Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Fun Use for an Old Kitchen Drawer

I salvaged this drawer from Kathern's house before it was torn down. Still makes me nauseous, weepy, and sentimental to know that old house is part of landfill now. But nothing in this life is permanent on this earth.

Anyway, I hung this drawer on a wall in my utility room as a primitive, fun, decorative piece.

Neno's old silverware and utility drawer.

It hasn't been the easiest "trinket" shelf to fill, as you can see it's spaces are long and narrow. I usually don't get in big hurry to fill spaces like this, because you never know when, and what, you will find that will be just the perfect thing.

For starters, I just looked around my house, acting like it was a store I'd never been in before. I call that, "making the familiar unfamiliar." So, I added a little milk bottle full of the petals of the first roses my husband gave me (before we were married). Then, on the bottom, I affixed the label off of an old apple crate, and added an old Springfield Grocer's notebook. Later, I added the vase of dried roses on top (quite honesty because I didn't know what else to do with them and didn't want to trash them yet).

Now, I have three spaces left to fill, so I eagerly look for just the right thing on my flea market and junkin' trips.

Don't have an old house from which you can scavenge a drawer? Never fear, look at flea markets, thrift stores, and yard sales. And my tip for flea marketing? Never pass one up, no matter how dirty or junky it looks. My favorites are the ones which have lots of junk and clutter on the outside; you never know what you will find, and usually at a pretty good price. And, don't be afraid to make an offer. What's the worst thing that will happen? They'll say no, shoot you another price, and more often than not, it will be a price you can live with.


Neno's Order notebook-Springfield Grocers,
Springfield, Missouri.
 Another thing I saved from Neno's kitchen cabinets was the hardware (drawer pulls). If you look at the picture of me doing dishes (on the sidebar of the blog page), you'll see round knobs about an inch and 3/4 round. Today, these knobs are the hardware on my daughters' cabinets in their bathroom. I'd post a picture of that, but, most of the time, their bathroom is uninhabitable, so I'm just gonna pass on that one.

Happy creating today; never dismiss something, like an old drawer, as useless. Have fun making the familiar unfamiliar!

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