Category: Thrift Store Finds

Craft Projects, Thrift Store Finds

Bird Wall Sconce

Jessica Smith

Holy cow, this was an exhausting weekend. As you may know, our dishwasher has been broken for what seems like ages now. We finally got the go ahead from Samsung to return our dishwasher back to Best Buy, so we went there on Saturday to process a replacement. Turns out our dishwasher is already discontinued — guess everyone else thought it sucked, too — so we had to just return the dishwasher for a refund, wait for that to go through, and buy a new one. *sigh* As if that weren’t a hot enough mess, everything in our house seemed to leak this weekend… pipes, washing machine, sink, etc. Ahhhh the joys of being a homeowner. We are hoping to buy a new dishwasher tomorrow *fingers crossed*!!! I would love to fill the gaping hole underneath our cabinets with a working dishwasher and reattach the pipes underneath our sink. Can’t wait.

Luckily, that was the only bad/stressful part of our weekend. We went to a bonfire and I did lots of crafts. Lots!

On to the crafts!!!

I don’t even remember where I picked up these wall sconces, but they were in need of some l-o-v-e love.

I was originally going to spray paint them, but neglected to do so for real. So, I busted out some of my paint samples and got to painting. I went with a light teal and a light brown.

I took off the candle holder with a screwdriver, then painted the back of the sconce teal and the candle holder brown.

After several coats of each color, I painted the outer trim of the sconce a light brown, too.

Once everything was dry, I pulled out a stencil I’ve been wanting to try. This time, I used stencil adhesive. If you use a stencil, USE STENCIL ADHESIVE. It really does help keep the stencil in place while you paint.

I placed my stencil on the sconce exactly where I wanted it, dabbing on the adhesive around the cutouts right before.

Once the stencil was secure (I only waited about a minute after placing it on), I painted the tree brown, the leaves green and the bird blue.

I pulled off the stencil as soon as I was done painting. Once everything was dry, I screwed the candle holder back onto the sconce.

Now that’s an improvement, wouldn’t you say?

I love it!

I do have a confession, though. It wasn’t until I started writing this post that I remembered I have a second sconce somewhere around my house!! Should I make a second bird sconce since it turned out so well, or should I do something completely different?

I hope you all had a great weekend. And a special thanks to those of you who checked out my blog this past weekend — I had a record number of views on Saturday and was so very excited about it. You guys are awesome and I hope you keep coming back for more!

Craft Projects, Thrift Store Finds

Twice-redone bird candelabra

Jessica Smith

Two or so years ago I found the neatest candelabra at a thrift store and I just had to have it. The problem was, it was black and red — so not my colors. Either way, I picked it up and brought it home. It stayed black with red birds for at least a year, probably because we had a lot of red decor from both being Maryland grads.

Forgive the photo — I didn’t have a craft blog two years ago — but if you look in the top right of the photo you can see my candelabra in its original state on top of the cabinets in our rental home.

When I finally got around to painting it, I chose an ivory paint for the branches and a navy paint for the birds. It was definitely an improvement, and stayed this way for at least a year.

But let’s keep it real, I’m an aqua girl through and through, so my little candelabra needed another update to fit into our home. I pulled out some paint to take this candelabra to the next level: A lighter blue for the birds, a bluish-green for the leaves, and black accents along the branches.

I really like the more rustic look of the candelabra now, and I think it will fit into our home and decor much better now.

Moral of this post: Just because you’ve refinished something once, doesn’t mean you can’t do it again!

Craft Projects, Thrift Store Finds

Thrift Store Find: Hexagonal Wall Shelves

Jessica Smith

Have I mentioned lately how much I love thrift stores? Hmmm… I don’t think so.

Well, I love them. You can find the best things if you are willing to do a little searching. I haven’t been in a while and I’m itching to do a little thrifting soon…. but first I need to finish (ahem, start) a few projects I’ve already got planned with thrift store purchased.

A month or so ago, Carrie and I went to the thrift store by work to get items to craft for our second craft day. I picked up a set of three black hexagonal wall shelves for $6! These shelves range in price from $25 to $80, so I was happy to dish out a whole six buck to make them mine.

I didn’t want my shelves to be black, and they were a little beat up, so I painted them white. I also hung new hardware onto the back of each shelf because the preexisting hardware was placed in a weird spot. One was also missing… Since the shelves aren’t very heavy and I didn’t plan on hanging any boulders on them, I hung them with a simple picture bracket. They haven’t fallen down yet, so it looks like it will work just fine.

I didn’t do the worlds best job painting them, but I think they look adorable. They are hanging in our dining room right next to our kitchen walkway.

The hubby is gonna looooove that he’s in that picture doing the dishes haha. Let’s focus on the shelves — cute, huh? I haven’t totally figured out the accessories yet, especially since the shelves were much smaller than I originally remembered.

My new silver birds that I brought home from New York are definitely staying. I love them to pieces.

What awesome things have you found thrifting? And if you live in Maryland, what’s your favorite thrift store?