How to Decorate With Vintage Storage

Vintage Storage for the Bedroom

• Vintage suitcases make attractive storage when you stack them according to size from largest to smallest or display one or two atop a bench at the foot of the bed. Use them to store out-of-season clothing, a shoe collection or favorite books. Recycle an old steamer trunk into a nightstand by the side of the bed. Store your extra blankets, comforters and pillows inside. Set an old wire basket on top and fill it with favorite magazines and a fresh flower bouquet. Vintage fruit crates stacked and fastened together make an interesting shelving unit for displaying folded quilts, vintage textiles and what-nots.

Vintage Storage in the Kitchen

• Vintage storage containers in the kitchen serve a dual purpose: They help keep small items organized while evoking warm sentiments from a bygone time. Begin decorating with vintage storage on your countertop. Old decorative canisters made from tin or melamine resin, while no longer recommended for holding foods, can still serve a purpose when you fill them with kitchen supplies. Use them to keep your dishwasher tabs and soap pads neatly tucked away in style. Use hooks to hang an assortment of old metal lunch boxes down one wall -- the kind with the domed lid that Grandpa carried to the factory every day. Fill them with the odds and ends that usually end up taking up precious drawer space -- batteries, tea light candles, matches and extra flashlights. They'll make a cool vintage statement and no one will be any the wiser to their contents.

Vintage Bath Storage

• Tag sales are full of those old wooden picnic baskets with a lid that lifts up. Paint one white, add a metal embellishment on the top, mount casters on the bottom and use it for rolling storage in the bath. Store candles, magazines and bath salts inside. Display a vintage hat box atop a cabinet and fill it with extra toilet paper and unwrapped bars of floral-scented soap. Every time you replace the toilet paper, your bath will get a garden-scented boost.

Storage Throughout the Home

• Fill vintage baskets with remotes and display them on shelving units in the living room. Set an large, old piece of crockery by the door to contain umbrellas. Recycle vintage hooks from thrift stores and mount them in the mud room to organize backpacks, hats and purses. Remove doors and drawers from old cabinets and use them as open shelving to display glass or pottery collections or repurpose vintage dentist and pharmacy cabinets into eclectic curiosity cabinets.