I’ve been looking for vintage luggage for a while now, and I was lucky enough to find a cute little vintage overnight case at Goodwill last month! There are so many ways you can use old luggage in your home! For some inspiration, I’ve collected 15 ways to repurpose a suitcase.
20 Ways to Decorate With Vintage Luggage
- Vintage. Search your local thrift store or grandma’s attic to find unbelievable pieces to decorate your home.
- Home Decor. Beautiful projects to have in any room in your home that will add unique and useful decor pieces.
- Easy DIY. Easy and interesting ideas for you to transform vintage suitcases while perfecting your crafting skills.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to Amazon and/or Etsy, which means that I may earn a small commission from some of the links in this post. Please see our Disclosure Page for more information.
It’s hard to decide what to do since there are so many great ways to use old luggage, from stacking them and using them as end tables to upcycling them into medicine cabinets. Check out these creative ideas!
1. Suitcase Table
You could make a table from Tattered Elegance
2. Suitcase Bar
Suitcase bar found at Bloomerism
3. Luggage Ottoman
Suitcase ottoman via The Paupers Castle
4. Bedside Table
Apartment Therapy has a wonderful idea for a side table with this small suitcase in a popular mustard color.
5. Craft Storage
Love this idea! A suitcase used for craft storage was found at Ania flickr
6. Shelf Storage
Use them as shelves found at The Painted Home
7. Display
Use them in displays like this one found at Na-Da Farm Life
8. Pop of Color
Paint them fun colors found at belle maison
9. Console Table
If you’re lucky enough to have a lot of them make a console table from the Funky Junk Sisters
10. Puppet Theater
How about a tabletop suitcase puppet theatre? from Melly Sews
11. Clothing Storage
Fabric-covered suitcases to store out-of-season clothes or magazines etc. from A Beautiful Mess
12. Paper Storage
What a cute idea to use this little blue suitcase to hold papers that are not meant to be seen, and placed on a shelf from Lovely Etc.
13. Suitcase Shelf
Crafting A Green World has an awesome idea of using an old suitcase to make a new suitcase shelf.
14. Decor
I love the idea of using family treasures from the attic being repurposed at home for decor from The Craft Patch.
15. Dog Bed
Dog lovers may want to try this in their home and spruce up an old suitcase to provide a comfy and stunning dog bed for their home from Craft Your Happiness.
16. Suitcase Table
Saved By Love Creations transformed a classic brown leather suitcase into perfect for a table. Wouldn’t this look great in an office entryway?
17. Bookshelf Piece
320 Sycamore uses the vintage suitcases on a bookshelf to add dimension and serve as a stand for globes.
18. Portable Sound System
A portable sound system has got to be one of the coolest ideas I have seen for an old suitcase. This one can be found at Apartment Therapy.
19. Vanity
Decorate your bathroom area with this unique vanity case by Crafting A Green World.
20. Planter
By making a few modifications, this old suitcase will magically become a beautiful planter. Find the instructional video at Hometalk.
Hope you found some ideas and have a great weekend!
My friend uses a pile of vintage suitcases as a bedside table. I need to pull my grandmother’s suitcase out of the attic and think of something creative to do with it!
Yes, that’s a good way to use them if you have enough to stack. plus it’s storage and it’s cute!
All cute ideas:)
Great ideas as always 🙂 I love the fabric covered ones the best and want to try this one I found at at second hand store.
A great gathering of ideas…I use one on my dresser to organize jewelry and perfume and old letters. I also use some for storage, but I do not consider them attractive enough to use for visible storage. Things can also smell quite funky in such closed up spaces so it’s a good idea to include a lavender sachet, a dryer sheet or something. I think the pet bed is darling and actually tried it for the kitty. I thought it looked sweet enough to crawl in myself, but she never used it.
I saw a few cat beds but more dog beds. You should paint the outside or decoupage it and you can change the insides if you haven’t already done so. I have a pin on my Organized Nest board that gives you methods for getting the funky smell out.
Loved this post!! So many great Ideas! I recently used 2 suitcases in vignettes in my Den..
http://debbie-dabble.blogspot.com/2013/07/wanna-see-where-i-put-things-i-bought.html
Hugs,
Deb
Such cute ideas!
Lots of creative ideas, Manuela! The one picture with the suitcase is funny to me {coincidence funny} ~ I was at an estate sale yesterday and saw an old typewriter like the one pictured and then in another area they had one old vintage looking suitcase. Thinking about it now, I should have gotten the typewriter for my daughter as something she could have put in her future office {she writes}.
🙂
Monday I went to my favorite thrifting place that has dealer booths and they had about 4 of those old typewritters and a lot of vintage luggage. The typewritters were all $59-69 dollars. I just thought that was a lot of money for old (yet cool) typewritters. Are those good prices? They had tons of old luggage but they started in the hi 20’s. I got my little one at Goodwill for $2.12!
So I love the tray and the table console! These are such creative and awesome ideas! Audley is wanting to turn one we have into a bed for our new kitten. The concept sounds cool =) Thank you for sharing all of the inspiration.
Have a great weekend!
Lots of inventive ideas! Love the stack of brightly colored suitcases! What a statement.
Judy
I know! That’s my favorite one. If I had the room I would do something like that!
there is something so romantic about vintage luggage, isn’t there? I love these ideas!
There are so many creative ideas here. My favorite one is the suitcase made into a table. Love it. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Cynthia
Thanks Cynthia!
So many creative ideas!! Love the colorful stack!
I adore all of these ideas and am having a hard time picking a favorite, although the table and the colorful painted suitcases definitely get top billing in my book! I noticed the painted ones have the same style. That would be hard to find I think.
I’ve seen so many different price ranges when it comes to suitcases. Some for just a few dollars and others as high as $40 or higher at hoity toity antique fairs, but the higher ones generally are in good shape and don’t smell ;).
LOL! Well no smell would be worth a few extra dollars. I’ve come across a few larger ones at the thrift store that were a bit beat up. Yes, it would be hard to find ones that are the same style. The stack of different colored ones is my favorite!
I love vintage suitcase. I only have two, but would love to have a few more. I’ll only pay a certain price though. I got good deals on the two I’ve found. Your little overnight case is fabulous as is – I wouldn’t paint it! Since you have black accent in your bedroom, maybe you could use it on a dresser somehow…maybe display it opened with jewelry inside and hanging off the edges? Or, you could store makeup or nailpolish in it and use the case itself in a vignette on your dresser. Just some ideas off the top of my head!
Hi Melanie,
I was looking at it yesterday thinking that black would actually work. Unfortunately I don’t have room on my dresser (unless I find another dresser 🙂 ) but that’s a great idea! I do use black in my living room and dining room – so maybe although I’m dying to decopauge it.
No wonder people were actually fist fighting over the old Samsonite cases we sold at my Mom’s estate sale. We thought we were going to have to call the cops!
I still love my 1965 high school graduation Sears soft-sided 3 piece set of luggage. I love packing in it far more than all the new ‘black’ hanging & rolling bags! It is showing the wear with some marks, etc, but otherwise still works great for car trips to friends & family. The small ‘makeup’ case is great for fitting all bath & beauty & hair care items for my husband & me, but shows the most wear. I’d like to paint it with a colorful doodle type design, probably on permanent marker & acrylics, to use with the newer luggage. Does anyone know if the case should be gessoed or prepared some other way before painting? What about any cover coat for protection? Any other ideas? I’m afraid to start & ruin my all time favorite piece of luggage!