Sometimes you hold onto something and you really don't know why...you figure that if you hold on long enough, you will finally find a use for it...and then one day...
A couple of years ago I scored an old baby crib. Old baby cribs are a junker's dream - nobody wants them because they are a safety hazard so they are usually free for the taking. As a whole, they are useless - but the parts individually are wonderful. Often the footboard and the headboard on the old cribs were made of wood - saw off the legs, clean up any flaking paint, paint the center panel with chalkboard paint - and you have a great vintage chalkboard for your kitchen or office. Next the metal mattress spring - since it is a smaller size, it is ideal as either a kitchen pot rack (hung horizontally) or as an office organizer (hung vertically). The wooden slatted sides can either organize your wrapping paper (draping the sheets over the rungs) or your magazines or even your towels in the bathroom.
So after I cannibalized the crib, I was left with the metal hardware that enables one to raise and lower the sides of the crib. There were 4 metal rods that were bent at the end with a hole...it seemed that there should be an alternative use for them...I figured it would eventually dawn on me...and last week, I finally had that eureka moment. I collected up the rods and a couple of fan blades that I had in the metal stash pile.
With spring in the air, I thought that I would fashion some posies while waiting for the rest of the garden to come to life. I rummaged around and collected other metal parts. I don't know what these galvanized cages are, but with twist here and a bend there, they looked like flower centers to me.
I attached the "flower" parts by threading a machine screw from the back hole of the metal rod, through the fan center and up through the centers of the other small metal findings, capping off the end of the machine screw with a drawer knob. I staked my finished flowers in the garden - they add a flash of fun while I wait for my summer blooms.
