For Purposes Not Intended

Sometimes you find stuff that is just so cool but what do you do with it?  That's one of the number one questions Jennie and I ask each other all the time.  When we go out "shopping", here's our typical verbal exchange:

One of us:  "Oh, look at that!"

The other one: "Oh, that's cute."

First one: "What is it?"

2nd one: "I'm not sure...but it's so cute!"
First one: "I just love it but I don't know why."
2nd one: "It is really cute."
First one:  "What would you do with it?"

2nd one: "I don't know but it's just too cute."

Then, one of us buys it.  Sometimes we come up with great ways to use it and sometimes it just sits looking pretty.  Here are a couple of things used for purposes they were not intended.  It makes them interesting and unexpected.

 Up first is this.  It took us a little time but we figured out that this is a galvanized metal mold for concrete edging.  (or at least that's what we decided it was)  It hangs on this little wall area bordering the kitchen.

  It looks so cool.  Love the rivets.

Next up is this thingy.  I'm still not 100% sure what this is but I'm guessing it was part of a plant stand, maybe one little adjustable arm of it.  I like the shabby, slightly rusty look of it.  We've mounted it to the wall and it could be used for lots of things.  It could hold keys.  It could hold a candle or be a soap dish.

Finally there's this.  It's some sort of pedal or step.  This hung in our main bathroom for quite awhile and we used it to hang up a wet towel.  We attached an L bracket to it (the little white painted part) so we could attach it to the wall.  Then, just slung a towel over the pedal to keep it off the floor.  It could be used for a lot of different things too.  We recently took it down from the bathroom to find a new home for it. (that's why it's not hung right now.  My husband doesn't want new holes in the wall just to demonstrate something for this blog and I forgot to take a picture of it before we took it down pre-blog).

All of this junk was pretty cheap or free.  My mom actually found the pedal in the last picture and used it in her bathroom more than 15 years ago (probably more like 20).  I think I've mentioned before she was a junkin' pioneer.  So what have you used for purposes not intended?  I would love to see it!