Mystery Plant Hanger

We have a building next to Our Gilded Abode that serves many purposes.  It houses our riding lawn mowers and lawn maintenance equipment, our lumber stash, hubby's tools that he uses infrequently, the big monstrous table saw, and basically anything else that we don't want cluttering up the garage attached to our house.  It's also a catch-all for things that are no longer needed but are "too good" to toss. 

As much as I don't necessarily like keeping things that aren't being used, I have to admit that having them has come in handy many times.

So when I decided I needed a bracket or hanger to hang my Boston fern from our back porch post, I knew just where to look for something to use. 

My first thought was to find an old plant hanger that I was no longer using.  And, within 10 minutes, I found just that. 

It would have worked perfectly fine and would have been a quick and easy option - just paint it, attach it to the porch post, hang the plant, and move on to the next project. 

But ........ you KNOW that wasn't going to happen!  LOL  It was a very boring option and not very creative at all.

So, I kept searching in the building and found this:

The perfect shape and  very heavy duty.   Was evident its original purpose wasn't to hang a lovely plant on a porch, but I didn't know what it was.  My first guess was perhaps a squirrel feeder - the kind that you screw a whole ear of corn to the base.

Squirrel Feeder

Plausible, but the curved "arm" didn't seem to serve a purpose. 

Even though I knew that in the end I'd use it as a plant hanger bracket, I wanted to know what it was.  So, I contacted Betsy at My Salvaged Treasures.  She has done some amazing repurposing projects using many types of items.  If you've not seen her wonderful blog, please check it out here.  If anyone would be able to help me identify this item, I knew it would be Betsy and her followers.

Sure enough, they didn't disappoint!  Through Betsy I learned that this item is actually a vintage spool holder that was mounted on the countertop of general stores, bakeries and butcher shops to hold spools of string and twine.  What a neat item! 

Now with the mystery solved, I was ready to implement my new use for the spool holder.  All it took was three long decking screws and the spool holder has a new and useful life as a plant hanger for my Boston fern. 




How do you feel about repurposing antique and vintage items?  I am personally all for it.  Rather than having the spool holder gathering more dust and spider webs in our building, it now has a prominent place on our back porch and is serving a true purpose, albeit not its original purpose. 

Some feel that old items should be maintained in their original condition.  I agree with that to some extent - if the item has extreme monetary value, I wouldn't touch it.  But, I feel that common everyday household items that are not needed for their original purpose should be repurposed and put to good use. 

What are your thoughts on repurposing antique or vintage items?  Please share!

 Thank you to My Flagstaff Home for graciously featuring this post!

 

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