DIY Vintage Kitchen Decor

The small things make the biggest difference in a customized vintage kitchen. An authentic vintage kitchen, over time, would inherit accents, accessories and fixes which were distinctive and one-of-a-kind. Make your very own clever decor items — which each have an individual postage — using cast-offs, recycled cookware and unexpected juxtapositions to function functional as well as ornamental purposes.

New “Old” Knobs

“Theme” the knobs on your kitchen cabinets using a simple decoupage trick that looks like a customized accent. Remove the old cabinet hardware and buy some bare wood cabinet knobs. Paint the knobs to coincide with a walk-in cabinet or built-in cabinets. Print pictures to match on the flatter front of the knobs, or cut designs out of novels or gift-wrap paper — fleur-di-lis, stars, shells, cameo ovals of old-fashioned botanicals, or a different design that picks up on your kitchen theme. Spray the newspaper decals with matte clear fixative to prevent color bleed or tearing when you affix them to your knobs. Then decoupage the layouts to the knobs and spray a few coats of the clear sealer over the full knob so it will be simple to wipe clean once it’s attached to the closet.

Spinning Platters and Record Time

Disguise a cheap plastic Lazy Susan with old vinyl. Paint a 33 rpm album with clear polyurethane to protect it. If it dries, use industrial adhesive to ensure the record to this Lazy Susan base. Park it on the countertop to hold spices or on the breakfast bar for condiments. Attach the battery-operated workings of a clock to the rear of a vinyl album, with the fingers on the record face connected through the spindle hole. Hang your rock-around-the-clock timepiece over the sink.

Primitive Pendant

A vintage grain sieve, using its around wood frame and screen surface, becomes a new pendant lamp for a rustic kitchen nearly as quickly as you’re able to change a light bulb. Simply salvage the working guts of a trash-ready pendant — the wire and lighting socket — and screw the lamp wire through a length of hardened chain sprayed with clear fixative to stabilize the rust. Spray the sieve screen with clear lacquer too, as it’s either hardened or soon will be. Cut a crosshatch hole in the center of the screen using a wire cutter, and thrust the lamp wire through so the lighting fixture is on the interior of the sieve. Connect the lamp wire to the ground wiring and hook the chain to the joist or brace, then replace the ceiling medallion or pendant canopy, and screw in a vintage-style light bulb.

Wash-Up Board

A vintage cutting board along with an old teacup would be the ingredients for a handy soap and towel station beside the sink. Leave the stains and scratches on the old board as-is, and give it a couple of coats of matte polyurethane to prevent mold and make it simple to wipe down. Or whitewash the board, then use a small crackle glaze to trend some of this paint, and sand the edges to simulate wear. Cut the cup in half using a tile saw and paste it to the cutting board using industrial glue. Beneath the tea cup, then screw a painted ceramic or curved wood cabinet knob in the very board. Hang the cutting board to a wall, set a bar of soap in the teacup, and curtain a kitchen towel over the knob.

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