How to Remove Rust From Porcelain

Learn how to clean rust from porcelain using simple household ingredients! 

Have you ever overlooked something because it was dirty and rusty? 

The other week, I bought a collection of antique porcelain fence insulators for a future holiday project. 

They were coated in a fair amount of rust, but since I don't come across porcelain insulators often,  I took the chance of being able to remove the unwanted rust.

Thankfully, I was able to remove the majority of the rust with the help of a few common household ingredients and a little elbow grease.

SUPPLIES NEEDED TO REMOVE RUST FROM PORCELAIN

- Lemon or lime juice (I used lime because that's what I had on hand)

- Baking Soda

- Stiff bristle toothbrush

- Pumice stone 

- Warm Water

- Bowl 

HOW TO REMOVE RUST FROM PORCELAIN

Porcelain is a hard material but is still susceptible to scratching.  To avoid causing damage, a pumice stone and hard bristle toothbrush are best to use for cleaning and removing rust.

Keep in mind that smooth, flat surfaces will be much easier to clean.  Unfortunately, the porcelain insulators I needed to clean had turned details that made it much more difficult to reach with a pumice stone.  

STEP ONE: Add a generous amount of baking soda to rusty areas.

STEP TWO: Pour lemon (or lime) juice over the baking soda.

STEP THREE: Scrub baking soda and lemon/lime juice into porcelain with a toothbrush and/or pumice stone. 

If using a pumice stone, it's best to wet the pumice stone FIRST to avoid causing damage to the porcelain.

STEP FOUR:  Rinse porcelain with warm water 

Rinse porcelain under warm running water to remove the lemon/lime juice, baking soda, and rust mixture.  Repeat the process to remove leftover stubborn rust stains. 

***TIP*** I found it helpful to pour the lime juice directly over the leftover rusty areas and let it soak a bit before repeating the process and scrubbing again.  

I wasn't able to get the insulators perfectly clean, but I love how the remaining rust adds a bit of age and character.  I cleaned about a third of the insulators before calling it quits and taking a break. 

Instead of mixing the clean insulators with the dirty rusty ones, I decided to string the clean ones together to make a chunky necklace/vintage home decor for my office. 

Being able to clean the rust from the porcelain insulators was a huge relief!  Turning them into a unique and unexpected necklace and a fun pop of vintage texture for my office was an added bonus.

     

    

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Functional Vintage Home Office Changes and an Announcement

TAKE A TOUR OF A STYLISH AND FUNCTIONAL VINTAGE-DECORATED HOME OFFICE!

Back in August, I shared my new vintage modern home office. 

Earlier in the year, we moved my daughter's bedroom downstairs, which allowed me to turn her old bedroom into my new home office. 

I still end up working primarily from my $70 Facebook Marketplace leather RH chair, but having a designated office and additional space to display more of my favorite thrift, vintage, and antique finds has been really nice.

I had no plans of changing the current furniture and decor in my home office, but in December I decided to make a business change that required a few office tweaks. 

After five years of sanding, repairing, painting, staining, hauling, and staging, I decided to take a step back from having a vintage booth.  It wasn't an easy decision and there are many aspects of having a booth that I'll miss.  I met so many wonderful people, made great friends, and accomplished things I never thought I was capable of.   Ultimately, I felt it was time to take a step back and shift my focus to selling online.

You can find my online vintage shop by clicking on the "Shop The Store" tab on my blog. The first vintage drop will be on January 27th (THIS FRIDAY!) at 12:00pm EST. 

*Inventory won't be visible until the 27th, but you can follow me on Instagram for tons of sneak peeks! 

The change in my vintage business also meant changes to my office!  The previous setup was more for working and lounging than for a functional, efficient, and productive online vintage business.  

Over the past week, I moved my Eames-style chair back to the basement and then brought in a work table to make it easier to wrap, pack, label, and ship products efficiently.  I also needed to make sure inventory was safe, visible, and easily accessible, so I used some of my favorite items to decorate my office.  

I still need to build shelves in the closet, where I'll eventually keep most of my inventory.  For now, I have vintage inventory stored in and on the vintage wood card catalog, in a basket next to the card catalog, throughout my office, and in the garage. 

It's like having my very own vintage booth in my home! 

Resource: DIY Fluted File Cabinet Makeover

The other side of my office is where most of the changes happened. 

I love using vintage finds for both decorating and organizing, so it was a must that I find and use vintage and antique items to get my office organized and set up for packing and shipping.  

Previously, all my packing materials were stored in a large vintage canvas laundry tote in the basement.  I needed to move the supplies upstairs, but the laundry tote was a little too big for my office and I really loved how it looked under my 18 drawer oak card catalog.  That meant I had to find another vintage storage solution for my upstairs office. 

It was meant to be that later in the week I found and won a smaller vintage canvas laundry tote.  I bought it sight unseen and had no idea how big it was, but for $22.50 it was well worth the risk.

I was pleasantly surprised by its size when I went to pick it up and crossed my fingers it would fit under my work table. 

Spoiler alert.....it fit! 

Not only did it fit perfectly under the work table, but it was exactly what I was looking for. 

I loaded the tote with bubble wrap and heavy-weight packing material and then brought in an old metal crate to keep shipping boxes organized. 

On top of the table, I used an old metal advertising display to keep business cards, tape measure, string, scissors, tape, pens, and other packing and shipping necessities organized and easily accessible.  

(You know I don't do red, so I spray painted the packing tape dispenser black)

I absolutely love how my updated and organized vintage home office came together!  It has everything I need to be successful and is the perfect combination of stylish and functional!

     

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Vintage Modern Home Office "Reveal"

Tour a stylish and sophisticated vintage modern home office! 

I had full intentions of finishing my vintage modern office last week, but life had other plans and it's still not complete.   To be honest, I didn't work on it at all.  

The closet shelves still need to be built, the vintage schoolhouse light needs to be wired and hung and more plants need to be bought. 

I'm so dang excited and love this room so much though, that I'm calling it complete enough to share.  

After all, is a room ever really considered finished anyway? 

If you're new here, this room used to be my daughter's bedroom before she moved to the basement earlier this year.  The change was an adjustment for me, but having a new room to decorate was super exciting and definitely helped with the transition.

After we cleared out most of my daughters old room, I got to work removing the stickers from her door, the records from her wall and put together a vintage modern mood board to transform the space to my new home office. 

BOARD AND BATTEN WALLS

Years ago, I added a board and batten wall treatment to one of the bedroom walls.  It was nice while the room was a bedroom, but I wanted to do something a little different now that the room was going to be an office. 

Removing the old boards was the easy part.  Repairing the very damaged wall left behind was a little more involved.  Old caulk needed to be removed, nails needed to be popped in, holes needed to be filled and the very uneven walls needed to be spackled, smoothed and evened out. 

After the walls were repaired, I got to work installing the new board and batten wall treatment on all four walls. 

My original plan was to paint the lower section of the walls, door and trim Shade-Grown by Sherwin-Williams.  It's a very pretty deep green, but I just wasn't feeling it after painting the room.   I lived with it for a week or so before deciding to paint over it with Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore.  

CHIPPY ANTIQUE DOOR

When I was planning the design of the office I knew I wanted to incorporate an old antique glass door full of chippy character.  

The current closet door in the room was the only original door left in the house.   It was old, cheap, hallow and in desperate need of being updated or replaced.  It was also the perfect place to install an old chippy antique door! 

RESOURCE:  How to clean, seal and install an antique door

REFINISHED ANTIQUE CARD CATALOG

You know I love antique card catalogs and multi-drawer pieces, so it was a MUST to incorporate one in my office.  Luckily, I was recently able to snag a nice size card catalog from a local auction.

I love the character of old worn wood, knicks and imperfections in vintage furniture and opted to give this vintage piece a good cleaning over fully refinishing.  It cleaned up beautifully while also maintaining its authentic vintage charm. 

RESOURCE: Antique Card Catalog Makeover

VINTAGE DECOR

One of my favorite aspects of my new vintage modern office is that it's 90% decorated with vintage, secondhand or clearance furniture and decor.  It's also a room that features some of my favorite pieces that I've personally handpicked and gathered over the years.

RESOURCE: The Best Sources For Buying Used Furniture and Decor

PLANTS

I've been slowly replacing my faux plants with real plants and was super excited to get some new and different plants for my office.  Unfortunately, the lighting isn't the best and I've had to remove a few plants from the room in order to keep them alive.  

I still have plans to add a few more low light plants as well as make or buy a propagation system that I can hang from the accordion rack.

RESOURCE: Low-Maintenance House Plants: Switching From Faux to Real Plants

DIY FLUTED FILE CABINET

Call me old school, but I still like to keep paper copies of certain documents, especially when it comes to my business, so a file cabinet was a must for the office. 

I didn't want a cheap basic file cabinet and I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something that better fit my style.  The best budget-friendly solution was to give my current (free!) file cabinet a stylish vintage-modern fluted makeover. 

RESOURCE: DIY Fluted File Cabinet

IRON ORE WALLS AND TRIM

I tried Shade-Grown by Sherwin-Williams, but I didn't love how it looked and ended up repainting the room Iron Ore. 

Yes, I use Iron Ore all over my home.  

No, I don't get tired or bored of the color.   

I say, do what you love and what makes you happy.   

EAMES LOUNGE CHAIR

I LOVE my Eames style lounge chair that I bought from an auction a few years ago.  It's been in the basement, but I knew I wanted to move it upstairs to my office.  It's incredibly comfortable and the perfect place to sit and relax. 

Next to the chair, I reused the slim wall organizer that was in my daughter's room to store and organize my favorite design and decor books.  

I absolutely LOVE how my vintage modern office came together!  It incorporates so many aspects of what I love and what makes me happy.  It's a little new, a lot old and full of contrast, texture and character. 

VINTAGE MODERN OFFICE SOURCES

 

UPPER WALL COLOR: Sherwin-Williams Super Paint Satin (straight off the shelf)

LOWER WALL, TRIM AND DOOR COLOR: Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore (Emerald line in satin)

RUG: Overstock

DESK: Goodwill

EAMES CHAIR: Auction

CARD CATALOG: Auction

CLOSET DOOR: Facebook Marketplace

DRESS FORM: Auction

GOLD DESK LAMP: Target

PHRENOLOGY HEAD: Auction

WORK HARD AND BE NICE TO PEOPLE: Schoolhouse

CLEAR OFFICE CHAIR:  Auction (Originally from IKEA)

BRASS SHELF BRACKETS: Home Depot

CLOCKS, BOTTLE, CAMERAS, DRESS FORM: Auctions

CURTAINS:  IKEA

BAMBOO SHADES: Blindster.com

VINTAGE MODERN OFFICE DECOR

     

     

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