazine( ).
As a bonus, can you do anything with used Brita filters? I searched and found two options, recycle them or use as a seedling planter. There are also various schemes for extending there life. Am I missing anything else you can do?

posted by Bistle to home & garden (11 answers total)

whoops, THIS dustpan from MAKE:

posted by Bistle at 1:05 PM on July 28, 2010

arrgh!:
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/02/license_plate_dustpan.html
posted by Bistle at 1:06 PM on July 28, 2010

Punch holes in 2 of them and use them as covers for a ring-bound photo album of travels or road trips.

Not sure what to do with the 3rd one.
posted by newmoistness at 1:14 PM on July 28, 2010

Use them as landscaping edging.
posted by mmmbacon at 1:16 PM on July 28, 2010

Here are designs for wallets, purses and wine caddies that might inspire you.
posted by carmicha at 1:22 PM on July 28, 2010

License plate bird houses
posted by partylarry at 1:29 PM on July 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

Autocomplete suggests an even better one: license plate art
posted by partylarry at 1:30 PM on July 28, 2010

- Hang them like a mobile. They could make really cool junkyard-style wind chimes if you added some small metal bits; clangs instead of dings.
- Make a mini-dresser where the front of each drawer is a license plate, perhaps on a hinge.
- Three in a triangle can be a garden planter. Or maybe a TV or monitor stand.
- Each plate could be a mini-shelf; just put some small brackets in the wall and use the plate as the shelf surface.
- Attach them to a bicycle, just cause it looks cool. (wonder if you're allowed to do that? can't see why not...)
posted by PercussivePaul at 1:31 PM on July 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

I've always liked the birdhouses. If you can assemble enough of them, I've seen little windmills or whirligigs using license plates as the vanes.
posted by jquinby at 1:41 PM on July 28, 2010

These are an early prototype, but I make flowers of out of them.
posted by buttercup at 5:35 PM on July 31, 2010

License plate map! Maybe you can cut the plates into the shapes of the state(s) they are from, then mount them on your wall as a triptych.
posted by illenion at 12:11 AM on August 1, 2010