Can anything be beautiful?

Somewhen someone asked this question. And it’s a big question, isn’t it? Because anything really means…anything. But as tough as this question might be, the answer to it is rather simple. YES.

Really anything can be beautiful. If we just make it. Because anybody can make it beautiful. Maybe you can’t turn the whole wide world into a beautiful place. But the street you live in. The streets around that street. The things in those streets around your street. And you don’t have to throw a big street fete or organize a neighbour hood beautifying commitee. It’s in the small things.

The rusty bike that is taking the half of the sideway since months. Why not put it aside? The old mouldy bench in the park. Why not give it a paint and plant some flowers to it’s side? The ugly dirty car parking down the street? Why not give it a short washing? The litter laying on main street every 5 cm. Why not pick at least one up and throw it into a trash can? The people you meet on your way to the underground, frowning every morning. Why not smile at them?

These are small things. But they can make a difference. You make it.

This page set up to hopefully encourage you and your neighbour and his neighbours and this neighbours cousin and his mother-in-law and her rommé girls to do some small beautifying things every now and then. Because all together we probably really can make the whole wide world a bit more beautiful. Or even anything.

To give you some food for your brain and heart, we started to make things more beautiful. Maybe you want to do some of these things as well? Or, even better, think of new stuff, spread the word and encourage others to join in. In that case we have a friendly little helper for you. Why not leave a card like those shown below at every little beautifying thing you made? Just give us a nudge and we’ll send you a .pdf so you can print them right the way and get started.

If you have done stuff or have more ideas, please leave a comment on the “What’s this?” page and we’ll get in touch and post it. Some people already make the world a little bit beautiful. We like that. That’s why we put them in our blogroll at the bottom of this page. We’ll be happy if the next link will be yours.

Beautify park benches.

Around our block there is a nice park. With beautiful trees and birds and bees. Unfortunately everytime we ride around on our bikes there is something ugly catching our attention.

So yesterday we took the old pillows we used for our garden chairs, bought some flowers, put everything in our big black bag, took our two-wheeled peda-horse and rode down the alley. To make it a bit more beautiful. In order to make it fit to the nice people living around here and walking through the park. Here is a little video of our night action.

Doesn’t this look nice? We’re happy. Sure, it’s small and just a drop. Better started than not. And we bet around your blog is some old, mouldy bench as well. So why not take some minutes and fix it up? Believe us, sitting on your beautified bench is wonderful.

What do you think? Should we go on? We have some more ideas. Let’s see.

Beautify walls.

On our way to the office, everyday we’ll pass a wall covered with hundreds of yellow tiles. The last time it looked nice was approximately in the 70s. But maybe not even then it was beautiful.

So we thought: This wall could be the next thing we make a bit more beautiful. The tiles reminded os of pixel. And that fact did let an idea grow. During night, around 3 am, we walked down the stairs, our bags filled with 250 coloured sheets of paper and some glue. What we did? See for yourself:

What do you think? Cool, isn’t it? We’re really proud. But if you now are running to your local paper shop, buying some sheets and glue, please read this: It’s beautiful but not legal. So if you want to do it, just to put a smile on some faces you like on a grey monday morning, please use glue and papers you easily could remove if someone ask you to do. Because it’s not just about making anything beautiful, but being nice as well.

The most beautiful: SMILES.

While preparing our happy smiling tile-pixel-face in the underground station, we noticed something you may also have. People on the train or bus don’t smile. They frown. About news in the papers, about the smell of their neighbour, about being packed like sardines in a crushed tin-box. But, we think, more maybe because noone is smiling at them.

We think that smiling at people is the most beautiful thing. And because we want to put our little effort in making things more beautiful, we printed some cards. Like this:

In the morning we placed them on every bench in our underground station. And while being on the train, we simply smiled at people and handed them one of our cards. Guess what they did. If you want to spread some smiles and encourage others to smile and do so as well, simply download that card, print it out and take some with you.
You are a bit shy and not so sure about people’s reactions? Just leave some cards on empty seats and benches. That’s what we did on our first run as well.

Beautify garbage cans.

This is just another idea for all you out there. Around our block there are a lot of ugly, full-stickered garbage cans. They really ruin the streets, don’t they?

Big or small. We think it’s okay and a nice idea to beautify them and give them a human touch. So we created “Garbage Can People”. What’s that? Here’s our video:

If you like that, but are not so sure about this people thing, simply use nice wallpaper and glue it on them. It’s simple and will do it’s job as well. Make things beautiful.

What’s the next thing?

Honestly, do you think the internet is beautiful? And nice?

We think it could be way more beautiful, simplier, more interesting and more engaging. More nice stuff should be done there. Don’t you think as well? We have some ideas. So if you want to talk or meet, just leave a nudge in the comments and we’ll fix something.