Twenty-Five years ago I inherited a large stash of vintage jeweled brooches and pins from my now deceased grandmother and great aunt. For many years I kept them stored away in a special jewelry box and then one day it dawned on me to take them out & use them around my home to enhance my home decor.
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Before you get started decorating with your brooches it’s important that you give them a good cleaning with some jewelry cleaner. Pick a cleanser that is made specifically for the type of metal jewelry that you’re cleaning. A jewelry polishing cloth will work well too!
Here are 9 Ways to Use Brooches in Home Decor
Hanging Plants – I have numerous macrame hanging plants around my home and let’s face it…they can look pretty drab unless you jazz them up. On several of my plant hangers I added jeweled brooches which adds some nice glitz & glam without being over-powering.
Toss Pillows – Do you have some solid color toss pillows on your sofa, favorite chair or bed? You can easily pin on a few of your jeweled pins & brooches to turn that drab solid throw pillow into a piece of unique home decor.
Hand Towels – During the holidays I love to put my solid color plush towels out in our guest bathroom. To jazz them up for the holidays, I added some of my favorite jeweled holiday pins onto the front of each towel. Guests who visit our home always notice them & compliment me on the idea.
Window Treatments – If you have solid color window toppers, you can pin a large jeweled brooch onto the center of the topper to add some pizzazz. If you have curtain tie-backs, you can add pins onto the tie back which really enhances their overall look. Go from drab to classy in seconds!
Napkin Rings – You can roll up your napkins and fasten a pin onto them or clip the pin onto a napkin ring. They really dress up the table and you can change out the pins to suit the season and/or holiday.
Refrigerator Magnets – If you’ll no longer be wearing your jewelry in the future, use wire cutters or pliers to remove the pin-back. Add a dot of glue and a strong craft magnet and you’ll have some new pretty magnets to decorate the front of your refrigerator.
Memo Boards – Remove the backings and glue on flat-top thumbtacks to the back of brooches that you’ll no longer be wearing. Let them dry overnight and turn them into beautiful accents for your memo boards.
Lampshades – This is a no brainer! If you need to turn that drab lampshade into something with a little bit more glitz add one of your favorite jeweled brooches onto the shade.
Holiday Ornaments – Brooches and pins make great Christmas ornaments for your holiday tree, wreaths and swags! You can often times pin them right onto the item your decorating or glue on a pretty ribbon to hang it from.
I hope these 9 Ideas on How to Use Brooches in Home Decor have given you some creative ideas too!
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This is very interesting! I like how you used the brooches in various places in different ways. Brooches used to be so popular, and you can still find beautiful ones in thrift stores and sales. I love the old crystal ones. I have many hanging in my sewing room…. they remind me of the people they belonged to.
These are some great ideas and so creative. I really like the napkin ring idea and now I want to do that for a special family dinner. I also love the idea of hanging them from the plant hanger.
I re-pinned 9 ways to use brooches in home décor.
I have some lovely brooches stashed away in a box because I had no idea what to do with them. I especially love how you used such the pin on your hanging basket. it gives it such a beautiful look.
This is a nice way to use brooches, I have some and I hardly ever wear them, not sure why, but I can’t wait to put them into action as home decor!!!
This is very timely advice. I am learning about the possible toxic metals through a detox seminar series and seeing all the older jewelry I have that would be in contact with my skin, so this would be a better alternative, other than just getting rid of it! I don’t think I have any really toxic metal jewelry though!
I never thought about this creative use for my brooches. I especially like using them for the tie back for curtains/drapes, the holiday ornaments and the hanging plants.
What a neat idea! Honestly, I never would’ve thought of that. I’m not much of a brooch wearer, but my Grandma had several—most of them not very modern, lol. So, they just never get worn. But this is a great idea about how to use them.
I never thought about using some of my brooches in this way, but I like using them for my napkins to give them class for the Holidays. I will have to try some of these ideas out.
This is so creative and a great addition to your décor! I love it on the window curtains. Looks so nice!
You are very clever! I have one of my mother’s pins hanging on a lamp pull, and I really like having it where I can see it and remember her wearing it, rather than having it tucked away in a box somewhere. Love your ideas for bringing your vintage brooches out of hiding.