Vintage Finds: Got a Dishpan?

These old dishpans are a favorite of mine to pick up at garage sales and thrift stores, and I'll tell you why...

They're awful cute.


They come in many colors:  black and white, blue and white, red and white, green and white...all of them just as cute as can be!


But more than that, they're useful!


In so many ways!




I use them all over the house.

And for lots of reasons!


One, they make awesome popcorn bowls.  When I make my popcorn on the stove top, I melt just a couple tablespoons of butter for this whole big bowlful, and I can shake that bowl and mix it all in.  Popcorn just looks better in one of these big old "Bessie" bowls!


One of them holds my whole stack of red checkered napkins that I use on the dinner table. They sit right out in the open, and darn if they don't look purty cute that-a-way.  


(Did your daddy say "that-a-way", too?)  

One of the smaller blue and white speckled ones with a little (new) pitcher inside it.

At a party or a picnic fill it with ice and shove those drinks down in that cold ice for a nice cooler (just put a towel underneath to catch the condensation).


I also use them a whole lot during garden season...those Bessie bowls hold a whole bunch of produce...


Or, they work hard at holding all your vegetable peelings and cores when it's cannin' season, or they'll catch a whole bunch of apples when you're busy crankin' the corer/peeler/slicer.


When fall comes 'round, darn if they don't look right at home holding a bunch of bright red apples sitting in the middle of the kitchen table!

I'm loving how the cobalt reflects the quilt I have on the back of the couch...

At Christmastime, you can throw vintage bulbs inside, or hang candy canes all around the edges.


I've got a small one on the counter top holding potholders, for quick grabbing when the corn bread pan is hot comin' out of the oven.


Another is sitting on my buffet in the dining room holding a round white pitcher that in the summer will hold a nice bunch of zinnias I picked  from the garden.  


I've got a few blue speckled ones in different sizes, and then there's three or so in this red and white combination, one of my favorites to find!  


I bet if you look around...

You'll find a use for these old "Bessie" dishpans, too!  

Maybe you'd even like to do your dinner dishes in them one evening in June while you listen to the crickets chirping, wearing an apron and while 40's music plays on the radio, watching the fireflies dance outside on the lawn... 

just for "old time's sake"!

(And the best part?  Made in the USA!)

This is a lower, shallower dishpan, more rounded off and looks more like a basin.  
This small (new) pitcher is just the right size for it.
I find the pitchers on occasion, at TJ Maxx for less than $10, just lucky finds.

Have a wonderful weekend!