Thrifty Thrifting– Decorating Finds and a Tip

I love a good find, don’t you?  I find as soon as I get home with my new treasures in tow, I have to get to work right away to transform them. I found some thrifty diy decorating finds this week at a large thrift store near me called 2nd Avenue. It is like Goodwill but on steroids!  It is very highly organized and I can’t stress enough just how organized it is. Everything – even little junk, is organized by item, style, and color.  I know exactly what aisles to find the decorative items that I look for every week. So I am in and out quickly.

If a shopper places a lamp in the clothing section because they no longer want to buy it – you can be sure an employee will have it back where it belongs in no time flat.   The day I went, they were having 50% off of your entire purchase sale. What a deal, considering my total purchases were a deal to begin with at $6.10.     It is right next to The Dollar Tree so when ever I go thrifting here, I get a two for one “stop and shop” outing.

I thought about using the tray stand as I found it, as it is very pretty – but I knew I had a white wicker tray that would go nicely on top to make a summer side table for the chair in my family room.   So I sprayed it white.  The fake flowers in the vase even came with fake water. As I carried them around the store several women stopped me to ask where I found them and if there were any more. They wanted to touch them to make sure they truly were fake.   They add the perfect color pop to my family room.

I am into movable furniture, especially tables lately. I love the fact I can easily take this out to my deck or patio and place a drink or candle on it and then easily bring it back in when I come back inside.  In the winter I have a big basket by the chair with warm and snugly throws.  I lined the tray with polka dot fabric for another pop of color.

To keep the fabric from getting dirty, I covered it with clear – iron on vinyl from Heat N’ Bond. It is sold in rolled up sheets at JoAnn’s.  You simply cut out the size you need, remove the paper backing, place the vinyl sticky side down onto the fabric, and then the paper backing shiny side down on top to protect it while you iron the vinyl on.  Takes only a few minutes, but now if I spill something in the tray it is easy to wipe clean.

Heat N’ Bond Iron On Vinyl

As far as what I am going to do with the square basket – I collect them to organize my drawers.  I can never have enough. When I bring them home, I wash them in hot sudsy water first and then line drawers like a jig saw puzzle with them. It makes the insides of my drawers look fresh.  If you want to see how they look you can hop over to my post at Momtastic.com.

I am heading out later today to Lowes to round up the supplies I am going to need to makeover my bathroom.  I am pretty excited to be taking it on.  It may take me a few weeks, but I will post about my progress until the project is completed.

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Tagged as: Decorating with thrift store finds, DIY Decorating Ideas