Welcome everyone! I am so happy to announce that I have joined the talented Thrifty Chicks bloggers! Each month we will be participating in various crafting, repurposing and upcycling challenges. May’s challenge is “unusual wreaths,” and you will be able to view all the Thrifty Chicks’ unusual wreaths at the end of this post. For this unusual wreath challenge I have created a vintage door knobs, hardware, and keys wreath using items from my vintage junk collecting stash.

 I love making wreaths, but I am used to designing more traditional seasonal and holiday wreaths. I was stumped for a while on what kind of “unusual” wreath to make, but I knew I wanted the wreath to reflect my junky chic, vintage style. I came up with the idea to make a vintage door knob wreath simply because I have so many old door knobs and rusty door hardware hoarded in vignettes all over the house. I also really wanted to repurpose or upcycle something I already had for this wreath challenge instead of spending money, especially since I spent a little extra on our bedroom makeover for the Beautiful Bedrooms Tour last week.

I thought to myself, “A wreath goes on a door. Door knobs are on a door. Keys go in a door…a door knob wreath would be unusual…so why not?” Once I made up my mind, I started gathering my supplies and got straight to work. Take a look at how easy it was to make this wreath!

Since I already had the door knobs, hardware, vintage keys and a 12 inch grapevine wreath, all I needed was some metallic spray paint. When I spotted a set of Jim Hotlz  Idea-ology Word Keys on sale however, I knew they would stand out better than the vintage keys I had. I also just love the charming words on each key.

I gave the wreath a light spraying with  Kryon Shortcuts antique bronze spray paint. I wanted the wreath to resemble metal wires and to have a similar “patina” of age like the vintage knobs and hardware.

  I love the antique bronze color on grapevine! I am definitely going to try making another glam wreath of some kind using this spray paint.

Once the wreath dried I simply started placing the door knobs randomly around the wreath. Originally I was going to use almost all of my knobs (I’ve lost count at this point!) and have them form a complete circle around the wreath, but I liked the idea of adding the hinges and keys in between the knobs for interest instead.

 I did not use any glue or floral wire to get the door knobs to stay on. The grapevine is woven tightly, so I simply forced the little piece on the back of each door knob in between the branches in the wreath and twisted and pushed until they were firmly secure. I also pulled some of the looser branches up and over the knobs to secure them and to mimic the look of rusty old wire. Then I just wedged the door plates up under tight, thicker pieces of grapevine.

 Next I tied on the keys loosely with garden twine. I purposefully placed all the items  asymmetrically for visual interest.

All of this wreath making…and not a single sticky poke from floral wire or a hot glue gun blister to show for it! Good times!

Voila! I finished the wreath rather quickly! Only…something was missing. I liked the wreath at this point, but I wanted to fill in the negative space in the center with something.

I ended up going to Hobby Lobby to look around, and I found this little chipboard “Welcome” sign. It was on sale for 50% off so it only ended up costing a couple of dollars.

It was a plain gray, cardboard color, so I spray painted it with the metallic paint, and then I gave it a vintage patina using Decoart Vintage Effect Wash Patina and then used a little bit of gold metallic acrylic paint dry bushed on top to pick up on the golds in the old hardware.

And here is how my unusual vintage door knob and hardware wreath turned out! I really love it! In the end I made this whole wreath with only one tiny drop of hot glue, under the “w,” just lightly tacked on to the door plate.  What do you think?

I simply love all of the patina and the vintage charm of this wreath, and it has given me a new way to display some of my beautiful vintage door knobs.

 When I started working on this wreath, I honestly didn’t expect to keep it on display after the challenge. I figured I would just disassemble it and put the knobs back here, there, and everywhere in vignettes, but I think the wreath turned out really nice!

For now I have decided to display it on a beautiful antique cabinet by the front door along with some of my other pretty knobs and brocante vintage junkin’ finds.

 

I hope you enjoyed this unusual wreath post! It was really simple to put together, and you can make a similar wreath, as long as you have some old door knobs and hardware. If you don’t just so happen to have piles of vintage door knobs everywhere (wait, am I the only one?) you can always go junkin’ for some this summer! Tis’ the junkin’ season after all!

 

 Thank you so much for visiting today! Don’t forget to take a look at all of the Thrifty Chicks’ unusual wreaths by clicking on the thumbnails in the links below. If you love fun DIY craft ideas, be sure to subscribe by email so you don’t miss any of the fun monthly challenges the Thrifty Chicks will be sharing. See you soon!

Amber