Do you love visiting your local antique shops or junk stores! Is the smell of old things a perfume to you or is it the ways things have aged through the generations that attract you? Is it a desire to find a "treasure" that sets your heart aflutter? Is it all of the above? For me, it is all these things and more! I love to find things that can be used in other ways. If you find something that catches your eye, take a look at it in a creative way. What was this used for? How else can it be used? In particular, I look for old boxes, drawers and tins. They make wonderful storage pieces. I use an old wooden box with a handle on it to keep the magazines in order in the bathroom. Our daughter uses one in her bathroom to keep her bottles of shampoos and I keep my craft supplies in them. I add picture hangers to the back of some to use as hanging shelves to display smaller treasures. These old items give the room a bit of character. Anyone can buy storage pieces at the local super marts, but what you find in antique stores have history.
I peruse the local thrift shop as often as I can. This is where I purchase glass relish trays. I don't have big, family sit-down dinners in which a relish tray is used like my mother did, so I use these in the bathroom as a soap dish and a keeper for other items that you have on the sink. Use a small one next to your kitchen sink so that you can put your jewelry in while you cook and clean.
Look through the sweaters for wool sweaters. If you find one or more and you like the colors, take them home and wash them in hot water and shrink them in the dryer. The sweater, though shrunken, can be cut up and used as a pillow cover or a purse. Wooden jewelry boxes can be painted and embellished. These are usually less expensive than those you find new in a craft store.
An old metal tea pot becomes a flower container or a place for kitchen tools. Orphan dessert plates can be used to put under your plant containers to protect your wooden furniture. Just because something was designed for one thing, doesn't mean it can't be utilized for other practical purposes. Why let these unloved items end up in a dump when then can bring a history to your home?