The Strangest Uses For Broken Washing Machines

As much as we keep our fingers crossed that they’ll go on forever and never break, our washing machines will, one day, no longer be a repair case and we will have to admit that they’ve washed their last.

Now what? Aside from getting a new washing machine there is something else to think about; what do you do with the old one? You could just send it to landfill, but isn’t there something else more constructive that you could do with it? Surely, in our age of recycling, there has to be something you can do with an old washing machine, apart from just throwing it in a skip. So we’ve been having a little think and here are our top suggestions for what to do with your old machine.

1. Use it as an unusual garden planter.
   People have started using wellie boots, teapots, old bathtubs and a whole host of other objects as garden ornaments filled with flowers. Why not a washing machine? You could paint the outside of it and have a trailing plant spill out of the open door, or remove the drum and use it as a giant plant pot.
2. Store your hose in it.
   Remove the drum and curl your garden hose around the inside in neat coils. If you can get the drum’s outside to nicely rust and go copper blue then all’s the better.
3. Use it as an outside barbecue.
   Another one that needs you to take the drum out, but once you have then mounting the drum in a rockery arrangement or on some nice stones means that you have a neatly contained outside barbecue/fire pit. An added bonus is that it’s nice and easy to balance a grill tray over the top for cooking burgers on.
4. Turn it into a luxury cat castle.
   Put blankets in the drum and pin the door open. Put thick carpet on the sides that can be used as scratching walls. Dangle cat toys from the dials. Go wild! Just make sure that your cat doesn’t take to sleeping in your new washing machine as well (and always check that it’s cat-free before putting a new wash load on)!
5. Make a piece of modern art.
   This time dismantle the washing machine completely and then get hold of a soldering iron or a small welding torch (or similar) and reconstruct it into a cool new sculpture. In the past the Eden Project in Cornwall has made a huge sculptural installation from old electricals of all kinds, so if you need some inspiration then check them out!