Thrifty Revamps

There's nothing I like more than finding something in a thrift store or a yard sale that isn't quite what I'm looking for but has potential!  You see I'm cheap!  Not only that I get a great deal of pleasure from giving something that has been thrown out a new lease of life, it also means that I end up with something quite unique!  So this page is dedicated to those finds and what you can do with them.  I hope you will be inspired to try some Thrifty Revamps too, and I'd love to see what you do!

Welcome!

A year ago when we arrived in Canada my cousin gave me a Christmas decoration which needed a little TLC.  Well, it's taken me a while to get around to it but finally I now have a "Welcome" wall hanging for the hall!  First I took off all the holly and spruce, I also removed the top layer of the wooden bow which had, at some point, come adrift and had been nailed back on not altogether successfully!  Then I rubbed it down and filled the nail holes.

Next I gave it a coat of acrylic paint, in two shades of blue.

I purchased some wooden letters from Michael's at around $1.60 each and some wooden flowers and butterflies for $1 each pack of ten from Dollerama!  I had some little wooden hearts in my stash already and painted them in blues and pinks.  Finally I hot glued the letters and shapes onto some pretty pink ribbon and hung them from the 'bow'.  I'm really rather pleased!

So, next project is......  chair backs!  I saw these on Etsy

And Fell In Love!


I didn't want lace, however, because I thought it would be too O.T.T. with a crochet table cloth.  So I purchased a cream cotton sheet from the bargain shop (too impatient to wait till I go thrifting next week), I have some cream satin and cream tuille netting and I have a certain little design of my own floating around in my tiny brain.  Of course Lovely Man knows NOTHING... he will hate them because they are to 'poofy'!  So we're not going to tell him till they are finished and in situ... what's known as a fait a compli... one of those "Oh don't you like them?  But I've finished them now..." moments! OK?  Mum's the word!

Cupboard Love

Ok so the first project isn't strictly yard sale or thrift shop, it is a cupboard in my kitchen.  However it had been put in as something of an afterthought I think in that it doesn't match the others!  It was one of those cheap white melamine covered chipboard ones!  It had become home to various cookery books, telephone books, drawing pins, pens, string and a whole host of junk!  So first I emptied it, dejunked it and took off the doors.  I hid these in the basement and quickly filled all the holes with white wood filler to prevent Lovely Man from putting said doors back on! (He doesn't always like my inspired DIY).  Next I bought a roll of sticky back vinyl from the Bargain Store for $3 and covered the back wall of the cupboard and replaced the shelf.  Lastly, after washing everything down, I glued some vintage style lace that did actually come from a thrift store for the grand sum of 50c, to the edges of the shelves.  I placed one of those battery operated LED lights that you hang in closets behind the letter rack.  Et Voila!  Cook books neatly lined up, a few pretties and I have and brand new look bookshelf!