Amazing Trash to Treasure Christmas Transformations

Recently, a friend dropped off a bucket full of rusty old metal pieces.  With a little imagination and DIY some select pieces were transformed from trash to treasure Christmas projects for my home decor.

Old Metal Handles Turned Acorn Christmas Tree

When working with the heads from a couple of old hoes, I realized the handles were full of rotten wood.  After removing the handles and the wood inside I looked at the metal handles and decided they would make great Christmas trees! Thinking about what I wanted to cover the handle with, I thought of all the acorns on our property.  I collected quite a few, removing the tops with long nose pliers. 

Next, I arranged the tops of the acorns by size, wanting to glue them to the handle with the larger ones at the bottom, and the smaller ones at the top.  Using a glue gun I attached all the acorns to both handles.  I attached one full acorn to the top of each tree.  Above is a picture of one finished handle before I sprayed it. I used a high gloss bright gold spray paint for the trees.  I had some left-over pinecones from last year that I attached a couple of acorns to and also sprayed gold.

Cast Iron Skillets Upcycled to Christmas Pans

I pretty much use cast iron skillets and pans exclusively in my cooking and baking.  When I was given these two pans, I knew one of them was beyond repair but I had hope for the other one. This is what they looked like when I “thought” one might be able to be saved.  The pan on the bottom of the picture was the pan I was sure I could save; the top one was already too far gone to try.

I tried every method I knew to remove the rust and season the pan.  I tried cleaning the pan with a cut potato and coarse salt.  I tried scrubbing it with corn meal.  In fact, I even tried going ahead and seasoning it with canola oil and baking it in a low oven for an hour and then letting it rest until it was cool.  I was hoping that it was going be salvageable.  When it wasn’t, I knew I had to think of a way to upcycle the pans.

To upcycle them, I sprayed one red, the other silver, and added a couple of Christmas ornaments.  Once Christmas is over, I’ll just change what’s inside the pans, and keep them up year around since I like them so much.

Rusty Meat Grinder Turned Gold Wall Décor

When I first saw this grinder I didn’t know exactly what it was so I had to google it.  I found out that it is a meat grinder from the 1920’s.  It is unusual because it has a glass pusher at the top.  To think that after all these years the glass not only survived but it wasn’t broken or nicked.  The brand is Climax.  I had the perfect place on my dining room wall for this, but it had to be cleaned before that could happen.  You can see it was rusty and the glass top wasn’t very noticeable. It took about 3 days soaking the glass stopper to get rid of the years of accumulated dirt, but once it was clean, it was a pretty glass container.  I sprayed the grinder an antique gold, added some small silk flowers to the glass topper and now it is on my dining room wall serving as a good conversation piece!

Vintage Wood Planer to Christmas Décor

When I saw the old wood planer, I immediately wondered what I could do to upcycle it into something for Christmas.  I knew it had to be washed and sanded.  Since I had red spray paint, and I had some odds and ends of old Christmas ornaments, it wasn’t long before I was able to use my glue gun and attach a little red bird to the top of the planer, and hang a NOEL sign to the bottom to create an upcycled Christmas wall hanger. A little soap and water and fresh paint were all it took to achieve a unique piece of wall décor.

Bulb Planter Turned Rudolph

When I saw this old tool, I had no idea what it was!  I had no idea what to even google to find out!  Finally someone told me it was a bulb planter.  There are inch measurements markings on the side to indicate how deep to dig the hole for the bulb you are planting.  I had an old beat up bulb planter! 

As you can see from the pictures, the wooden handle was worn.  After washing the planter, I sawed the handle in half and removed the rotten wood.  The minute I removed the wood, I saw what this planter was going to be.  So, I used the pliers and pulled the metal brackets apart. 

I sprayed the bulb planter a light golden brown. Next, I sketched some reindeer antlers and traced it onto some brown felt.  I also cut out a couple of small pieces of the felt for ears, stitching them a bit to give them more of an “ear” look.

Using a glue gun, I attached the felt antlers and ears to the metal handles.  Two black buttons became the eyes, a red pom-pom became Rudolph’s nose, and an old hat was added to cover the hole at the top.  I stuffed pillow stuffing into the hat to make it stand up a bit.  Everything was attached with the glue gun. I love whimsical things, so this one’s going to be a keeper for next year!

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