Guest Post: Thrifted Treasures

Today Aimee is guest posting part 2 of her mini series on thrifting, and she's showing us some of her favorite pieces she's thrifted!  I love seeing pictures of Aimee's house because she decorates so well and has all of these amazing pieces she's fixed up and DIY'd.  Thanks so much for sharing your tips and treasures with us, Aimee!  Have a great weekend everyone! xx

Welcome back to part two of my guest-post about thrifting! Today I will show you some before and after photos of items I have found while thrifting, and then spruced up. Hopefully this will help you start to shop inspired!  

This little mirror was probably the first thing I ever got at a thrift store and then fixed up to my liking. Here is the $2.97 mirror before:

 

 And here it is after!

All this transformation needed was one can of spray paint and two new hooks.  It is amazing how much a new coat of paint or new hardware can change an item into something cool and with lots of character.  When shopping for household items, try to look past the color or surface condition of things, and focus on the shape and structure of it.  This might be hard to do at first, but soon you'll find yourself thinking, "The size of this table is perfect, and if I painted it white, it would coordinate with the room perfectly," or "The shape of that box is so unique, I wonder what it would look like painted red!"  The possibilities are endless when you start seeing items on a shelf as possible canvases for spray paint!

I had been looking for months for a funky little dish to set on my bathroom counter to collect my rings and earrings at the end of the day, and I found this clear, glass leaf dish for .97 cents:

I had actually seen on Sherri's blog how she found a leaf dish and painted it gold, so I stole her idea and painted mine silver.  I ended up only painting the bottom of the dish, so I could still see the lines in the dish that made it look like a leaf.

Something else I had been on a long search for was a tray to put on my kitchen counter to collect my coffee and tea supplies.  I didn't have anything really specific in mind, I just wanted a tray.  And then I found this plain wooden one for $3.97:

I bought a few sheets of scrapbook paper that had a kitchen theme to them; they were covered in old recipes.

I painted the tray yellow, ModPodged the paper to the bottom, and then had this cute little tray!

This chair I found at an antique store, not a thrift store, but I wanted to share the project anyways, to get your creative juices flowing!  Here's the chair before; I paid $12 for it.  The wood was still very sturdy, although a little scratched up here and there, but the canvas was stained and dirty.

And with some very simple sewing to make a new seat and back, here is the chair after!

I paid just under $10 for the fabric (it was on major sale), so this whole chair cost me under $25.  You could easily pay $50 - $80 for a chair like this at a furnishings store!

I also wanted to share with you some great finds of mine, to encourage you to get out there and start thrifting!

A Lacoste belt, for $1.53.

J. Crew shorts in perfect condition for just under $5.

This 49ers Chips and Dip set for my brother-in-law, who is a huge fan.  It's by Pfaltzgraff.  I paid $3.97 for it, and I searched around online and found that others like this retail for about $50!

This really neat lamp made out of an old wine bottle, for just under $6.  It still had a label on it, which I took off, and eventually I want to fill it with something.

I don't have pictures to go with this, but thrifting can be a great way to start or add to a collection.  Whether its milk glass, tea cups, or books about a specific subject, you can find things like this cheap and build a large, unique collection.

Well, that is all that I have.  I hope these posts have been helpful and inspiring!  If you have any questions or would like any more information, you can head over to my blog A Tale of Two Feet and contact me from there!