A while back one of my fellow Reclaiming Beautiful vendors stopped by and she happened to admire the yardstick shelves that I have in my living room.
After she left I realized that it had been a while since Ken and I teamed up to make these shelves. So I dug through my stash out in the carriage house and I found six random yardsticks (I tend to grab them when I see them at garage sales).
I thought both the red one and the one with the green writing would be perfect for Christmas. But the other ones needed a little something more, they didn’t have any color or that aged patina that I love so much.
So I decided to fake it with a little stain.
I just used an old t-shirt to wipe on a little Early American stain, and voila! Aged patina.
Next I sent the yardsticks over to Ken to be added to some old bead boards to make shelves. I shared all of the details on constructing these back in this post …
So be sure to go back and check that out if you want to make some for yourself.
Once the shelves were made up, I was trying to decide what sorts of things could go on the red shelf to give it a holiday look. Santa and some green bottle brush trees give it a traditional look.
Then I remembered the really cool clock that my sister purchased at last year’s Holly Jolly Market. I decided that I could replicate it using my Cricut machine, some red vinyl and one of my own vintage alarm clocks.
I want to reiterate that this clever idea is not my own. I wish I had gotten the name of the vendor that my sister purchased her clock from so that I could give them credit, but I neglected to do that.
But I love the Christmas clock paired with the red yardstick shelf. What a unique, vintage look for Christmas decor right?
Since I had the Cricut out, I decided to make up a 2nd clock to bring to Reclaiming Beautiful.
If you’re not so into red for Christmas, the plain yardstick shelves can also be dressed up for the holidays.
This monochromatic look is a little more ‘me’. I purchased these little houses at my local Bachman’s store a couple of years ago. They look great paired up with some bleached bottle brush trees. I was hoping to add another to my non-collection (because I swear I don’t collect anything) this year, but when my sister and I stopped in there on Saturday all we could find were much bigger, more elaborate (and more expensive) ones. So I guess I’ll just stick with the three that I already have.
I love the clever little sayings on some of the yardsticks like the “Full Service is our Rule” above. These must have been fun customer giveaways back in the day. And now they make unique shelves for displaying your non-collections!
I’m planning to head in to Reclaiming Beautiful this week with the clock, the shelves and a few more Christmas goodies that I threw together yesterday (unless our weather decides not to cooperate). If any of you locals want to do some shopping over Thanksgiving weekend, please note that they are closed on Thursday but will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday & Saturday, and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
q is for quandie 
Oh I don’t know how I missed this, but that is a totally amazing way to create narrow but useful shelving! I picked up an old yardstick at the Restore a few weeks back and now I’ll be on the hunt for som great looking wood to repurpose for a shelf. How wide is it? Looks like maybe 3”? And your staging is amazing. Thanks for the idea and for the Junk Bonanza name – I’m going to look that up, hoping for some internet luck with that search!
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The shelves are closer to 4″ deep. I have a huge stash of those old bead boards and they are super handy for projects like these 🙂
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I have actually collected photos for inspiration using yardsticks. It’s a clever and unexpected idea. Love all of them but my favorite is the neutral one too. The clock is adorable. Are those wooden spools painted to look like Santa faces? Never seen those before. They are darling. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Michael.
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Well, technically those wood spools with Santa faces are faux. Not genuine wooden spools for thread, but that molded resin stuff. I’ve had them forever. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your’s as well Victoria!
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The clock on the right in the first photo is fantastic. I had to comment on your wish to not add to your non-collections, something I try to fool myself with, also. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet made the leap to sell the treasures I find. I stubbornly keep going hunting determined to snag all unique treasures to add to the confusion that is my home. When I sit and begin to realize all the items that would qualify as a collection, I begin to think I’ve got a serious problem. I think some people either are attracted to “things” and others are not. Why would anyone but a certain few want to own a yardstick with a clever saying? Others would have no qualms about tossing it away, without a second glance. When I spy an old book with a gorgeous cover, I want to save it from the dumpster. My children want to have me committed and there is some validity in their concern. Lucky for me, sometimes seeing your latest find soothes my needs. Thanks for the shelf idea.
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I seem to have a compulsion to keep things out of the landfill too. But at least I have an outlet for moving things on. I get a little twitchy when I feel like I have ‘too much stuff’ at my house. Lately I’ve been pondering cutting back on the Christmas decorations that I store!
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Well, you clever little sweetie, you! My Mr. doesn’t know it yet but he will be making some shelves with his stash of wood yardsticks to hold books for my little granddaughters. (I’m sooo excited!!!) Thank you very much and Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂
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Great idea Dori! And of course the shelves don’t have to be as narrow as mine are, you can easily apply this concept to a wider shelf designed to hold books. Have fun with your project 🙂
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I already showed my Mr. your post and he loves the idea! Thanks, again, for sharing such darling projects. 🙂
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Thank you for the new ideas! I was fortunate enough to pick up one of your crafted yard stick shelves at one of you past tag sales. I also like the idea of making more!!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! Suzy
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It’s always fun to hear that someone still has a treasure from back when I held the Carriage House Sale! Happy Thanksgiving to you to Suzy!
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Love the bleached bottle brush trees and that you have them in door knob “tree stands”. Did you make those too?
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I did not make those, I purchased them several years ago. If I remember right, the person who made them purchased a bunch of the vintage knobs at my occasional sale and then added the trees. What a clever idea, right?
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Very cute idea! I love both displays. I am old enough to remember gas stations giving away free things when you filled up! You also would get gifts in laundry soap! Yard sticks were given away every place! I am familiar with yard sticks as I used to get a spank with them when I misbehaved! Lol
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Ouch! Hopefully you are better behaved now Shelly 😉
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The yard sticks are not very plentiful where I live so I found a bunch of “wood school rulers” which are plentiful and made 3 wall shelves which are stacked above each other. They are in my son’s room and the school rulers add a bit of whimsy to a child’s room. Thanks for the great idea. I made a clock like your’s too but I don’t own a cricket so I had to find someone on Etsy to make me the vinyl. If there is a will, there is a way!
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Very true! And I bet the shelves with school rulers are adorable!
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Such a great reuse of the yardsticks. I love the bleached bottle brush trees and their old doorknob stands.
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I do love those trees in the doorknobs too!
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Oh I like these Miss Quandie! When I was growing up, car dealerships gave out yard sticks on the opening showing of the new year’s models……we’d play “swords” with them and I sure wish I had those old things now!! ;-D
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Well, now that you mention it, they would make perfect ‘swords’ 😉
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Love everything! I own many, many clocks and that is a great idea. I actually bought a lot of them off Ebay to take the innards out and put in Christmas items (saw that on Pinterest) but they never made it that far. They were too cool and I had to add them to my stash! Great tip on staining the yardsticks too – now, why didn’t I think of that?
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You definitely need some yardstick shelves for displaying your clocks!
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