Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Creative Uses for Vintage Finds: Enamelware Pail



Nothing says "farmhouse" like enamelware.  Especially red and white enamelware.

My heart gets to beating faster when  I spy a piece of enamelware ... and this is the first red and white large pail I've found. 


I love them simply because I know the new piece is going to have a nice long life at my house and serve many purposes for me.  I think this was $8.  What a bargain. 



 


I also really like knowing and imagining the history this pail has, and how it may have been used when it was new, where it may have been purchased.  The general store?  The hardware?  Maybe even the peddlers wagon?  Yes.


  It's come a long way from where it used to be.

I admire how well it has aged.
How great it looks.
How well it is made:  MADE IN THE USA!

Can I say that about any bucket I've bought new? 
Nope.  The closest I can come is galvanized buckets.




This beauty currently holds some dishtowels; and is doing a mighty find job of it.  I'm sure when the garden produce starts coming in, I'll be swinging this pail all the way back to the garden.

When I do my canning, I'll be scalding tomatoes and putting the skins in this bucket.

In the fall, it might find a nice pumpkin plopped on the top rim.

In the winter, it might get used for decorating for Christmas...

The possibilities?  They're endless.
(See more enamelware in this post.)


10 comments:

Laura said...

Eventually I am changing the color of my kitchen to blue and yellow (there's a Laura Ingalls Wilder connection there!) and I have been keeping my eye out, in our antique store travels, for anything kitchen-ish and blue for ideas. I found a couple of reasonably priced blue enamelware pieces and didn't buy them because I also found a pair of Ladies button-up shoes that I really wanted. Couldn't justify buying everything I wanted :-) and now I'm kicking myself. There was a cute little blue enamelware bucket with a lid that would have been perfect for saving scraps for my chickens.

Sandi @ The Primitive Skate said...

Loving your enamelware pail. You have some good ideas for it's use....I found a few white enamelware pots, 2 large white bowls and a square box (container-like) with a cover, (don't exactly know what you call it) at 2 different good wills and they were all in very good shape and the prices were even better...very cheap. I Love old enamelware and wonder what the previous owner used it for...

Cher' Shots said...

I love it! I have a couple of old red & white pots and pans. I also have a collection of cast iron pans. Now to redo the kitchen ...
or not!
'hugs from afar'

magnoliasntea said...

I'm new to you blog and lovin' it more as I find connections like this post. I love enamelware,too, and those pails are both wonderful. Thanks for sharing the pics. What a find! Have a great day.

Mary Jane Plemons said...

You inspired me to take a new look at enamelware a while back. I cleaned up the white red-rimmed oval dishpan that belonged to my Mama, languishing in the garage, added another round one in red and white I found on a bottom shelf at an antique store, and then found two smaller ones, washpan size and a little smaller in green! The washpan is pale green, and the smaller one is ivory with a green rim. Since my kitchen is green and white, they are perfect. I have also found three small green enamel saucepans. All this is around or under my old green and ivory wood cookstove in one corner of my kitchen. I use the dishpans and bowls constantly when canning, and they set on my cookstove with ripening tomatoes I have salvaged from the grasshoppers. Thank you for opening my eyes to treasures!

Mary Jane Plemons said...

A note to Laura...I had a blue and yellow and white kitchen one time, and it was one of the prettiest kitchens I ever had. It had old blue tiles on the counters (original to the old house), and we painted the cabinets white, put down white background vinyl with some blue and pale yellows through it, and I made white flouncy curtains for the kitchen window and the adjoining blue-painted breakfast room. Accents were in yellow. It made me smile every morning when I went into the kitchen. I think you'll love it!

Carey's Farmhouse Kitchen said...

I love it too, I use mine all the time. Gardening, gathering things around the house. I like to keep my table linens in my big one to swap them out frequently.

debbie @ happy little cottage said...

Hi Joni!

Love the red and white enamel and the red and white check! Nothing says farmhouse kitchen like red and white :)

Tiff said...

I love enamelware! Especially the buckets(and diaper pails). I put them to use in my kitchen, one is used for dirty dish rags waiting to be washed, one hangs over my sink with and ivy in it, and another holds a plant in the corner by my hutch. I posted last week about my kitchen and my enamelware can be seen in it.

Love your blog btw :)

Sandy said...

I wonder how many gallons of milk were toted from the barn in that bucket. It's a treasure. Lucky you.