rustic crafts & chic decor

Trash To Treasure: Vintage Heat Register Turned Clip Board

Rustic Crafts and Chic Decor

This past weekend, we visited with our in-laws and came back home with a few unique treasures!  Before my husband’s grandparents’ farm house was torn down, years ago, my in-laws took a few keepsakes from the house to hold on to.  I just love the forethought they had, especially since now we get to be the recipients of these cool items!

One of the keepsakes was an old heat register from off the wall.  I just love the look of it!  It’s so much more ornate than any of our registers today.  I knew I could find something to do with it and it didn’t take me long at all.

I sized it up and had the sneaking suspicion that it was about the same width as my old crate bookcase.  So,  I carried that baby up to my office and plopped it next to the crate and sure enough…..it was EXACTLY the same width – oh yeah!!  The register was also angled in a way that it sits propped up by itself very easily and sturdy.  It also had that great diamond shape metal grid pattern along the front.  This was going to make an awesome clipboard!  A perfect accompaniment for on top of my shabby bookcase.  All I needed to do was make some fun clips!

This is what the register looked like before is sanded and cleaned it.  Not much different but the cleaning brought out some of the copper color a little better.

Next, I took some regular clothespins and painted them with a copper metallic acrylic paint.

To add a little more interest to the clothespins, I glued on some rustic Tim Holtz safety pins, that I had, to also pick up some of the other colors of metal in the register.  I used my Loctite adhesive for quick bonding.

Rustic Crafts and Chic Decor Here is a close-up of the clothespin clip against the metal of the register.

Then I just put the whole ensemble together in my office with a couple of pictures and some other decor:

Rustic Crafts and Chic Decor

Rustic Crafts and Chic Decor

Rustic Crafts and Chic Decor

Happy Crafting!

I have shared this project at the following link parties:

Tip Junkie, Todays Creative Blog, One Project At A Time, Home Stories A To Z, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Creatively Living, Blue Cricket Design, Someday Crafts, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Katherines Corner, Delightfully Inspiring Thursday, Somewhat Simple, The Shabby Nest, 504 Main, At The Picket Fence, French Country Cottage, Stuff and Nonsense, Common Ground, 2805, Redoux

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