When we visited family in New Mexico during the summer, they sent me home with quite a few things, like my husband’s grandfather’s old tools that I turned into a keepsake displlay (seen here), and this toy sleigh. It isn’t very old, and looked a bit ho-hum – like something from an 80’s Lillian Vernon catalog, but I thought a makeover might do it wonders.
My original plan was to paint the wood white, and add a little sign on the side of the sleigh, but the “dreaded red” leaked through the paint. Grrr…I hate it when that happens!
Rather than try to seal it, then try again, I decided not to fight it, and just painted it red instead.
I’m SO glad now that that dreaded red showed up, because the glossy red paint took it from “ho hum” to “HO, Ho,Ho“! 🙂
The cute green runners were barely distinguishable from the original drab brown, but they really stand out now.
Filled with some greenery, pine cones and a few little presents, and it makes a cute mantel decoration or table centerpiece.
I made a bit of a mess on my kitchen table, but I wanted the slide to glide through “snow”, so I scattered a bunch of baking mix that had gone past its expiration date, all over the table.
Instant Snow! 🙂
I think the jolly old elf himself would approve of this toy sleigh’s new look! What do you think?
Super cute now!
Thanks Adina!
That is a great makeover, Angie! The red makes it so festive; why would anyone want it to be brown? You created a lovely little centerpiece. Are you going to keep it or sell it?
The sleigh looks great in red, Angie. I think it was a happy accident that the previous coat bled through the white.
Have a lovely weekend!
Cute and I love how you manage to find a use for everything, including expired baking soda.
Love it and I have a sleigh similar downstairs now know what mine will look like lol Thank you
Good Morning Angie~ What a cute and simple redo of the toy sleigh. It is definitely ready to go
dashing through the snow. Thank you for sharing this with us.
It’s darling! I love the red and I’m sure Santa will too!
Hi Angie – My parents found a much cheaper (and extremely tacky) version of this kind of sled at their thrift store and gave it to me to work some magic on it. Thank you for the inspiration… it’s been sitting on the table for over a month. Time to get my Christmas on!!! Hugs, Holly
Really cute Angie. Happy Friday.
Kris
It’s very cute! I think white would have been cute too but the red is awesome! Very Christmassy! And the old baking mix for snow was just genius! lol!
Tania
Looks terrific! Such an improvement.
I remember making similar “pretend snow” when I was little.
I got in big trouble.
But I’m sure you’ll be fine.
I just love that little sleigh, she looks good in red. And I like your snow, very creative!
Such a cute display and looks great in classic red.
That was a happy accident, Angie! That sleigh is adorable the way you fixed it up. Wish I had one to do over!
love it and I think that it just wanted to be red.
Very pretty Angie … Love how you have styled it and your baking soda looks like a real light dusting of snow.
Hugs,
Audrey Z.
LOL, the ‘vintage’ snow cracked me up—as I have been purging my cupboards this month to clean out old stuff…we have eaten some pretty stale stuff. Your sled looks wonderfu. and yes, the sled was from the late 80’s and early 90’s durning the porcelain doll craze. I sold antique looking buggies, sleds, rocking horses and swings, in that vein to my doll collectors. This is way more adorable then the fake/cherry walnut finish they put on everything then. Great post, still laughing at the ‘snow’. Grins, Sandi
Sandi – my inlaws actually gave me a doll, but I wasn’t sure if it originally came with it, and I wasn’t crazy about it.
This little sleigh is adorable! This is a great makeover and a great Christmas decoration!