What Should I Do With This Junky Treasure?

If you’ve been following along on this blog – and thank you for doing that – you’ll remember I talked about our sidewalks being torn up and the amazing memento I now have from the tree that was cut down during the process.

I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but our driveway apron was torn up too.

A few weeks after the new concrete was poured, I cleaned out the flowerbeds next to the driveway.

Yes, I occasionally do tend to my flowerbeds. I swear!

Do you know what I found when I was weeding that day?

A glorious junky treasure!

Talk about chippy perfection!

It’s a piece of gate hardware that was embedded in the concrete at the base of our driveway. Part of a latch, I think. We no longer have a gate, so it was not a necessary embellishment.

The city workers tore it out when they removed the old concrete and tossed it aside in my flowerbed. Bless them.

I cleaned it up and for that last 3 months have been moving it around my house trying to figure out what to do with it. I KNOW I can do something fun with it. I just haven’t figure out what – yet.

Perhaps you have some ideas?

I measured the hardware for you. It’s roughly 4.5 inches by 4.5 inches.

(As a total side note: Does anyone from the Pacific Northwest remember the Sprouse-Reitz stores? The last ones closed in 1994. That ruler in the above picture has a Sprouse sticker on the back! No joke! So, of all the things I’ve lost or discarded over the years, somehow I’ve managed to keep a ruler from when I was a kid? It’s got to be 25 – 30 years old! )

At first I thought the hardware could be a stand for a book or a 4×6 photograph, but it’s so deep I think it looks a little weird. It’s also not quite tall enough to be a cookbook holder.

I also thought it could be an industrial letter J.

But! The hardware is top heavy, so I’d need to weigh it down to make it stay in the J shape.

It’s heavy enough to function in a hook or stocking holder-type capacity if I had something lightweight to hang off of it. Maybe necklaces? Or a placard of some sort?

I also need to seal it so that the chippy, rusty goodness doesn’t keep creating a mess.

Now, let’s just all assume I’m not crazy for thinking this thing has potential.

I need some ideas on what to do with this junky treasure. What am I missing? Send me your ideas! Please!

Thank you and happy brainstorming!