Repurposing a Vintage Toboggan for Christmas
Vintage... it's a tough word when you're referring to something from your own past. Today I'm grabbing the toboggan I used when I was a kid and making it my favorite Christmas decoration for the front porch.
This old toboggan holds many fond memories from my childhood and aside from calling it "old", it's not really quite an antique yet.
I remember my sister, brother, my dad, and I all piling onto this 6' toboggan and flying down the hills when I was a child. We lost my dad this year so the toboggan holds fondly even more memories.
The memories make me smile but this dusty toboggan has been in my basement for years and years.
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My own children had little interest in using it when they were young and my grandsons are not quite ready for any downhill adventures.
At one time the chain at the top was replaced and the plastic yellow roping was too worn to use so I removed it.
Every time I go down to my basement I think there must be something I can do to this toboggan other than just store it.
So today was the day.
I didn't want to alter the "vintage" feel of this toboggan with paint too much so I had an idea.
The first thing I did was to replace the broken plastic roping with a thick jute.
It looked better already.
I pulled out my extra large stencils and decided on a word to add to the toboggan.
Rather than stencil the letters onto the sled I traced inside of the stencils with a sharpie.
MERRY was going to work perfectly!
I hand painted in the letters.
The wood is old and dried out so the paint soaked in as fast as I could paint.
When the paint dried I gave the toboggan a coat of hemp oil to condition the old dried out wood, it darkened the color and the toboggan looked happier already.
READ MORE: WINTER PROJECTS
This wood was thirsty after so many years!
My childhood toboggan is now going to be displayed with a bow on my front stoop for the holidays because the memories attached to this "vintage" toboggan make me MERRY.
And should anyone decide they want to take it for a spin down the nearest hill this winter, it will still be useable and will be ready to go!
READ MORE: CHRISTMAS PROJECTS
The best part of this story?
Was when I pulled up to the house one day after work I got a good laugh! My daughter "Kerry" thought she was funny!
decorating then you're going to love the
buffalo check sled!
Wow the Tobaggonlooks Great. The oil really perked up the colors. I like that you didn’t add more decorations to it. Simple is good. We had a tobaggon also for years with a lot of good memories also. I still have my small runner sled and I use that on our front porch for Christmas and January.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea!!! I like the original colors and added letters - very nice done. Now i'll be on the hunt for this type of toboggans :)
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