Fun With Findings

Ideas for Those Odds and Ends Hang onto those odds and ends you find in your garage and attic. Here are some ideas for just a few of the items you most likely have hanging around gathering dust.

Wooden Ladders � Paint an old wooden ladder and prop it up against a wall in your home. In your living room or den, it can serve as a magazine rack. In a bath, the shorter stepstool versions, whether hung or freestanding, can easily become towel racks. If your kitchen d�cor tends to be more country, primitive or rustic, hang one horizontally from the ceiling. The result is a unique rack to hang all sorts of pots and pans from. This works especially well over a kitchen island.

Picnic Baskets � Stack a few to create a quaint and practical end table. Store extra throw pillows or magazines inside for quick and easy access when needed. Storage items also help to add a little extra weight, which help to keep the baskets from tipping over.

Vintage Wooden Rakes � Whether the handle is still attached or not, old wooden rakes offer a lot of charm and purpose when hung by a back entryway. Keys, small baskets, jackets and scarves can all find homes hanging here.

Antique Furniture Hardware �How often do we find mismatched hardware from old furniture tucked here and there in junk drawers? Put them to use! Loop-handled pulls from old bureaus work great as eyeglass holders. Mount one or more on your wall or inside a cabinet and you will always know where your glasses are! Attach a metal O-ring and a clip and these can also be used to hang spare keys.

Wooden Shutters � If you find yourself with one or more old shutters, they can be repurposed in a multitude of ways. Depending on the particular style of the shutter (louver, flat front, etc), these can be used as magazine racks when propped along a wall. If you have two or more shutters, they can be hinged together and used a room screens or room dividers. Adorn them with the paint color or d�cor of your choice to create an innovative and practical accent to any room in your home. Or perhaps mount them to the wall behind your bed to create a one-of-a-kind headboard. In your living room, they make for an interesting backdrop or wall treatment behind the sofa or buffet.

Vintage Doorknobs � Anything displayed in a group creates visual interest. They can also serve a practical purpose. Mount 3 or more doorknobs (the old glass or porcelain ones look especially charming) onto a board and create an instant rack to hang just about anything from jewelry to hand towels to your doggie�s leash!

Dresser Drawer � Regardless of the size of the drawer, it can be refashioned very easily for various uses. Attach casters to the bottom and you have instant under bed storage that can be easily accessed and rolled back into place. Or, create a base from wooden crates for instance, and turn that drawer into a coffee or side table topped with either glass or a wooden board cut to size. When done with more than one drawer, they can be placed next to one another to form a modular table whose size can be configured according to need.