Upcycled Vintage Garden Decor
I love the makeovers, the flower garden tours and the tips, but my favorite posts to share are the ones showing off my garden vignettes using vintage items and junk that I’ve picked up at flea markets, estate sales, thrift stores and garage sales. I’m so excited to show you more flower garden vignettes using Upcycled Vintage Garden Decor.
I realize this type of garden decor isn’t for everyone. I think there’s a fine line between adding some whimsy and making things look to junkie. For me, I draw the line at using bathroom pieces or car parts. Haha! Really though, everyone has their own style and as long as it includes flowers, I love it! Creating these fun little vignettes brings out my creative side and I like to see what I can come up with and how I can change things up from year to year.
This post contains affiliate links. If you click on
one of the links and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission
at no additional cost to you. See full disclosure here.
I have lots to show you, so let’s dive right in. Up first is this sweet grouping featuring a replica of an old vintage gate. I looked and looked for a real vintage gate like this one, but the prices were ridiculous, so I settled for a replica and I love it. My daughter and I made the sign from an old piece of cedar fencing. The milk can and the galvanized watering can were flea market finds. I usually pick up wicker baskets for use in my gardens at thrift stores.
I purchased this old chair several years ago at an antiques store. The salesperson was so shocked that I wanted it even though it didn’t have a seat. I think I paid two or three dollars for it. I’ve used it every year in my gardens, but this year it got spiffed up a bit with a paint job.
The plants in the galvanized container include caladium, impatiens and creeping jenny. The plants around the bottom of the chair include; Ivory Halo Dogwood, Coleus, Pulmonaria (lungwort) and Foxgloves (I wish they were blooming, maybe next year.) I started all of the caladium plants, in this post, indoors in March. The Creeping Jenny plant is actually a perennial in Zone 4, so I dig it out of all my planters and plant it in the ground in the fall, and then I don’t have to buy new plants in the spring.
And because I love it so much, here is the same chair in my gardens another year. I added a cute sign and some faux birdhouse stakes from my decor collection.
Love these ideas? Save them to Pinterest for Later.
This next grouping is a great example of how you can use junk in your yard to make garden decor. Logs come in very handy if you need to add height to a container, or to use as a table. My hubby made the ladder out of limbs that have fallen or have been trimmed off our trees. If you’d like to learn how to make your own wood ladder from tree limbs, check out Easy DIY Garden Decor Using Tree Branches.
My old ladder is another one of my favorite upcycled vintage garden decor pieces. I picked this ladder up at an estate sale several years ago and have used it in my garden every summer. Wicker baskets can always be picked up cheaply at garage sales and thrift shops, and they make great containers for plants. I just style the ladder with small plants and small garden knick-knacks that I have in my stash.
This little step ladder used to be my Dad’s and I love using it on my tiny front porch to add some welcoming charm.
And another flea market find that I’ve had for several years is this vintage milk can. I find a place for it in my gardens every year.
The old, blue milk can is getting chippy, but that just adds to its character. In the photo below, it holds a pot of lantana.
Old bicycles make such a statement in a flower garden. Talk about charm. This sweet ride was found on Craigslist. The lady I purchased it from thought I was going to ride it, so she told me where I could get the tires aired up. Little did she know… I dreamed about this very vignette ever since we moved to this house and this year I was finally able to make it happen. This area is an extension of the Shade Garden bed that I recently shared a makeover on.
It’s so cute I can hardly stand it. Every year it leans up against this tree, just as I imagined. Here the bike is again a few years later with the perennials filling in nicely.
The old galvanized washtub was picked up at a flea market many years ago and it makes an awesome flower pot. The pump is another flea market find and it underwent a spray paint makeover. In the photo below, it’s sitting in a vintage galvanized wash tub along with some verbena, marguerite daisies, calibrachoa, sweet potato vine and a big corn looking plant. We recently turned a galvanized washtub and this vintage pump into a water feature.
Another year the washtub was used as a planter to cover a tree stump in one of our new gardens. Again, hubs made the super cute faux birdhouse stakes from fallen limbs in our yard.
While I’m on the topic of old vintage washtubs, my neighbor is letting me share her washtub hanging on a shepherd’s hook. I love it and someday I want to try doing this with my old washtub.
Old wheelbarrows make the best planters. Plants just go crazy in it. This year I planted coleus, impatiens, vinca vine, a fern (that’s hidden), a pink begonia (that’s really yellow) and caladium.
It’s so full that it’s hard to tell it’s a wheelbarrow.
Nothing vintage about this next little vignette, but I think it’s cute and I did buy the little yellow watering can at a thrift store.
I hope you enjoyed all of my Upcycled Vintage Garden Decor vignettes. Perhaps you’re walking away with some ideas to add some whimsy and character to your own gardens. If you’d like to see more of my junk garden decor, check out Garden Vignettes Using Flea Market Finds and Garden Decor (Lots of Creative Ideas for Your Garden).
If you made it this far, you’re a champ and I love you. Now, would you please do me a huge favor and scroll back up and pin (hover in the upper right hand corner) some of your favorite pictures. There are also some pinnable collages below. Thanks a bunch – you’re the best!
Happy gardening,
Joanna
Follow Gingham Gardens on Pinterest for lots of great gardening ideas and tons of gardener’s eye candy.
Shop the look:
Share on Pinterest:
