Thursday, May 9, 2019

Garden Collectables In A Vintage Tool Tray

Good Morning. 


How are you? 
Whenever I visit First Monday Trade Days in Canton, Texas, I am always amazed at the junk.  
I feel the urge to put chicken feeders and nesting boxes everywhere or make an old washing machine into a flower pot. 
I've resisted these urges. 


I've been seeing tool trays from old tool boxes for a long, long time. 


It's been one of those junky things that I just feel the urge to buy, however, I knew that Bill had some old tool boxes in the attic. He has three of them up there.
Two of them had red tool trays which seemed odd since the boxes weren't red. 


The trays were greasy from use so I spritzed them with Greased Lightening. 
The red started to come off. These trays had been spray painted. 


I asked Bill a little while ago, if ever felt like he married someone just like his dear, old dad. 
He was a little taken aback at my comment but then, I think he had to agree. 
His dad and I had a rocky start when Bill and I got engaged. My FIL passed away seven months after we got married so I never got to see if he would have warmed up to me. I have to think that he and I would have eventually gotten along and we would have gotten into some major projects together. Nothing would have been safe from our spray painting antics. 
Bill's dad loved cars. He may have spray painted these with automotive spray paint left over from a car he was working on. Bill used to have a red mustang convertible. 


The trays cleaned up pretty well. They have a rusted, chippy look. 
I thought you might like to see my process for styling something like this. 


I gathered some vintage and new garden collectables for the small tray. 
Peat pots and clay pots were added first. 
There really was only one spot that the clay pot worked, so that is why it went in first. 


Peat pots provide an instant unmistakable garden look. I ordered mine off of eBay. 

Summer flowers were added next. 


Vintage garden tools and an old spray nozzle were added. 


I always save my empty seed packets to use in decorating. A brass butterfly and the seed packets were added last. 


The other tray is a little bigger so it got styled with the same items. 


I couldn't decide which one to use. 









The bigger one in now the centerpiece on the kitchen table. 
You'll get to see it when the kitchen gets styled for summer. 
I'm loving red right now! I hope this was helpful. 

Stop in tomorrow for Ten on the 10th. Eleven of us are sharing gift ideas for under $10.00. 
Have a great day! 



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4 comments :

  1. Katie, what a beautiful thing you made out of the toolbox insert. I love finding old things and making them useful and pretty again. You did it with this one!

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  2. Love this creative project! Somehow, I believe your FIL is looking down in admiration :)

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  3. I think the tray looks great and I really love the story about Bill's dad. I think you are right -- in time you would have discovered that there is a part of you that was a kindred spirit!

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  4. I love old tool trays. I have a green one I filled with herbs a few years ago. I love yours and the truck is the perfect accent! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm--I'll be featuring you on Wednesday!

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