I brought home a teak bowl set on a recent trip to our local Goodwill. It’s nothing too out of the ordinary in design, a classic 1970’s set with two individual-sized bowls that followed it around the way that springtime ducklings trapse after their mama. It was in good shape, especially the innards. Who doesn’t like a nice $4 teak find? It’s such a pretty wood, I demand to own more teak.
The serving bowl, and maybe even the baby ducklings, are destined to be useful for any number of things in our home. It’s a nice size, generous enough to hold anything from salad to decorative pine cones or tall pillar candles. Shout out to North Evans + Highland Hose. Believe it or not, I’ve had this neon ruler since 1990 when I probably scored it from an elementary school craft fair. With that said, keep in mind that it’s radical vintage neon, not hipster neon, although I find myself wearing a lot of neon lately without being a hipster, so, OK then.
The inside of the bowl is phenom, but the outside of the bown has some scratches and dents (in all likelihood, from being bashed around a Goodwill display), so I decided to give it a little makeover with the help of some Minwax gel stain in Walnut. Walnut and teak are probably inherent enemies in the forest, so keep your voices down if you ever happen to meet this upgraded bowl in person. I don’t know why I’m in such a cheeky mood today for the record, but it might have something to do with hand painting oil-based detailing in an enclosed space.
She’s a beaut, now sporting four walnut colored stripes down her outer shell. Steady-handedness has never really been my strong suit, especially when it comes to staining in straight lines, but the gel stain is really concentrated which makes it more like painting with acrylic craft paint (it’s the same consistency of the gel stain that I used on our kitchen cabinets, but a different brand).
Side note: Pomegranate season is in. And I found a bunch of delicious ones at Aldi for 99-cents a head. The guy in line with me thought they were either apples or red onions, so clearly an education lesson is in order. What’s up, America?
While I’m busy sassing society, go ahead and hate on me for staining walnut stripes on a natural wood teak bowl. The stain covered a lot of the wear and tear that was on the bowl’s exterior, plus, now it looks stellar with my dark java-stained cabinetry. A little pop-o-fun. Stripe-o-matic. or…
… Handy McHanderson. The teak bowl is worth its weight in gold merely for being able to contain our technologies and wires like an outoor garden hose pot-trough. What are those trough things called, anyways? We need one.
Upgrade anything fun lately with your own secondhand treasures?
6 Comments
This is gorgeous. I’ll be using it as inspiration for some of the jewelry I’m working on!
Thanks! You’re making something along the lines of teak + walnut jewelry?! With cool industrial elements like you wrote about? I can’t wait to see.
so cool.. i also found a set of these at the VoA near my house (3 small teak bowls and a teak spoon and fork– $4..) just curious which Goodwill you go to? I used to go to the one in Henrietta but they’ve been overrun with new merchandise vs. the thrifty stuff. AmVet’s cool too..
VofA is my favorite thrift store. The one near me always has some cool stuff, for much less money than Goodwill.
I messed up! The location I got these at was totally a VofA! Love them too, although never noticed as much of a product/pricing difference between the different associations!
I was wrong! This was totally at VofA. The location on Lake Ave., Rochester, NY. I’ve found some really great things in there (including a few treasures I totally regret not buying when they were gone the next day). Timing’s everything!