Railroad Spring Vase - Easy DIY - Restore Decor & More

A while back, my husband brought home this railroad spring because he thought I could turn it into something. I took one glance, nodded my head, and said “okay babe.” Let us just say it has been sitting outside for over a year! I was cleaning up the yard this weekend and came across it and inspiration struck…I saw a DIY Railroad Spring Vase in my future!

I wanted a clean simple design, so I opted for chalk paint and rope. Here I will show you how I turned this railroad spring into a piece I would display in the house.

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Railroad Spring Before DIY — Here’s What The Railroad Spring Looked Like Before

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Step 1 – Gather Supplies

First I needed to gather the supplies I was going to use. Here is the list of supplies I used:

Railroad Spring (Or Use This If You Don’t Have One)

Classic White Chalk Spray Paint

Natural Cotton Rope

Glue Gun

Sandpaper

Step 2 – Clean

The next thing I did was give this a good cleaning! It had been sitting outside our house for over a year, and who knows how long before that! This part didn’t take very long and it looked pretty good when it was done.

Step 3 – Spray Paint Railroad Spring

After it was clean, I grabbed some Classic White Chalk Paint to use. I laid some cardboard outside and started spray painting. I had to give it two coats and wait for one side to dry before I could flip it and paint the other.

This is a classic spray painting mistake, in hindsight, I should have just painted it upright! Oh well, live and learn I guess.

Railroad spring spray painted white with chalk paint

Step 4 – Distress Paint

Since I was going for the farmhouse-style look, I wanted it a bit distressed. All I did was take a piece of sandpaper to it and rough up a few spots.

Step 5 – Add Rope To Railroad spring vase

I could have just painted the railroad spring and been done with it, but I wanted to take it up a notch. My idea was to fill in the gaps slightly with some natural cotton rope. Using a glue gun, I started at the top and just followed the spring all the way down with the rope.

Hot glue gun and railroad spring with cotton rope added

I had to go back and tweak it a bit so it looked even.

I love how this turned out! I can play around with different arrangements to put in this which will be fun.

I also like how unique it is. Did you know railroad springs come in different sizes? I may have to have my husband grab a different one and see what else I can come up with!

If you don’t have a random railroad spring laying around (who does?!) you can also use a tractor coil spring like this one! Please share if you end up making it 🙂

Thanks for checking it out! What do you think of the railroad spring vase?

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