I found this fabulous grain sack in an antique store and had always wanted to frame one. I loved the simple graphics and texture of this particular one so I decided to give it a try using some barn wood I salvaged from an 1800s barn.
Check out similar vintage end tables, now available in my shop!
I found this amazing, antique Dwinnel-Wright shipping crate with 2 unique paper labels that were in great condition despite the 1906 date on it!
This box was a perfect candidate for a rustic end table with storage, but needed a lot of repair work and I needed to preserve those paper labels. I use Mod Podge to preserve vintage paper labels. I use a paintbrush to gently apply the Mod Podge. Use a throwaway brush as the glue doesn’t wash out well. It looks scary at first but dries clear and helps preserve the label from further flaking.
The lid was also in 2 pieces so I used a piece of wood and glued it underneath to hold the 2 pieces together. I also stained the wood so that it better matched the rest of the wood. Because of the age of the box and missing pieces from the lid, the pieces did not line up perfectly, but I think that adds to the character of the box!
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I always say to make the ordinary extraordinary. Rather than buy a bunch of mass manufactured pots, I decided to gather together a collection of eclectic, ordinary, every day, rusty, vintage containers. Some of these I did go out an buy at vintage/antique stores, but some I had lying around in my project room!
Just use your imagination! For mine, I chose some old milking buckets, glass light fixture globes, kitchen items, a rusty wire fruit basket, and a John Deere rusty wagon bed. (See final photos for finished results!)
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[this vintage, rustic coffee table is available now in my shop!]
I found this fabulous box awhile back and knew it would make a great coffee table but it had no top. Building a top is time consuming and at the time I didn’t have the tools, so I just held onto it.
Walter M Lowney was a chocolate company in Boston, MA from the late 1800s to early 1900s.
Original Lowney Chocolate Factory
I often make coffee tables out of amazing pieces like this one, but wanted to try something different.
And if you can believe it, this is the SECOND time I have found this box – the first one I did make into a coffee table!
But for this one, I figured, why not turn it vertical and make it into a wine rack?
Last Christmas I made some fabulous Christmas planters with vintage kitchen utensils. I decided to try some this year with some different vintage items.
I found these amazing vintage tins and thought they would look just as great as Christmas centerpieces! I just love the red and green pop of color and the graphics! (These vintage Christmas centerpieces are available now in my shop!)
Have you ever had one of those moments in life when you wanted to be a blessing to someone but in the process you actually felt like you were the one that was blessed? That’s how it happened in this story. It actually almost didn’t happen except for what I believe was “divine intervention”.
My husband and I decided we wanted to buy an antique cash register. We just loved the artistry and the detailed craftsmanship. We found one on Craig’s List and made arrangements to meet and purchase it. Only to find out when we arrived that the seller had already sold it to someone else who had come earlier. At the moment we were angry at the injustice, but turned back to Craig’s List in search of another.
Enter our friend into the story. A dear friend we would have never met had we not been double crossed by a creeper on Craig’s List. As it turned out, our friend worked his whole life for National Cash Register Company, as a cash register repairman. And as a side business, also restored and sold these beautiful registers. At one point in his career, he had an inventory of 900 antique cash registers.
Our very first cash register
These vintage Christmas wreaths are available now in my shop!
I have always loved this gorgeous, red metal go cart wheel. I’ve had it for quite awhile and although it’s a great architectural salvage piece as is, it occurred to me that it would look amazing as a Christmas wreath! And actually, you can make these fabulous farmhouse Christmas wreaths with just about any vintage wagon wheel.
I’ve always loved picking vintage advertising, but the signs can often be so expensive. I recently found these vintage paper advertisements taken from newspapers and magazines and had an idea about how to display them on the wall, given that their odd sizes make it hard to frame. Besides, I like this rustic idea better!
I decided I would attach them with mod podge on a rustic piece of wood. Now, it would be so easy to just grab a pre-made, blank, vintage-inspired wooden sign from the craft store (which you can do!).
However, other than greenery/floral and drawer hardware, I prefer to work with authentic vintage materials only.
Sometimes you find a sewing machine that cannot be saved, but still has some good parts to it! That’s what happened with this set of sewing machine drawers. I had seen in these in the past be re-purposed into a table.
The woodwork on these drawers is incredible. I imagined putting some sort of table top on it (the one pictured is from the sewing machine but not salvageable) and table legs on the underside. I found the perfect set of hairpin legs with L brackets that fit perfectly.
I first had to clean the drawers. I used a wet sponge for the first pass, then I used tung oil to bring out the wood color and grain. to get into the woodwork, I also dipped a toothbrush and q-tips in the oil to get to the hard to reach places.
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