Bag of Peanuts

 

A couple of months ago, I purchased a bean bag chair cover from an online website.  (I forgot which website, but I googled "bean bag chair covers" and it came up).

Buying a bean bag chair cover is a lot cheaper than buying a complete bean bag chair; I think I paid less than $20 for this cover and it arrived folded up in an itsy, bitsy envelope.   

Over the past few months, I've been filling it with styrofoam packing peanuts that show up in packages.  I dislike packing peanuts (who doesn't?), but they show up anyway, somehow.   So I thought it would be great to fill a bean bag chair with the excess peanuts.

And here's the starry bean bag chair in the living room.    It looks pretty comfy and inviting, doesn't it?

Comments

[TACE]

Does it work though? I mean for sitting on. Don't the peanuts just crush down? I suppose you could keep adding more.
I like this type of idea you've come up with. It's like we can't change the world all at once so little bits here and there are good. Just being aware of things and not mindlessly throwing stuff out is cool. So neato idea.
I remember seeing people use popped corn for packing peanuts one time, though it crushes more then peanuts. haha Just a random thought I had.

[Bri]

I'd be afraid to use the peanuts as they would off-gas vapours into your living space. Isn't it formaldahyde gasses that come out of styrofoam? I could see something like this being used outside but not inside most homes.
But cool idea. I wonder what else you could use to fill the bean bag chair?

[Jessica]

I love this. Is it comfy?

[shelby k]

that's really funny, because just yesterday I got my daily tip from Ideal Bite, and it was ways to reuse packing peanuts! this is an exceptional idea, i love it!

[Claudia]

That is such a good idea!

[Angel]

Great idea Danny!

[Starr]

I used to use packing peanuts in my old beanbag chairs when the beans didn't quite have enough oomph in them from lots of sittings. So bunch-of-waste-material-in-packing days were fluffier-beanbag-chair days!

[rebs]

thats funny i went to my local coffee roaster and bought some used sacks for this purpose, so far i have 2 bags full of peanuts to fill my bags. i plan to use them for my kids to lounge on, or as cushions in my freecycle-obtained papasan chairs

[april Coxe]

I don't understand why more companies don't use the cornstarch peanuts that dissolve in water-it has to be cheap and it's green!

[Jane]

THis is so fantastic and would be such a fun "project" for my third grade class!

[ms.gypsy]

You can also use leftover fabric (we have a store in Portland called SCRAP that sells wonderful overstock and unused sample upholstery fabric) to make your own cover. http://www.sewing.org/enthusiast/html/et_beanbag.html and http://www.instructables.com/id/bean-bag-sofa-%2F-bed/ are places for instructions. (The latter is for a rather oversized one, more like a daybed, but if you have enough peanuts to make one I say go for it.) Also, I read the comment regarding the peanuts crumbling or compressing and I have sat in one of these, so I can say that it's not uncomfortable and I don't think the peanuts compress any worse than the regular filling used in such chairs.

[Heather]

We use personal documents that have been shredded to stuff our pillow cases.

[Christine]

Great idea--I was just looking at a bag full of packing peanuts I have. A lot of shipping places will also take used peanuts, if you don't want a beanbag chair.

[Mayu]

Very good! I also use the peanuts as a base for my potted plants. Stones and crushed pottery get very heavy when lugging around planters. The peanuts are a godsend as they provide drainage and are also light as air! They also last forever and I reuse them over and over and over....

[Siri]

Funny. I just wrote a post yesterday about how I was making a bean bag chair like this using packing peanuts and somebody referred me this way.
The pattern I used is the one someone linked to above to make the beanbag cover and lining. The outer material is new denim but the inner lining is made from thrifted bedsheets and secondhand zippers.
Our local shipping outlet has been happily taking all of our extra packing peanuts for years so they tell me that anytime I need any just come back in and ask.