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21 May 2014 ~ Comments Off

5 Things You Can Do with an Old Rake

What good is a rake you can no longer use in the garden? Actually, there are countless ingenious ways to give a second life to outdoor tools that have become inadequate for their intended purpose. So before disposing of a trusty old helper that cannot be used anymore in the garden, spend a minute looking over these repurposed rake projects, especially how you can use them around the house again. Each suggests that with creativity you can make something useful and beautiful, even out of a rake with rusty tines or a broken handle.

Store Accessories

Always losing your keys? Try making this repurposed rake project: an organizing station perfect for the entryway. To make one, separate the handle and head of a bow rake. Paint the rake head in your favorite hue, then fasten it to an attractive backing that’s suitable for mounting such as with crosscut wood that does the job beautifully.

Door Wreaths

If you own a rake old enough to be if not beautiful, then visually interesting, consider repurposing the tool as the basis for an offbeat door wreath. Ornament it throughout the year with seasonally appropriate flowers, leaves, branches, or berries. Remember to keep it lightweight, though, so it hangs easily with wire. Perfect during Christmas to hang those door decors.

For Holding Pictures

Here’s a great repurposed rake project for anyone who loves farmhouse-style decor: Use the tines of a lawn rake to hold photographs, postcards, and other printed keepsakes you wish to display. Show off several priceless mementos on a single rake head, saving the cost of as many store-bought picture frames.

Displaying Glassware of Hanging Kitchen Items

Rake heads painted firehouse red look so natural storing wineglasses and they almost seem as if they were destined for that very purpose. Or you can use them to hang kitchen items like pots, pans, pot holders, and other kitchen items that need to be hanged. Mount yours with a combination of washers and screws; just remember that to support any considerable weight, the rake must be fastened to a wall stud.

Hanging Plants

There’s a certain poetic justice to the idea of repurposing a rake outdoors; after all, that’s where the tool was meant to be used. In this case, rather than collecting leaves on the lawn or tilling flower bed soil, the rake is staked into the ground with a couple of hanging plants suspended from its rigid tines.

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