The Easiest Way to Age New Clothespins

Today I want to share with you the easiest way to age new clothespins. I was planning on sharing how to care for vintage and heirloom linens but I was helping my mom redecorate the laundry room at Bliss Barracks when we stumbled upon this simple project.

My mom definitely had a vision for the laundry room from the beginning. I feel like we’ve been looking for items related to the French Country makeover since May. My parents’ home, Bliss Barracks, is traditional with a lot of woodwork, chunky moldings, touches of red, relaxed plaids and layered with texture throughout.

I love that my mom’s European style is completely different from my own farmhouse style because it challenges me to be more creative in the best possible way. On one hand, she wanted the laundry room to functional and more efficient. On the other hand, she wanted a pretty place to do the laundry which is so relatable right? I mean, if you must do the laundry anyway you may as well make it pretty.

We had already hung the artwork and had the rug in place when we were trying to add the final touches. We were creating a little corner vignette with vintage leather brown books, a jar of antique buttons, a plant filled water pitcher and a ceramic trophy when we decided to add some clothespins to the trophy cup.

As always we stepped back to assess the situation…” I don’t know, CoCo, somethings…off,” my mom said. “I know what you mean, it’s like those clothespins look too new or something,” I replied.

We looked at each other and immediately decided we needed to age the clothespins just a bit. We thought about using black coffee, strong tea and even dark furniture wax. In the end though, we decided to try something that has been a staple in our family’s home for as long as I can remember. Here’s a look at how we easily “aged” new clothespins in just a few minutes…

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SUPPLIES:

Traditional wood clothespins

Shop Cloth or lint free paper towels

Gloves

Old English Scratch Cover for Dark Woods

Parchment paper (optional)

STEPS:

We started with new traditional wooden clothespins.

Then we rubbed each clothespin with Old English Scratch Cover for Dark Woods using a paper towels. It would have been so much easier to use a shop cloth though.

Make sure you really massage the Old English into each clothespin. The Old English will stain so be sure to wear gloves.

The amount of stain saturation won’t be the same with each clothespin and that is totally ok, you want them to be a little different and imperfect anyway.

Allow the clothespin to dry on a piece of parchment paper or shop cloth.

You guys, could this be any easier?

I wouldn’t recommend using these to hang your laundry because of the stain but it’s a fun way to give new clothespins an aged look.

See the difference in the laundry room vignette? It’s really subtle but the aged clothespin with the warmer wood looks so much better!

On a side note, you guys may already know I’m a huge supporter of decanting items used on a regular basis. I personally love glass jars but if they’re not your jam consider using ceramic containers made for other household products like flour, sugar and tea to store your laundry items in. My mom found this set of white canister containers in the kitchen section of her favorite Home Goods. They’re meant for pantry staples but she uses them for clothespins, buttons and dyer sheets in the laundry room.

Just be sure to label each canister so you’ll know what’s inside!

I can’t wait to show you guys how everything else came together so I’ll see you back here tomorrow for the Bliss Barracks laundry room reveal. Until next time, I’ll see you on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Many blessings,

CoCo