Repurposed Vintage Kitchen Tools Into Farmhouse Decor

Here’s something you should know about me: I love food. I love cooking it, eating it, and watching shows about it. So it comes as no surprise to me that when looking for new design inspiration, I tend to gravitate towards kitchen and food-related items. They are some of my favorite items to repurpose, especially when they are too rusted or otherwise degraded to use for their original purpose.

Here are two ideas for repurposing vintage kitchen tools into decor with loads of farmhouse appeal!

{Click here for more repurposing ideas!}

There is something so neat about vintage colanders, don’t you think? I was pretty stoked when I found these. As much as I wanted to make lamps with them, I don’t have the skills…yet (see #86). So I searched for an embarrassingly long time until I found the perfect component to create something else with them.

All the colanders really needed was a bit of cleaning. I thought the blue on the candlestick was a bit dark, so I gave it some whitewashing/dry brushing with some leftover DIY chalk paint to shabby them up a bit. My technique basically consisted of applying the paint, then wiping with a wet paper towel until I liked the look 🙂

Then, I flipped the candlestick upside down (it fit better that way), and put all of the pieces together to make a tiered stand. Easy, right? I just love it all dressed up for the holidays!

The next project took a bit more work, but was just as much fun. Remember our vintage postcard printable from a few weeks ago? Well, that wasn’t the only thing I bought at that church flea market. Not by a long shot 🙂 I also found an awesome antique flour sifter, and immediately thought of another repurposing project – a wall sconce!

But first, to build the stand. I picked up a fence picket from the hardware store and had them cut it down to size. Since I knew I wanted to do quite a bit of distressing, I added some strategically placed Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Louis Blue.

Here’s a tip: Two-color distressing is a really easy way to add interest to a painted piece! Just choose a color for your base coat – do a full coat, or paint spots of color where you know you’d like to distress (like I did). Then add one or two coats of your top color. When you’re ready to distress your piece, try sanding down to the base color in some spots, and down to the wood in others! Taking photos after the base coat can help you remember where to distress.

For the main paint color, I used ASCP Emperor’s Silk with a touch of Graphite to take the brightness down a bit.

This project was my first time trying wet distressing. I have to admit, I got kind of impatient with it fairly quickly, and reverted to my trusty 180 grit sandpaper 🙂 The pieces then got two coats of wax (click here for great tips on using wax).

After attaching the pieces of wood together, I added screw eyes, twine, and of course, the sifter. A little glass insert fit perfectly and turned the sifter in to a perfect holder for candles or flowers!

I am just loving the rustic feel of these pieces!

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Shared at My Repurposed Life, Savvy Southern Style, and these awesome link parties!