Oct
4

Veronica's Vintage Finds

We love to hear from our readers - a little while back we received a great submission from Veronica Slater. Read below - she'll tell you the story in her own words. If you are reading this and would like to submit, please, we'd love to hear from you! We always welcome submissions of favourite vintage finds, collections, home tours, your work, etc. If it's a fit for the magazine or the blog, you will hear from us. Enjoy the beauty day out there!! Hope the sun is shining in your corner of the world.

"Among my favourite vintage goodies in our home, are these African tea cargo boxes (we have two). They were used to ship my in-laws belongings when they immigrated to Canada from the UK nearly 40 years ago. I recently up-cycled the only two remaining and repurposed them as side tables. Here’s how they’ve gone from sitting in my in-laws’ garage to being used and enjoyed every day:

* I covered the top opening with fitted coloured glass (also up-cycled from a leftover pile at a glass shop)

* The glass surface easily lifts off, so the boxes can be used for storage.

Total cost: just over $30/box.

I get a kick out of knowing that these boxes have gone from originally shipping tea out of Africa (as the print indicates) to serving as cargo boxes in ships, to sitting in a garage for almost half a century, to finally grace our home as tables and being useful again. The big letters, the copper trim and wood colour work well in every room so I keep moving them around!

Then there’s some Shoe forms (visible as bookends in the second photo). These were $5 apiece, I like the way they work with the tables so I use a pair as book holders but I’ve also repurposed a couple of others as coat hooks, and pencil holders. I used the metal loops they came with to attach a hook and a ceramic container on each. They are from IKEA and cost next to nothing. They give a touch of originality to my home office and bring a smile to the unconditional shoe lover in me!

It was hard to pick, but I think these goodies are my favourite ones!

Thanks Veronica!

Comments

I love this style Veronica,and the way you incorporated the glass just gives it more depth. Though my favorite thing about it is it brings back such memories of of my child hood as an army brat and the many times i watched and helped my parents pack our belongings into tea chests for the next move. I wish i still had some of them -i think my older brother may have managed to keep at least one, i will have to ask.
October 6, 2011 | Michelle