We love collecting, decorating with, and shopping for vintage salt and pepper shakers! Collecting vintage shakers can be fun, easy, inexpensive, and addicting! Read more for ideas for how to collect vintage shakers, ways to decorate with them, where to find them, and other uses for vintage salt and pepper shakers!
Why Vintage S&P Shakers?
Vintage Cow Shakers Dog and House Shakers Chef Shakers Metal Shakers
If you’re new to the world of vintage shakers, you might be interested in reading my previous blog post that can be found here. Vintage salt and pepper shakers come in many forms-glass, ceramic, wood, plastic, or metal. Some vintage shakers are simply functional, which is fine, but many are true works of art! We are absolutely crazy for the figural types, particularly the anthropomorphic animal shakers. Anthropomorphic simply means that the animals are created to possess human characteristics.
Vintage shakers are a great idea for new vintage collectors because they are small, so they don’t take up much space, inexpensive, and very easy to find!
Where to Find:
Vintage shakers can be found literally EVERYWHERE! You probably already have some hiding somewhere in your kitchen. They pop up at garage sales, estate sales, flea markets, and thrift stores. You can find them online on sites like Ebay, Mercari, and Etsy, just to name a few. Yes. We do offer MANY vintage shakers in our own Etsy shop! No matter where you look, vintage shakers are plentiful and mostly inexpensive!
Deciding on a Plan:
If you ever become an avid collector of vintage salt and pepper shakers, you will probably need to decide on a plan for how to form your collection. After all, shakers can multiply rapidly, and you will probably need to narrow your focus at some point. If this describes you, then here are some ideas for categories that you might want to focus on.
- Color– Focus on shakers in certain colors.
- Material– Focus on just collecting shakers made out of one particular material, such as wood, glass, etc.
- Maker– Maybe you really love Holt Howard shakers… then concentrate on just those!
- Theme– Feature a certain theme. For example, you might focus on a western theme and include shakers that include cowboys/cowgirls, boots, horses, etc.
- Style– Another possibility is to concentrate on your favorite design style, such as mid-century or farmhouse.
- Figural– This could include choosing to focus on one particular figural type, such as pigs, cats, angels, etc.
- Seasonal– Seasonal shakers might be fun to bring out at certain times of the year or even left out year round. You could choose to collect shakers that represent a particular season or holiday.
Ideas for Decorating with Vintage S&P Shakers:
Ways to decorate with vintage shakers are plentiful and varied. You just need to open you mind a little bit and be willing to consider using shakers for other purposes than just to season your food! :-)Below are some possibilities:
- Groupings: This is the most obvious idea. This involves simply grouping similar shakers together in various ways. One thing to consider is to use shakers to decorate rooms other than kitchen or dining rooms!
- Completing a Vignette: In another blog post, I discussed employing vintage items to create vignettes throughout your home. You can read more about that here.
- Theme Decor: Vintage S&P shakers can be used to add to the theme of a certain room. This can be especially nice and useful in children’s rooms or baby nurseries. Imagine the possibilities! A baby nursery could include shakers of baby lambs, chicks, etc. A zoo animal themed child’s room could include a collection of zoo animal themed shakers.
These are just a few ideas. I’m confident that you could think of many more cool and creative ideas for ways to use vintage shakers in your own home!
Other Uses:
Finally, I would like to share some ideas that I have come across for other unique ways to use salt and pepper shakers, other than for their intended purposes. A few of these ideas are listed below.
- Seed Dispenser: If you love gardening like me, I saw an idea somewhere that suggested that you could repurpose a S&P shaker to function as a seed dispenser. What an interesting idea!
- Sugar & Cinnamon Dispenser: I love this idea! You can mix up a sugar and cinnamon mixture and put it into a vintage shaker. You can then use it sprinkle into your coffee, oatmeal, or toast.
- Popcorn Seasoning Dispenser: Here is another innovative idea. Who doesn’t love popcorn? You can create your own combinations of seasonings to sprinkle onto your popcorn with your vintage shakers!
Use your imagination! I’m certain that there are many more possibilities just waiting to be discovered.
There you have it! I hope that I have given you some ideas for collecting and decorating with vintage salt and pepper shakers. If you have more great ideas or ways that you like to collect or use vintage shakers, please feel free to share them with us! We would love to hear from you! You can also choose to enter your e-mail address at the top of the blog page on our site, so you will know when we publish new blog posts.
Don’t forget to check out our Etsy shop for lots of cute vintage shakers and other great vintage items. Be sure to check us out on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, as well!
#twoladybugsvintage#etsy#etsyseller#etsyvintage#saltandpeppershakers#saltshaker#peppershaker#shakercollector#saltandpeppershakercollector#vintagesaltandpeppershakers#vintagekitchen#vintagecollector#kitchencollectibles