Giving A Vintage Item a Second Chance!

Since I was a child, I found the look of old unique decorative home decor very refreshing to look at and couldn’t wait until I got old enough to put them in my own home.  I admired the smooth look of vintage items lined along the “I love Lucy” cabinet.  Really, it didn’t matter whose house I saw them in; these vintage pieces were beautiful.

The problem with old items is that they need polish, sanded and re-stained.  Many people don’t have the time or skills to restore these pieces to look as good as they did in the 1950s, 60s or 70s.  Instead, they retire these pieces, selling them in garage sales or sending them to a thrift store for resale. That might sound sad, but for a thriftier like me, it becomes a great find. 

For instance, I held on to this vintage wooden kitchen canister set with a decorative inset depicting a utensil holder.  This is a rustic country-style farmhouse set used in kitchens to store sugar, flour, tea, coffee, rice, etc.

When I bought these from a thrift store, the wood was flawed and fading, and one of the insets was barely hanging in place. From a collector’s eye, this was a gem that required little work to restore, which I did.

I lightly sanded the wood in areas that required attention, then I re-stained the canisters with a stain and seal matching the original color.  I re-glued one inset and secured it in place and made sure the other insets were not loose. 

The white plastic canister inserts were dirty and required me to soak them in bleach.   They sat for many hours, but finally they turned white enough to be used again.

I was pleased with the outcome but didn’t want to use these as canisters again due to the lack of tightness of the lids.  Actually, the lids sat on the canisters but did not snug them enough to keep moisture or air out.

Because I love the look of these vintage canisters, I decided to give them a second chance and use them as my utensil holders.  No surprise, right.  The insets gave me the ideal and they look beautiful in my kitchen.

The brown of the wood and gold of the inset gives character to a plain and undecorated kitchen. 

So, if you have a piece of history that can be used to serve another purpose, give it a second chance before you retire it, put it in a garage sale or send it to a thrift store.