10 WAYS TO DECORATE WITH VINTAGE LADDERS

The power of finding beauty in the humblest things, makes home happy and life lovely.   Louisa May Alcott

 I've found the above statement to be so true as I look for creative ways to repurpose "humble" items like vintage ladders. I've gathered 10 creative ways to decorate with ladders that I found on Pinterest. Find one that makes you smile and then re-create it in your home. 

                              Enjoy books? Stack them in the corner on a ladder. I love this look!

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                              Have a garden? Add potted plants in old galvanized containers.

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                                       A bedside "table" with plenty of room for collectibles.

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                                              On the porch for different Holiday decorating.

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                               How about adding some baskets for added storage in your bath?

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                                           Adding flowers to a painted ladder makes a lovely vignette.

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                                         Use ladders in decorating for outdoor entertaining!

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                                      Love this little ladder with a pretty bouquet of flowers!

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                                       How clever is this for hanging jackets in a mudroom?

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                                       And another outdoor decor vignette. The old shoes are so cute!

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Inspired? Try one ( or more ) of these ideas for yourself! If you're local, I happen to have two big vintage ladders that I'm willing to sell right now...before our next sale! One is similar to the one just above and the other is painted a bright fun green! Leave a comment if you're interested!

HOW TO ORGANIZE WITH VINTAGE TREASURES

"Organizing is what you do before you do something so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up." Winnie the Pooh


I love to be organized! And I love to decorate with vintage decor! So combining the two is a perfect fit for me! Even in my art/crafting room I stay away from the plastic organizing bins and look for old boxes, old drawers, and other creative storage pieces. I use vintage planters to hold colored markers, old wired baskets for odds and ends, a vintage wooden shoe rack holds old drawers filled with goodies, and a long primitive bench holds a few things "waiting" to be stored. It sparks my creative spirit to be surrounded by old, repurposed, vintage inspiration. 

Want to get inspired to organize? I've gathered up some photos of spaces that illustrate how others have organized with vintage decor. It's "organization" and "decor" rolled into one.

Notice the use of the tool carrier, the ladder, the old wood shelf, the advertising boxes, wicker baskets, as well as the metal drawers...

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                                I love this idea using old milk crates for storing sports equipment.

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                              Below is a hutch turned into great crafting storage. So cute!

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Below is my wooden shoe rack with an advertising box, a vintage drawer, wicker basket, and other boxes holding ribbons, vintage hankies, bits and bobs and more. This is a work in progress...

                             This vintage gum display of mine awaits treasures to store..My husband keeps         throwing his pill bottles in there  and would like to use it for that but I'm not" feeling it".

      
                       And my husband likes this old silverware caddy for all the remotes. I was going to paint it but he likes the old wood look.
                                         

                              This old berry box from Buds Berry Farm now holds magazines. It was a perfect find because my Dad's name was "Bud".

This little guy below used to hold sand in a bucket ( inside the ring ) which was used for putting out cigarettes. The little cup on the side held matches. We purchased a little bucket, sprayed it with chalkpaint, and wrote "KEYS" on the side. He now stands in our foyer and the bucket holds our keys.

To see more storage ideas for vintage treasures go to my Pinterest board, "Vintage Style Organizing".

And if you happen to be coming to our Spring occasional sale ( see sidebar ) we will have plenty of vintage and antique treasures for storing your treasures with vintage flair!

ONLINE OCCASIONAL SALE

I had mentioned that I was going to offer a few things once a month for sale. Kind of an online occasional  sale. So this month for the first week in July I"m offering for sale 5 pieces of tarnished silver. Now maybe some of you are wondering why I don't polish this stuff up before I sell it!  ; )  But this is a look that I'm favoring right now. I personally have some pieces of tarnished silver in my decor. Like the little cup and sugar bowl I'm using in my bathroom to hold scented candles and Q-tips:

                             And this tarnished silver bowl for other little bathroom essentials:

                                        And this baby cup and goblet I bring out at Easter:

                              I also use one big tarnished silver mold as a candle holder.( Sorry no photo)... But I have found that I love the rustic," romantic", vintage, look of tarnished silver. There is just something about it that makes me smile when I see it! It is one of the elements that is a part of the "Country Beautiful"  design style I started on Pinterest. Take a peek at that board for inspiration and also my Pinterest board, "Tarnished Silver" for more inspiring ideas on how to use these much loved vintage beauties. To get to my Pinterest boards, click on the Pinterest link on the right sidebar of my blog. You might want to go there NOW to get inspired before you see what is for sale here...


 ( this is space and time for you to go to the Pinterest boards I mentioned and get inspired! I'll just wait here until you get back....)



OK...Are you back? Don't you love all the inspired decor? Aren't you just wanting that beautiful look of tarnished silver right now in your own home? OK, then, you can have it!! Here is what you can buy... right now...right where you are sitting...all you have to do is shoot off an e-mail...

                          
                    1)   This beautiful tarnished silver trophy bowl.( Baby's breath not included ) $18

The trophy says," 1988 CHANNEL 7, Invitational "C", 1st " Anyone know someone working at Channel 7? They won first place but I don't know what for!

 

                                        

                         2)   Another trophy in the form of a pitcher... $16

This pitcher was won by a John Shepard for "runner up" at Squash Singles, Nassua C.C. It does have a little dent by the word "Squash". I knew a John Shepard but I don't know if this is his or not. They have moved away...Anyone here in town know if this is the John we know?

 

 3)  Next is this vintage tin mold. Not really silver but same look.  $7

  4)  This adorable bowl with lid.  $14

 I love the pretty handle on top.

5)   And last but not least, is this little cracker tray. But you can find a way to repurpose it in a fun way.  $6

 

So if you are interested in buying any of these fun pieces, e-mail me at lesacookman@charter.net. If you are local, you can "pick up" and save the shipping charges. If you are not local, I will e-mail you shipping charges. Sorry, offer open only to those in the continental US. 

Offering a few things online allows people who are not local, the opportunity to benefit from our sales! And for those of you who so faithfully come to our sales, well, here's the chance to buy something before our next event in September!  For yourself or gift giving!

THE FUN OF RE-PURPOSING

Creativity:  Finding new purposes for old treasures.

 I love the creativity people have when they shop our sale. Many tell us how they are going to "re-purpose" the vintage items they are purchasing for use in their home. Here are some examples:

This old gum display was purchased by a new Mom for a colorful nursery for their twin boy and girl. Their little baby shoes will be stored on these racks for now. Later, when the shoes get too big for this rack it will have another purpose. How fun is that?

This vintage comb and brush holder was purchased by a teenage girl who will use it to store her nail polish. What a great idea!

This vintage silverware tray has cute little images on a green border. Its new owner is keeping it on her kitchen counter filled with tea bags! So clever. I have one of these also but in red and I ended up "stealing" her idea!

 

The two photos above are of a very old grain bin scoop. The lucky owner said she would use it at Christmas for decor, adding greenery and other beautiful treasures to it. I'd love to see this!

Hob Nobber partner Renee purchased my vintage laundry cart to use as...well, for her laundry. Well, some things are still fun to use for their original purpose. It was however, an industrial cart. She waited until the end of the sale to give our customers first dibs though. I was surprised that it wasn't one of the first things to go. I will be sharing some items in another post  that I was surprised that didn't sell.

Another item that was re-purposed (though I don't have a photo ) was an old antique "washer". It consisted of a long pole with a funnel-like thing at the bottom. I'm going to take the credit here for finding a new purpose for this. It didn't sell until I put some rolls of toilet paper on the pole so you could use it as a unique storage for extra rolls of toilet paper. I just slipped those toilet paper rolls on it and someone snapped it up. People even came back and asked if we had more of those "toilet paper holders". Hah!

What new creative uses have you found for your vintage items? I'd love to hear about them!

WORKSHOPS NOW ON BLOOMING BOOMERS BLOG

Well, here I am apologizing AGAIN for being a bad blogger. It has been a while since my last post because...well, once again I'm putting my priorities first and blogging is kind of down there on the list. I recently offered a workshop online on this blog about being intentional in living the life you want.

 

 I've found through continuing to apply this workshop to my life that my intentions lean most to helping my family and others. Thus I've been out there in "real life" doing that. I DO understand that many of you bloggers out there are blogging as a part time income and thus need to be about blogging often as your job. So we all have different reasons for blogging that also come into play.

I began my  Hob Nobber blog  to show our customers what we have purchased for our upcoming occasional sales... as well as a fun hobby, of course. But if you are a blogger you know that blogging takes a lot of time...taking photos, getting the photos on the computer, writing the posts, reading and commenting on others' blogs etc.  All GREAT FUN but it DOES take time.

SMALL LINENS AT OUR HOB NOBBER VINTAGE SALE

 But I have also been pursuing other interests in the blogging arena. As some of you know,  I've held free "workshops" about living the life you desire on this blog.

LIVING THE LIFE YOU'VE DREAMED ABOUT

 At one point a friend and I were blogging and offering similar workshops, though not online. This has been a continuing interest of mine and also of my friend, Sherrie. We keep finding such great ideas to help us live a fulfilling life that we just want to share them with others. So we've decided once again to blog about these ideas, then offer workshops to share this amazing information. Sooooo... our Blooming Boomers blog is now again up and running with helpful posts to encourage your life to "full bloom". Consequently I won't be offering this kind of workshop on this blog but rather on our BB blog. We'd love to have you come and see what we're up to. In the very near future we will be offering a Give-Away and lots more posts of interest to women ( though not ONLY for baby boomers ) so be sure and subscribe so you get all the good info right in your inbox!



I WILL continue to share my finds of vintage, industrial, and farmhouse wares for our upcoming Hob Nobber sales and interesting stories about the mansion we live in... but don't own. And also a few posts to give you ideas on how to repurpose some vintage items. So here are some ideas for repurposing vintage items that I have in my home right now.

VINTAGE IRONSTONE GRAVY BOWL AS CANDY DISH

Yes, my friends have laughed at me over this one. I was offering some candy and someone said, "That's just an old gravy bowl!" But I love it!

ANTIQUE WOODEN RICE SCOOP FROM CHINA WHICH I HAVE SOME LAVENDER BUDS IN TO GRAB A SCENT ONCE IN A WHILE...I NEED TO FILL IT UP A BIT MORE

OLD WOOD BOX FOR STORING BATHROOM ESSENTIALS

VINTAGE BERRY CARRIER (FROM THE LOCAL BUD'S BERRY FARM ) WHICH HOLDS MAGAZINES

VINTAGE SOAP DISH HOLDING A HAND-MADE TOP AS LIVING ROOM DECOR AND GRANDKID TOY

VINTAGE SILVER BOWL WITH MORE BATHROOM ESSENTIALS

So that is what has been happening in  my life! I hope you join us on Blooming Boomers as well as continuing on following me here!