At our house there is always a small bowl of pistachios on the coffee table. My moment of revelation came when sitting on my couch and snacking on these delicious nuts, I tossed a couple more shells into a separate bowl which would later be dumped into the trash. What a waste, I thought. There has to be some way I can put these to good use. A few minutes of online searching and I came up with several pretty surprising ideas. One example was for flower pot base drainage, while another sought to substitute a soap bar holder, which, I must admit, they did successfully.
But the one that caught my eye was this wall decoration, that I couldn’t help but try to replicate. I assumed that this would be no more than a test run, but went ahead with it anyway, and began by painting the shells.
First, make sure you wash out the shells, get rid of any salt or bits and residue before you begin. I didn’t my first time, then regretted it, definitely will next time.
Lay the shells out to dry. If you plan on spray painting them, you can save a step by laying them out on newspaper immediately. Be careful when painting with an aerosol can, if you go at it with too much pressure, the shells can be blown all across the room. I painted the shells both inside and out.
Make sure the paint is completely dry.
These I painted individually by hand.
13 more examples of how to use pistachio shells
