Repurposing Ideas for Flea Market Finds

Interesting Repurposing Ideas for Flea Market Finds

Ever go antique shopping and can’t figure out what something is? Perhaps you have an idea what it is but you’d like to know more about it’s uses or it’s story or history. Better yet, maybe you see something beautiful in it and know exactly what you’d use it for once you got it home. These things happen to me often, so I thought I’d put together some interesting repurposing ideas for flea market finds I have found in the past.

Let’s start with something I found that I had no idea what it was at first.

Repurposed Flower Frogs

I love metal. I also love green. Because of this, I was always attracted to these metal thing-a-ma-jigs. That’s what I called them. I saw them everywhere. Turns out that they were flower frogs. They are not only metal but also glass or plastic. You insert them inside a vase to help arrange flowers, sort of like the green foam we use today. They were popular from the 1910’s to the 1950’s. I wrote an entire post on repurposed flower frog ideas. You can use them from holding jewelry to paint brushes.

Repurposed Vintage Door Knobs

Crystal door knobs are one of my favorites. Here is a tutorial I wrote on repurposing a vintage door knob into a photo holder. I also wrote one on other ideas to upcycle old door knobs. You do have to shop around for these. Although they can be easily found, some dealers charge an arm and a leg for them. Just get comfortable with haggling a little if you want to purchase one at a flea market.

Milk Glass

I have to admit that I have a collection of milk glass that is officially now WAY too big. This is even after I gave some away to my friends. I have used milk glass bud vases for jewelry. They also make great succulent gardens.

Antique Swap Meet Shopping Finds

I had another great trip to the Long Beach Antique Swap Meet a while ago. Usually I have an idea of what I am looking for but this trip I did not. So, I bought a few small things…apparently I was attracted to silver and gold things that day! So I wanted to share some of my trash to treasure Repurposing Ideas for Flea Market Finds from this trip.

Let’s start with the goods! I think I spent about $22 for everything. See? Silver and gold!

One of my favorites was this little Vintage Solid Perfume Compact. The second I saw it, thought it be the perfect container to put homemade lip balm in…

…But then I opened it! Ugh!! Something told me to still buy it and I did. I soaked it in boiling water and the perfume came out BUT the smell of the old perfume is still in it! I can’t figure out how to take the smell out and even tried vinegar too… didn’t work. Once I figure it out I will definitely make some lip balm. For now, in case you missed it, here is my tutorial for Mango Pina Colada Lip Balm. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions on how to take out the old perfume smell email me or leave a comment!!

This metal frame was only $5.00. I fell in love with it because it fits my style so well. It’s feminine but metal!

I hung it with ribbon next to our garage door and added hooks. We hang our keys there. No more loosing keys! Then however, I wanted to add a backing so I upcycled a flooring plank and made this key holder better.

This compact I love as well. I was able to talk the gal into selling it to me for $8.00. When I got home, I looked it up online and someone was selling the exact one for $50! Score! I wanted to keep mine, so I added a little bling with an hombre brooch. This was inspired by this Look Book Live event that I attended. You can see the tutorial for the upcycled compact there.

Lastly, I bought this pretty gold feather.  Although not exactly repurposing, I pinned this little pretty on a vintage handkerchief onto my purse.

I hope you liked these repurposing ideas for flea market finds. Now I can’t wait until my next Flea Market trip!