Repurposing a Vintage Toboggan for Christmas

       Vintage... it's a tough word when you're referring to something from your own past. 

This old toboggan holds many fond memories from my childhood and aside from calling it "old", it's not 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. 

The memories make me smile but this dusty toboggan has been in my basement for years and years. 

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. 

This wood was thirsty!

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!

The best part of this story? Was when I pulled up to the house one day and got a good laugh when my daughter "Kerry" thought she was funny!  

If you love the toboggan idea for your front porch
decorating then you're going to love the 
buffalo check sled! See it {HERE}