When my grandchildren were little, they never bothered my decor I had sitting around because my daughter-in-law coined the phrase "Mamaw's pretties" and they new they couldn't touch them. Here I am 19 years after the first grandchild and I still love my "pretties". But over the years, I have learned that you can have your pretties and make them useful as well. Here are some I have done over the years. I had a tea for one set that I put in my floral bathroom. The top tea pot part of it held Q-tips..
But the cup underneath held cottonballs. It was really cool.
And I almost always have a teapot in my home office with paper clips in it.
I love putting flowers in a tea pot and this cute cup was too pretty to stick in a cabinet so I filled it with scissors and hole punches.
This teapot came with flowers in it, but it matched my kitchen colors at the time so I used it to hold utensils.
Another cup I found for .25 cents at a yard sale. I put it in my beach bathroom. I had Q-tips in it but changed that out and it now holds my toothbrush and tooth paste.
So I decided to go online and see what other people are repurposing pretty things for. I love this big cup they used as an outside flower pot.
Here is an antique find of an old silver tea/coffee pot that they added vintage keys to and now they have a very unique wind chime for their porch.
Another pretty to hold plants.
This lady made a pin cushion for the inside of her tea pot lid and keeps some sewing essentials in the bottom.
And if she is pinning something, she simply inverts the lid to access the pins easily.
Now I love this (more Q-tips!) but I like the brushes in it. More importantly is the fact that it was a tarnished silver set that the lady scrubbed up and painted. Isn't it pretty.
How cute. An old pitcher that they have hung up in the hopes a bird would build a home.
You could do your own herb garden with tea cups.
Or try your hand at homemade candles. This one scares me a little. I would worry that the heat might eventually crack the cup. I'd have to do more research.
A great way to display African violets.
Now this is a neat way to use mismatched china pieces. I love it.
Not sure how they mounted these, but again cute planters.
And I love this one. They painted a sterling silver one and then added ribbons, bows and pearls. I may have to do one of these for my bedroom! It is so feminine looking.
I hope you got some good ideas about repurposing today.
