Adrienne Fedor has a gift.

We might see something as useless or broken, but she sees it in a whole new light.“My goal is not to spend a lot of money,” says Fedor. “I’m generally a thrifty person.”She attributes her attitude to her family, in particular, her grandfather, who she says always “repurposed.”One of her creations, she calls “Work.” It’s an old paintbrush set in an electrical insulator. Affixed to the front of the brush is a lid from an old tin container where she glued a piece of paper that says “Work. We all work.”Fedor added a few pieces of coal she found in the Lansford backyard of her grandparents, Frances and the late Charlie Hager, and then sealed it with resin.The piece was inspired by her grandfather.“He was always thrifty and knew how to fix things instead of throwing them away, unlike some people today,” says Fedor. “We’re more a type of society to throw it away and buy something new.”But Fedor feels some of that attitude may be changing, especially with the popularity of television shows that encourage viewers to “do-it-yourself.”“There’s more of an interest in DIY,” she says.“People are becoming more interested in creating things on their own rather than buying. Pinterest and Etsy, where you can make and sell things, has become a huge motivator — the whole DIY movement. HGTV (the television network) is inspiring people to do it themselves.”Fedor says she regularly watches “Fixer Upper” with Chip and Joanna Gaines, and “This Old House” on PBS, shows she says reach out and connect with homeowners.“Being that I have a 90-plus-year-old house, a lot of (those same) issues apply to my house.”Fedor says she grew up with a love of history and frequently went to antiquing with her parents, Audrey and John Fedor, formerly of Lansford and now of Nazareth.“I’m sure my appreciation for older things came from my childhood and my parents.”Fedor has a degree in art education from Shippensburg University and will graduate in May with a master’s in art education from Kutztown University.She teaches art at Shull-David and Mahoning elementary schools in the Lehighton Area School District.She and her boyfriend, a history teacher, bought their 90-year-old Allentown home about a year and a half ago.They’ve been busy fixing up their home and in the process, Fedor has found and repurposed several items, such as her favorite vintage boxes. In her bathroom, an old cheese box hanging above the sink provides stylish storage.Other boxes are used throughout her home in staging vignettes and providing areas of visual interest.Fedor also enjoys doing collage work. For example, she cut iconic images from old children’s books from the 1950s and 1960s and decoupaged them onto the base of a ginger jar lamp she found at a thrift store.Other books are stacked into interesting displays. She’s done the same with other items, like trash cans, using pictures cut from old magazines.With a little imagination and ingenuity, it’s easy to turn your trash into treasure.