New Use for an Old Thing

Thought I'd share a few vintage items that I've conscripted for use in ways other than what were originally intended.

These beauties were purchased at a Salvation Army. Labeled coffee, tea, sugar, and flour, I thought they were the perfect thing to have in the kitchen. I hammered some holes in the bottom for drainage and planted low light plants in them. You'll want to choose your plants carefully because the copper tends to inhibit the growth of most plants. This can be combated by keeping plants in their plastic containers inside the canisters or by planting different varieties of Philodendrons, which will survive absolutely anything.

We needed something small to hold the soap in our shower because it was getting slimy. The shelf in the shower is smaller than most, so I didn't want a big soap dish taking up space. When I came across this metal frog previously used when arranging flowers, I thought it would be perfect as a soap drainer. It had very sharp metal spines, so I dragged it across the concrete sidewalk out back a few times until I felt it had been dulled enough not to cause injury to fingers reaching for the soap.






My sisters and I have a hard time passing up the china at thrift stores because growing up we learned that even if vintage bread plates and tea saucers are chipped, etched, or have those spider cracks old pottery sometimes get, they make the perfect base for potted indoor plants. They are a much cuter (and often cheaper) way to catch water than the terra cotta version.

This coated metal plate rack was originally used for storing plates in cabinets, but now we use it as a handy dish drainer next to the sink. It takes up less space than traditional metal dish drainers. The fun thing about the old metal racks like these are that they are easily used in tons of different ways. You could also use this rack to hold magazines, and it could easily be hung on the wall to hold your mail. My sister uses an old potato chip clip rack to display postcards and mail.

Not too long ago, I was given a glass frog, which I rarely use for its original purpose of flower arrangement (who knew there were so many different types and that they had so many other purposes?), but recently I thought to use it on my desk at work as a unique pen holder. Much more interesting than the metal canister from Staples, anyway.