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Thrift Store Goodies – Trash to Treasure

Mar 212012

Super simple transformation this week. We left behind several trash cans when we moved to Colorado. I know it sounds like an odd thing to be left behind, but the trash was one of the last things emptied during the pack up and by then the truck, the car and the trailer were all full to the brim (literally). No room for even a few little trash cans, so they were added to the Salvation Army donation pile. That pile grew significantly during the last few hours of loading the moving truck with an odd assortment of items we knew we could live without, but hadn’t necessarily planned on leaving behind.

Anyways, being a ~~lot~~ little on the cheap side, I found several trash cans at our local Goodwill ranging in price from 50 cents to a few dollars. All of them in your basic colors which will work perfectly for the most part and still under what you would pay for new. Then I came across this super cute little Rubbermaid trash can that would be perfect for my daughter’s room, except for the color.

If you’ve seen her desk, then you know her room is moving in the direction of pink & purple. A little bit of blue is okay, but she still insists this is a boy color. Not for girls. Her words. Which is funny to me, because I have never tried to influence color preference one way or the other. She has had to share a room with her brother, since the day she was born. Never had a pink nursery or anything like that. But, from the day she was old enough to choose for herself everything has had to be pink, purple, sparkly or glittery.

Anyways, I figured the easiest fix would be to spray paint it. Duh. Is there anything spray paint can’t fix? I picked up a can of Rustoleum’s Painter’s Touch in Gloss Berry Pink. You might wonder why I would go to the trouble to spray paint a trash can instead of just purchasing a pink one, considering the cost of the spray paint. Well, I have plans to spray paint her desk chair the same color, so the paint was something on hand not an extra expense. Add in the extra bonus of everything matching perfectly and it makes perfect sense. At least in my little crazy world it does.

Image courtesy of RustOleum.com

This was my first time using the 2x coverage paint and it definitely holds true to it’s name. Even the first thin coat covered the little can with a nice layer of pink paint. Also, very little over spray to go with the great coverage. Definitely be purchasing more in the future.

Her new trash can appeared after 3-4 thin coats.

I do want to note that when I flipped the can to spray the bottom and then back over (after it had dried over night) there was some chipping along the top edge. Which seemed a little odd because I had allowed the top to dry overnight before flipping, so I resprayed and then re-read the drying times. According to the directions it can take up to 5 days for paint to truly cure on plastic. This little ~~guy~~ girl is going to have to sit in time out for the rest of week to give it a fair shot to dry completely.

I’ll let you know how it goes…

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Thrift Store Goodies – Kitchen Curtains

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Mar 132012

When we moved into this house a few weeks ago, we were lucky enough to be greeted by these beauties hanging over the sliding glass door and kitchen window…

Oh yeah, I know your jealous. Who wouldn’t be? Anyways, as I mentioned previously we are renters, so I didn’t want to spend big bucks on replacements. But the lace definitely had to go. A lot of the big box stores sell fairly inexpensive panels nowadays, but I thought it couldn’t hurt to check out my local thrift stores, too. After some ~~digging~~ browsing through the racks I came across these two coordinating panels. A second of either panel would have been great, but no luck. And, from what I had seen on the racks, it looked like sample panels had been donated. Being samples there was only one panel available in all the various colors and styles. Bummer. Loving the colors, I bought them anyway.

After taking down the lovely lace, I hung these guys up on the existing rod to see if there would be enough coverage. Just enough. Whew. Now I had to merge them into one panel. This was done simply by folding the smaller panel in half horizontally and then cutting it down the middle vertically. Too make this as easy as possible I laid my cutting mats on the floor, placed the curtain down and used a rotary cutter along with a yardstick (to keep a straight line) to cut the panel. After my little cut up job, the result was two really skinny panels. Pretend you see pictures below of this process…I forgot completely…again.

Next, came my least favorite task when it comes to sewing….pinning. I tackled each side one at a time due to the length. My concern was that if I pinned both sides at once things might get tangled up while running everything through the machine. Once the side was pinned I noticed two things. One the panels were slightly different lengths, so the larger panel would have to be hemmed up a little. And, second, the tops of the panels had been hemmed in slightly different spots, so there wouldn’t be a perfect match up at the top. Both could be lived with, so let the sewing begin.

A rough estimate of the time spent was around an hour to get both smaller panels pinned and sewn to the larger panel. The smaller panel is actually a thermal panel and the thicker lining required a little more effort to keep everything lined up while running it through the machine. Also, there was the time involved to pin up and hem the larger panel to match everything up.

My new sliding door curtain…

It does cover the window completely, but I had to open it up slightly or the room is waaay too dark for snapping pictures. And, even though you can’t see it, along the back I trimmed the seam close to the stitching so you barely notice it.

I also spray painted the curtain rod to help it blend in a little better. Before the black really stood out and not being a huge fan of the rod in the first place, I thought making it blend would be the easiest solution.

The small window was an easy fix. This simple valence (that actually matches the sliding door perfectly – sorry for the terrible picture) was another find on a separate trip. Still new in it’s original packaging.

With all the lace packed away, I’m beginning to feel a little less like I’m in a time warp. A little. I still have to tackle the kitchen border (you can see it here) and the family room curtains are a whole nother story.

Cost Breakdown:

Valence: $1.50

Small Panel: $3.99

Large Panel: $7.99

Spray Paint: $0 (already had)

Total: $26.96

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Thrift Store Goodies – Lamp Makeovers

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Mar 062012

How many posts should be dedicated to these little lamps? Three, apparently. I finally have both lamps done and done.

The candlestick lamp was finished up first with just a little bit of sanding and touch up paint after the initial spray job. Also you can’t see it very well in the photo, but the top lip of the candlestick was bent and had to be straightened. Not sure why I didn’t notice this until after the first spray job, but it was repaired and sprayed again. Another small problem with this lamp was splotchy paint on the very bottom of the base. The paint would not stick which means I probably didn’t do a great cleaning job before spraying and a little scuff up probably would have avoided this problem entirely. One of the many joys of being incredibly impatient.

The second lamp went through the process without a hitch (lessons learned from above). I debated on whether or not to spray paint this one because I actually liked the texture of the base, just not the color. In the end, I sprayed it because my curiosity got the better of me. Good decision, I think…love it!

Total cost breakdown:

Lamps including shades: $24.96

Spray Paint: $10 (approx.) – 1 Can Rustoleum in Gloss Teal & 1 can Rustoleum in Metallic Charcoal

Total Makeover Cost: $34.96

Brief Summary of what I did: Taped off the cord and top part of each lamp (where the switch is) to keep from being covered in over spray. Wiped down both lamps to removed any dirt, fingerprints, etc. before spraying several LIGHT coats of the Metallic Charcoal. I didn’t tape anything on the lampshades, but probably should have because I did end up with a small amount of over spray around the top edge. Painted them using the same steps as the lamps. The burlap really soaked up a lot the paint and I didn’t end up with much of a gloss finish. If I ever get ambitious enough to purchase another can and add a few more layers, the gloss finish could most likely be achieved. But, I really do like them as they are so probably not gonna happen.

Now we’ll just see if these guys remain in the bedroom or not since these colors really go well with my plans for the living room. Just gives me another excuse to shop for more lamps when the time comes.

Sneak peek of my next thrift store goody project…

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