Thrift Shop Find: Simple Antique Wooden Chair

I was thrilled when I spotted this wooden chair at a local thrift shop a few weeks ago. 

The timing wasn't right though, and I passed it by due to lack of time and thought. 

I did think about it again over the next week and or two and when I returned to that 

same shop it was still there, so I grabbed it.  At $10.00 I thought it was a bargain! 

I've recovered these types of seats before and they're relatively easy to do. 

My tough decision now is whether or not I want to paint the wood. Hmmm. 

At first I thought maybe turquoise or bright red, or even a lime (kinda neon) green.

 But now that I see the how the wood is so nicely naturally worn, I'm having 

second thoughts about painting it at all! 

What would you do with it?

What do you think?

What would you do with this chair?

My Rummage Sale Treasures!

Last night I unpacked some goodies that I bought at a huge rummage thrift sale

last May. This was the Boutique At The Rink rummage sale in Bethlehem, 

PA, whose proceeds benefited St. Luke's Hospital Cancer Center & Hospice. 

This was my first time visiting this huge sale, and when I say huge, I mean huge!

 The previous year, the sale raised $150,000, so just imagine all that STUFF! 

In any case, take a look at what I scored!

The first thing that caught my attention was a gigantic rusty tin object that was 

far across the room on a high shelf in the appliances section. I wasn't sure 

what it was, but it was mine!  On closer inspection, it turned out to be an 

old punched-tin pendant light fixture. What a fabulous vintage farmhouse find!

 It cost $15. I grabbed it. It filled up most of my shopping cart!

I was happy to see there was a crafts section. Here I found box upon box of odds and ends

of craft supplies. There were things like knitting needles, yarn, fabric remnants, leftover project supplies, etc., but what caught my eye was a bag of sequin and bead-filled large glass cigar tubes. Forget the sequins, those glass tubes were going to be turned into something fabulous! I'm not sure what they'll be transformed into yet, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.  What's that you say? The bag of nine test tubes for 50 cents? Sold! 

 Next!
Well what to my wondering eyes should appear but a set of nine old embroidery hoops of various sizes all tied together and priced at $1.50. Can you say dreamcatchers? I can't wait to see what happens with those. They will be a great project to do with my daughters this winter, perfect for the first school-closed snow day of the season. 

Fabric? Why yes, please. 

I'm not an avid sewer, though I have made a few quilts and I know how expensive fabric

can be, so I was sure to take my time and go through this section thoroughly. I found some 

great remnants in all types of colors, patterns, and materials. One that immediately

caught my eye was this lightweight canvas vintage horse print drapery material. The piece was 1 & 1/2 yards and only cost a few dollars. Wow. 

Along with the horse fabric, I collected a mixed selection of upholstery, quilting, and decorating fabrics.  For some time now,  I've been wanting to craft up a Bohemian style flag similar to the art flags made by Sara Rahbar (see her flags below at the end of this post). These remnants are perfect for that project. They sold them in packs of 4 or 5 remnants for 50 cents a pack. What a great deal!  

Here it is all unwrapped on my workbench...

Art flags made by artist Sara Rahbar:

Art flags made by artist Sara Rahbar

What do you think?

How To Upcycle Thrift Shop Finds Into Trendy Home Decor: Part Two!

Thrift Shop Hot! What to look for right now...

In my previous post, "How To Upcycle Thrift Shop Finds Into Trendy Home Decor"  I shared some great tips for upcycling common thrift shop finds into swanky home decor and crafts, including silver plated serving trays, vintage scarves, maps and globes, picture frames, and old cashmere sweaters. 

(If you haven't read that article, you can play catch-up by reading it here!)

Now I'm going to share with you some MORE items commonly found at thrift shops that are perfect for upcycling into fun home decor and crafts. Again, these items are great because not only are they inexpensive, but they are very much in style as current home decor. Check it out! 

What should you be looking for right now?

1)  Vintage Pie Tins & Cake Pans
I always see lots of old pie tins (aka pie plates) and pie pans when I go thrifting, and they're usually inexpensively priced from about $1 each. The neat thing about old pie tins is that you can sometimes find ones with bottoms that are embossed with vintage advertising.  

What to do with them? Hang a collection of them on a wall as you would china plates, making a display that works well in a kitchen.
(Click here for more wall-display grouping ideas)
Or, collect a few and construct a tiered organizer or pedistal server using thrift shop found candle sticks in between. These are great for displaying items and for chic organization! Check out the photos below for inspiration.

Vintage pie tin

Make a vintage inspired kitchen wall display with vintage pie tins (via BHG)

Three tiered kitchen organizer (above and below) by Kaytie Yost via Etsy

Pie plate pedestals by Sweet Girl Expressions

Pie tin mirrors from Design Sponge

2)  T-Shirts

Usually there are so many t-shirts at the thrift shops I visit that the shops organize them by color instead of by size. Why are they a great deal? T-shirts are abundant at thrift shops and also cost next to nothing. They come in a wide range of colors and patterns, so they are great for repurposing and upcycling into all sorts of things. 

What to do with them? T-shirts can be quickly and easily repurposed into many different items; shopping bags, quilts, and they can even be used to cover throw pillows. My favorite thing to do with them is to restructure them into entirely new shirts. I love to do this with my old concert shirts and have made quite a few for myself!

Craft an easy to make recycled t-shirt tote bag. DIY instructions from More Design Please

Make an awesome recycled t-shirt rug like this one from Show Tell Share

No-sew t-shirt hula hoop rug DIY instructions

DIY instructions for old t-shirt bibs from A Little Tipsy

Pillow made from an old t-shirt (tutorial)

This quilt was made from old children's clothes - click for tutorial



This video is one of my favorite t-shirt DIY's - I've made about ten of these!

3)  Vintage Framed Art

I always make a point to flip through the wall art at thrift shops. As I always say, you never know what you might find! As well as looking for unusual and unique frames, I'm always on the lookout for interesting artwork too. Some things to look for that make great collections are vintage framed needlepoints, old paint by numbers art (see the first two images below), as well as original amateur art paintings and "sofa art" (that's mass produced paintings that are created for the furniture industry. 

What to do with them? Display a unique collection as a gallery wall in your home, or, if you're the artsy type, try your hand at creating an altered thrift shop painting by adding an interesting or unexpected element to an already existing scene. See below. 

Paint by numbers collection 

Altered thrift store art by Bansky 

Altered thrift store art by Coy Powers

(Click here for lots more gallery wall ideas!)

4)  Vintage Costume Jewelry

Vintage enamel flower pins, brooches, old clip on earrings - you get the picture. These vintage treasures are abundant at thrift shops, flea markets and estate sales, and the great part is that you can often find them for sale by the bagful for just a few dollars. 
What to do with them?
Not only are these great to wear as-is, they're also perfect for upcycling into new items for yourself, your family, and your home. Check out the photos below for a few examples of how some creative folks turned old costume jewelry into unique accessories.

Create a vintage brooch bridal bouquet
(above) DIY instructions from Fancy Pants Weddings

Brooch bouquet with locket by Amanda Jane Heer via Etsy

Create a necklace with vintage brooches and ribbon. DIY instructions from Martha Stewart

DIY Fridge magnets made from old jewelry from Country Living

Create a brooch bouquet topiary

Frame made with vintage costume jewelry by Kat Smith via Etsy

(Click here to see lots more ideas for what to do with vintage costume jewelry!)

5)  Old Books & Outdated Encyclopedias
Just like road maps, encyclopedias become outdated and are replaced with new, up to date versions. Thrift shops are the best place to find old obsolete encyclopedias, dictionaries, and the like.

What to do with them? Use the pages for decoupage projects, or create some wonderful book page art by drawing or painting directly onto the page. Or, run the pages directly through your computer printer to create some unique personalized art (think black & white family photos printed on the old pages as shown below).

Computer printed art on old book page by Prrint via Etsy (above and below)

Book page art by Carambatack via Etsy

Wall art: altered set of vintage encyclopedias by Brian Dettmer

Coasters made from vintage encyclopedia pages by The Painted Lily via Etsy

(Check out my previous post Bookish for lots of ideas of things you can make with old books and pages!)

What do you think?
What's your favorite way to repurpose thrift shop finds?

Pin this post!  

(be sure to check back for part three!)