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Old canisters make great garden decor

by Tricia

Grab the Photo Hunt code.
Photo Theme. Visit participants.

This weeks theme is Old Fashioned

Milk canister covered in snow

Since this weeks theme is Old Fashioned I thought I’d show you what I call the ‘ol Milk Canister although I have a feeling it never held milk but rather coal or some other form of fuel according to the markings on the bottom of it.

When my mother passed away a few years ago I was assigned the task of inventorying the houses contents and then my brothers and sister and I picked out the items that we wanted. I won’t say that the divvying of items went perfectly but it went ok.

I remember this old canister from my childhood. My parents never used it. It was always stored in the basement. Our house was built in the early 40’s and until sometime in the 50’s it was heated by coal! I believe that this canister might have held some of the coal used to heat the house. I’ll have to look at the markings again to verify what it says but as I said it appears to have something to do with a fuel company.

My second oldest brother turned out to have major allergies and I guess the coal particles in the air aggravated his allergies so I believe my parents were one of the first in our neighborhood to change over to oil heating. I think oil was the main heating source for homes (in Canada) in the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s. They eventually changed over to gas heating when the gas lines were being laid on our street.

The canister was an off white color when I brought it home. Some of the paint was beginning to peel off but over all the canister was in good shape. I thought it would make a great garden ornament so I painted it blue.

I should bring it in, in the winter and I usually do, but it was left outside this year! I guess it’s not too late to bring it indoors huh?






Filed Under: Family, Garden Decor, Home and Lifestyle, Photo Hunter, Photography, Recreation Tagged With: articles, basement, Blue, Canada, coal, coal heating, color, company, fuel, fuel canister, garden, home, homes, House, indoors, milk canister, mother, neighbor, neighborhood, oil, oil heating, old fashioned, parents, photo, Photo hunt, photohunt, photohunter, snow

Comments

  1. carlotac says

    January 26, 2008 at 2:55 am

    that’s is old. by using as a garden ornament i’m sure it’s really nice. Happy Saturday.

    Check out mine. Photo-Hunt-Old-Fashioned

  2. Zsolt72 says

    January 26, 2008 at 4:41 am

    I love this theme…I can see wonderful old things on the diffent blogs…yours remind me my childhood:) thanks for sharing

  3. TiOheM says

    January 26, 2008 at 3:42 am

    I think old but still good things are nice for decorations. Have a nice weekend.

  4. Lynn says

    January 26, 2008 at 5:35 am

    You painted it well. It doesn’t look old.

  5. genny says

    January 26, 2008 at 7:31 am

    Thats really old fashioned and good choice for the theme.

  6. Yen says

    January 26, 2008 at 6:31 am

    Nice take on the theme! I love this theme too because I can see really vintage stuff:) Come by mine!

  7. Hootin' Anni says

    January 26, 2008 at 6:42 am

    This is great….now, if y’wanna know a secret, I can remember these from my grandmother’s farmhouse when I was a kid!!!!

    My ‘old fashioned’ is posted, hope you can drop by and visit with me too, I love visitors!!!

  8. napaboaniya says

    January 26, 2008 at 6:52 am

    That milk canister makes it to ur family heirloom collection 🙂 Just curious, would it get rusty getting wet from the snow and weather?

  9. sasha says

    January 26, 2008 at 8:15 am

    Great photo for this week’s theme! Mine’s up too 🙂

  10. Utah Mommy says

    January 26, 2008 at 9:36 am

    An old tank? Poor tank is being frozen outside lol! Happy weekend! Mine is up too!

  11. ellen b says

    January 26, 2008 at 10:22 am

    Not only old fashioned but a beautiful photograph! happy hunting…

  12. heather says

    January 26, 2008 at 10:53 am

    That is very cool!

  13. Sanni says

    January 26, 2008 at 2:07 pm

    Beautiful shot. There are still a few farmers here in Germany who use milk-canisters. 😉

  14. O T F says

    March 4, 2008 at 9:52 pm

    That’s a great photo. I remember when my grandmother passed away and the divying up process was not the smoothest. I am glad yours went well. I wonder what our loved ones would think if they were to see how we act when dividing their stuff? Anyways, thanks for sharing the shot.

  15. Beautiful area rugs says

    April 24, 2008 at 6:17 pm

    You have great improvisation skills! I love it when old things are dusted off and made new. Always makes my day.

  16. Tazim says

    October 28, 2010 at 2:26 pm

    Love the photo – I like the old white canisters I see, but this blue colour is really striking!


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