Category Archives: New uses for old things

Using rustic antique pieces to make craft organization a part of your decor

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Happy New Year everyone! This time of year I always get the urge to go through my things, organize and purge. How about you? I’ve recently been working on how to best utilize our space in our second bedroom – that functions as our guest room, garage, office, and my craft room. Which has been quite challenging! The space gets most often used by me and my etsy projects, so I tried to make my supplies as accessible as possible, without making it look like the crafts are taking over. I decided to make the way I stored things a part of the decor. Here is what I came up with!

Using clothespins and wooden spools to wrap my ribbon and fabric scraps and placing them in large mason jars.
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Using pretty baskets to store fabric and scraps.  And check out my vintage sugar and coffee tins that I found at a garage sale! Those hold all my adhesives and office supplies! You’d never know! :)

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Turning coke crates right side up makes for a great wall piece and creates slots to organize pretty pieces like my bakers twine, washi tape and tag collection.  Use short mason jars to fit in the slots too!

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And I found this lovely card organizer at the long beach antique market and decided I would just put my card collection on display!

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And I love this piece we received as a wedding gift from pottery barn. It’s been a great way to organize crafts and it looks great hanging on the wall! Again, using mason jars in a slotted piece gives each item its place!

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I know this space of ours will constantly change, but for now it’s working pretty well! Happy organizing!!

Antique market finds that make a house a home

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One of my favorite things to do on the weekend is to go to local antique markets to see what one of a kind finds are just waiting to be picked up! There are some large markets near where I live that happen usually once a month, but also many smaller shops that are open most days of the week!

I love finding old things that can be used in a new way, and always with a rustic, antique style.

One thing I always keep an eye out for are ceramic pottery crocks and ceramic whiskey jugs. I don’t know why but I just think they add a unique rustic look, and the crocks are great for storage! Here is an old butter churn that my mom found at an antique shop. It looks great in our living room and provides extra hidden storage!Another fun thing to look for are scales. I think they add a fun country look and work especially well in the kitchen!Wooden coke crates and trunks are also really fun finds that add a lot of character. They can be used for so many things! We use them for everything. Stay tuned for a “new uses for old things” post on all those handy solutions for vintage coke crates. PS – the reclaimed wood custom wedding sign can be purchased at my etsy shop! Check out the cool things my husband already had on the wall of our house before we got married! An awesome antique washboard and a vintage phone! And lastly, MASON JARS. You know I always look for those.

The really good ones – the actual old vintage ones and the pretty blue ones can only be found at antique markets or thrift stores.
Hopefully this inspires you to keep an eye out for some fun home decor when you are out at local antique stores! Happy hunting!

Creative Guestbook ideas – got mail?

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Instead of a traditional Guestbook where your guests sign their name, why not make the Guestbook signing into an activity for your guests and have them actually write notes to the bride and groom? It can help to pass time between ceremony and reception and provides a really fun and special activity for the bride and groom to look back and remember their wedding day.

There are many ways to do this, see some ideas that inspired me below. I liked the idea of a “wishing wall” or a time capsule to open for years later in your marriage.

Photo above from greenweddingshoes.com.  Photo below from ruffledblog.com.

 Sticking with the idea to have something to open after the wedding, we decided to use an old mailbox and have our guests write little love letters to the bride and groom. I found a simple old white mailbox at an antique market and used that for the guests to leave us a note.Once you decide what you want to use to catch all the notes, you can then decide what kind of cards and envelopes you want to use. We used Kraft paper envelopes and cards to fit our theme. It becomes fun then to think of your “Guestbook” table as part of the decor for your wedding and you can be really creative! We used an old coke crate with 2 sides where we held notecards and envelopes and then mason jars to hold the pens.

The important thing to make sure you provide instructions so your guests know what to do. We used a chalkboard for this, which also added to the decor. (photo credit to Bethany Cissel Photography!)

You can have so much fun with it! We even used an old typewriter (thanks Gail!) to add to the vintage look of the table. What could also be fun is actually using the type writer to have the guests “sign in”.

Use every opportunity in your wedding to do something creative and unique, and don’t feel stuck in what things are “should” be like. There are so many fun ideas out there! Use your wedding decor and activities to show your personality as a couple.  It will make your entire day feel more comfortable and personal for you and your guests.

New uses for old things: 1 – Rake

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I thought I’d start a new series on “new uses for old things” since we have used so many old things in our house that double as decor and for practical uses as well. When you have a smaller house all spaces are important!

So, with that, we have ended up with a rake in our kitchen. Yes…a rusty old rake… in our kitchen.


I had seen a rake head used for other things in the past (to hold necklaces, craft supplies, etc.) so whenever I was at an antique market I kept my eye out for one thinking it might come in handy one day.  Actually, the day Matt and I got engaged is the day that I finally found this rake at an antique farm in Big Bear so it’s kinda special to us!

So when we began making our house a home, we noticed we have this space above our stove that needed something, but it had to be something that was practical, not just decorative.  And then we remembered the rake!  What a cool look it had sitting there above our stove… but what to fill it with??  Why – kitchen utensils of course.

We previously had all those lovely kitchen utensils stuffed in a drawer and not so easily accessible.  But it turns out – they all had holes in the top, in case you do want to hang them!  And since we have a ton of utensils and not a lot of drawers or counter space, we thought it was a perfect solution to hang some of them.  Check it out!

A great way to save space and add to the decor of your home.  I love how old antique things add so much character.

And here is a full shot of them hanging over the stove – exactly where you need the utensils anyway!  So easy to just grab one a stir a pot or flip a burger.

What old things have you used in new ways?  Stay tuned for more in the series of new uses for old things from this end of the screen!