Farm Equipment Parts Decorate Rural Home

Farm Equipment Parts Decorate Rural Home AG WORLD 33-4-21 A love of rural life is something that George and Fern Knapp share, so it seemed logical for the Goodfield, Ill., couple to decorate their house with all kinds of used farm equipment parts. Metal implement seats bolt to the tops of milk cans to form rustic stools around the kitchen island. Their charm is enhanced by horseshoe footrests and ladder backs made from horse hames and leather straps. "The handles on our antiqued blue kitchen cabinets are accented with old brass numbered cow tags and the base of the kitchen chandelier is a round wooden pulley," Fern says. "Our living room chandelier is a large hay fork hanging from an old barn trolley, mounted on the living room ceiling. For the chandelier's light source, we installed an electrified barn lantern inside the 2-ft. fork prongs. And the coffee table below is made from a large wagon wheel." The Knapps have several lamps made from old pumps, and unusual night lights made by lighting the antique glass bulbs about the size of a small grapefruit from old lightning rods. They made their bedroom light fixture from an old crock hung upside-down from a thick rope and a wooden pulley mounted to the ceiling. Black-painted horseshoes are used throughout the house as accents and display hooks and George once hooked up the cast iron bell from his parents' farm, so that it would ring whenever the phone rang. That proved to be a mistake, however, as the heavy-duty dinger was scarily loud. Waist-high barn scales polish up nicely, according to the couple, and they use them to display plants or large crocks. One-of-a-kind hand-crafted home decor like Knapps' brings new life to otherwise forgotten farm objects that the couple collects from various sources. Some are family heirlooms, while others are given to them by friends or picked up at farm auctions. "We really enjoy finding new uses for these things. It's fun û we're really lucky that we get to do this," George states. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, George and Fern Knapp, Box 202, Goodfield, Ill. 61742 (ph 309 965-2449).

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