Recycled Salad Bowl Sets

Vintage wooden salad bowl sets make great holiday gift baskets, and there's no shortage of them at yard sales and thrift shops.
Here's a vintage salad bowl set which I recently cleaned, painted, sanded, and stained ~ ready to use as individual holiday gift baskets. I use them to hold gifts of various themes, such as guest soaps & rolled wash cloths, kitchen spices & spoons, or hot cocoa & tea packets with candies, etc. I use cellophane gift basket bags from Dollar Tree & tie with jute twine for fast and easy gifts.

Did you know you can remove grease & grime from vintage wooden wares with baking soda? (Not for use on valuable antiques, of course!) I mix baking soda
& warm tap water to form a thick paste & rub it over greasy wood surfaces, allowing it to dry. After rubbing the paste off with a dish towel dipped in hot water, I put them in a sunny spot to dry. You might want to test a small area before completely covering your wooden wares in baking soda, sometimes this causes the wood to crack. 

For this particular set, I painted the outsides only ~ using various colors of latex flat interior paint, sanded the edges for an aged look, then rubbed oil-based wood stain with sealer over the entire surface including the natural wood interiors.

 redshedvintage.com© copyright 2014

 

Trash Talk Thursday: Repurposed Pu-Pu Platter Pineapples

Festive 1960's Luau parties called for festive Hawaiian serving platters, so nearly every home ended up with at least 1 wooden monkey pod pineapple. Often sold as pu-pu platter serving sets, pineapple shaped serving pieces included bowls, trays, mugs, tidbit servers, condiment cups.
Since the Pineapple has long been the symbol of hospitality, why not repurpose some vintage pineapple shaped wares during the holidays?
After adding a coat of green acrylic paint to the bottoms of some pineapple bowls, I added a coat of crackle medium to just the body part of the bowl. (I've heard that plain white school glue has the same effect, but I haven't tried that myself.) When dry, I covered the crackle medium with mustard yellow acrylic craft paint, resulting in a more primitive pineapple-like finish with the green peeking through. Brown would also be a great base coat, if you'd rather. When the paint was completely dry, I used a cotton rag to rub a coat of oil-based walnut wood stain over the entire surface. Happy with the upgrade, I ventured on to try the same colors on some pineapple shaped mugs & tidbit trees.
I added some pineapple scented wax shapes in some to give as hostess gifts (made from store-bought wax melts and pineapple chocolate molds ~ rubbed in ground ginger) and tied some of the smaller bowls onto holiday wreaths. These also can be used for organizing or displaying so much more than just serving up pu-pu party finger foods!  © copyright 2013 redshedvintage.com

 

 

 

 

Autumn Bowl!

 

Serving up salads with flair created a need for artful vessels back in the 1960's ~ 80's. Salad bowl sets in a variety of shapes and themes became a staple in kitchen serving ware, including  wooden bowls in the shape of different fruits to coincide with salad ingredients and/or pu-pu platter spreads. Apples, pears, pineapples, even acorns were popular salad serving themes.

I added even more flair to these thrift-store apple shaped wooden bowls, by painting/sanding/staining them different shades of orange ~ perfect for Autumn décor !  I used the largest bowl for trick~or~treat candies, the smaller bowls for Fall potpourri mix, pumpkin flavored coffee creamers, guest soaps in the bathroom, and displaying pumpkin scented wax shapes. Next week I'll share how I updated some pineapple shaped pu-pu platter bowls! © copyright 2013 redshedvintage.com

~ Have a safe & happy Halloween ~ 

 

  

 

 

Trash Talk Thursday: Repurposed Planter Dough Box

While antique dough boxes are great for displaying wooden bowls, a modern day planter can be a much cheaper alternative for those of us on a tight decorating budget! This newer wooden plant tote box was a $2.00 thrift store find, just the right size for my collection of farmhouse dough bowls.
While the sides of this wooden box were already embellished with embossed metal panels, a carved wooden applique/onlay can be glued to any planter box for an artistic touch, available at most home improvement, hardware, or craft supply stores.

Using a $1.00 can of 'oops' mistinted flat blue wall paint sample from Home Depot, I brush painted 2 coats over the entire surface, allowing 1 hour drying time between coats.

The next day, I very lightly sanded the edges with a piece of fine grit sandpaper to add an aged primitive look, dusting the excess powder with a dry rag. As a final finish, I dipped a clean cotton rag in Ace Hardware's oil-based Walnut wood stain, rubbing an even coat over the entire surface & allowing a couple of days drying time before using.
copyright 2013 www.redshedvintage.com