Using Antiques In The Garden

5 Ways To Give Your Outdoor Spaces Character With Antique & Flea Market Finds

What’s an easy way to give your garden a cottage look on the quick?? Add a few antique store or flea market finds to to it! I’m going to show how easy using antiques in the garden is and the 5 things to keep your eye out for when you are shopping.

Antiquing In New Hampshire

I’m lucky to live in an area that is just loaded with great little spots to go antiquing. You would be amazed at how many Antique Stores there are up and down the New England Seacoast! There’s no better way to kill and afternoon than working your way through a few of them looking for treasures.

We had a rainy Saturday last weekend. Since there was no gardening in the cards for me, I visited one of my favorite local spots The Collector’s Eye in Stratham, New Hampshire.

It’s housed in an old barn and is just so much fun to walk through.

Here’s 5 Things To Look For:

1. Metal Garden Decor

The first thing to keep your eye out for is any kind of metal garden decor…well, because it’s already made for a garden!! The thing is, you will never get such great patina if you buy a new piece. Look around for old planters, armillaries, garden statues, and bird baths.

I fell in love with this armillary… oh, that chippy green paint!! It would look darling in the center of a bed of herbs or lavender, wouldn’t it??

This metal planter would look so pretty with a small trailing plant on your front porch.

2. Wood Trays/ Boxes

Wood trays, boxes, and crates can be used so many ways in your outdoor spaces. I have an old wooden soda crate on my front porch now with some Spring decor on it; you can see my Vintage Spring Porch here.

An antique tool box can be filled with flowers and set upon a small table on your porch.

You could use a bulb crate to store garden tools or pots of flowers.

Isn’t this one gorgeous??? I loved it!!

Pop a big pot of Summer annuals into a wood crate for a super pretty, rustic look in your garden. An old bistro chair or wooden chair makes a good spot to put it on too.

3. Pails & Buckets

Here’s one of my favortite ways to use antiques in the garden! I really have a thing for old pails and buckets…metal and wood; I love them all!!

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One thing to remember when using a metal tub, pail, or bucket is that you will need to punch some holes in the bottom for drainage. I just drill a few drainage holes in the bottom of my buckets before I plant; even if I’m using a pre-potted plant in a pail I still make a drainage hole in the bottom so my plant isn’t sitting in water if we have a heavy rain.

Wood buckets and pails make interesting spots for your flowers. They do better when protected from the elements though.

4. Child Sized Pieces

There are so many fun things you could use in your garden that would originally made for kids. When I was antiquing the other day I saw a few different antique pieces that would look fab in an outdoor space!!

Some things to look for are child sized benches, chairs, doll/baby strollers, or tricycles.

You could put an old tricycle in a perennial bed as a point of interest.

Can you picture this little wicker chair with a big metal pail of flowers sitting outside your garden gate?? Swoon!!

An vintage stroller filled with a pot of cascading blooms would brighten anyone’s day!

5. The Birds & The Bees

Look for unique bird houses and bee skeps at the antique store or flea market. My store had some really cute ones!

I loved the look and shape of this bird house!! I went back a couple of times to look at it…

This bee skep was an inspiration for me. I’m going to try and recreate one for my garden…stay tuned!!!

I hope this quick guide for using antiques in your garden is helpful!

Oh, and my #1 tip when I’m antiquing is to always walk through the store twice!! You always miss things on your first loop!!