A New Life For My Vintage Toy Washing Machine

Do you hang on to your old vintage toys? My vintage toy washing machine is finding a new life as a floral decor piece.

Years ago a much smaller and younger version of myself played with dolls and barbies and found tasks such as washing clothes as a fun game. I would sit in the sun and scrub my dolls clothes and run them through the wringer and lay them out to dry.

My small vintage toy washing machine was a gift from my parents. I can only assume they go it used as when I looked up the age of it, it came up as being from the 1940s. I was born in 1978. This little toy is older than my parents actually.

Oh to be a child again and find fun in chores we now find mundane and tiresome. I always wanted to be a mother and housewife since I was a little girl. Playing house with my dolls and stuffed animals now seem like a lifetime ago.

Lost & Found

So after my parent’s divorce and many moves later my once joyful and well loved and used toy was forgotten. I am reminded of the movie “The Toy Story” and how these toys go on a journey of being lost and found and finding a new life with a new child at the end of the story.

My toy was found by my father’s lady. She kindly packaged up my little toy and sent it to me. I didn’t even know she’d done this. When the package came I was like “What has my husband ordered now?”

When I opened the box and found my little toy vintage washing machine staring back at me like a long lost friend I got a little emotional. Such a simple and kind gesture brought back a flood of memories. A childhood past of growing up on a farm out in the country with dirt under my nails and scratched knees and a world of make-believe and fantasy laid before me.

What to do with the old girl now?

I sat on the floor fiddling with her and cleaning her up and then just stared at her for the longest time. What do I do with her now? Do I fix her up and restore her or leave her as is?  And how do I display her? Or should I put her back in the box and store her away?

I’ve never been one for frivolous decor or knick-knacks. I like things to have a purpose or be useful in some way. And just having her sit in a box once again didn’t make sense to me. So I had a light bulb moment. What if I used her as a vase of sorts?

Well, not real flowers as she’s metal and already very rusty and I don’t think she could hold water if she tried. So what if I could come up with a nice faux floral arrangement and a way to change them up and out to go with the seasons? Oh, then she’d have a year-round purpose.

Gathering the tools and supplies.

So now I have an idea but I need to see if those things even exist. I found some cheap florals and foam from The Dollar Store and my green drapey swag from A.C. Moore. I didn’t like the floral foam as I wanted something easier and more adaptable for my seasonal idea.

I had seen some people use floral tape and place them in a grid pattern on top of the vase or vessel they used. Which means I would have tape to replace 4 times a year. Still not ideal. So I thought what about chicken wire?

Chicken wire would make a nice grid inside but how to attach it? So I thought maybe JB Weld but I don’t want to damage my vintage toy. So then I thought what about hot glue? That will make it stick but not damage my rusty lady.

Putting it all together.

What you need:

• Rusty vintage toy or vase-like vessel
• Chicken wire
• Wire cutters
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Cheap florals
• Expensive green swag thing

Directions:

• Clean up the toy or vessel as best as you can
• Cut the wire to fit just inside the opening
• Hot glue the wire to the inside of the opening
• Let your inner florist loose and get creative

Stand back and admire your work.

You now have a piece that’s not only rustic, vintage and charming but something you can use year round. I only have the spring florals now, but I will soon have summer going in and then fall and before you know it, it will be winter again.