Not As Table Decor: Reuse A Thrifted Sugar Shaker To Keep Items Neat & Organized

Some items that are better purchased from a thrift store instead of paying full price, including any number of vintage finds that can be used as part of your home decor. While you can always use what you pick up for their original purpose, things like salt and pepper shakers can be repurposed in many ways. And if you come across decorative sugar shakers, also known as muffineers or sugar casters, when you're out thrifting, you may want to use them as a unique storage solution. Similar to salt and pepper shakers, sugar shakers have multiple perforated holes on the top that allow people to sprinkle granulated or powdered sugar onto food and into drinks. Typically these shakers would be a bit larger in size, with slightly bigger holes that allow the sugar to come out easily. Because of their size and the holes at the top of the ceramic, vintage sugar shakers are perfect for displaying and storing hat pins. 

If you're someone who wears wide brimmed hats, particularly with your hair up, then you likely have a few hat pins as part of your jewelry and accessories. Instead of leaving your hat pins in a drawer or even attached to the hat, you can use a vintage sugar shaker to keep your pins in easy reach and on display. With the space between the holes in the shaker, it gives you enough room to store multiple pins, while also protecting any that are highly decorative from knocking against each other.

If you're able to find a vintage sugar shaker with a screw off top, it will make cleaning the piece much easier. And you will want to clean your vintage shaker before storing your hat pins in it because you don't want to have any leftover sugar getting on the ends of the pin. However, even sugar shakers that have a bottom opening can be cleaned, although you may want to run water through them a few times to make sure that there is no sugar left behind. When cleaning them, it's important to pay attention to the material of the piece as well, as you want to be careful not to damage the design and paintwork. You want to make sure you are not using too much soap when cleaning your shakers, as it can potentially soak into ceramic if it's not fully sealed.

Other things you can use to clean up your sugar shakers are cotton swabs and toothpicks, as these can help to get into hard to reach spaces, as well as the small holes of the shaker. You'll also want to dry them upside down to prevent water from pooling in the bottom, which is especially important with ceramic pieces. Once the sugar shaker is clean and dry, you can then put your hat pins into the holes on top and display the piece in your bedroom, bathroom, or anywhere you want to add a pretty pop of color.