Christmas thrift store makeovers

Hey all! Hope you're week has been wonderful! I've been incredibly lazy and it's been amazing. :) I've got a few more errands to run and a ton of wrapping to do over the next few days so it's time to get productive again. 

I have some super quick thrift store makeovers I wanted to share with you that I got at an awesome new store (for my local readers). 

The lovely folks at Mission 27 Resale in Indianapolis contacted me a few months ago and asked me to come out to visit their new location downtown. Mission 27 is run by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, which is an organization that serves the poor and disadvantaged. I LOVE their mission for this store in particular. The lovely folks that run this organization noticed that the food that was being given out at their food bank wasn't always the healthiest of options (because of the cost). The proceeds from this store go to buying healthy foods for the food bank, among other things. 

ALL of the items in the store are donated and it is HUGE. I have to tell you I've never seen nicer items in a thrift shop! I can't wait to go back when I have more time to shop around. 

I grabbed a few treasures that I made over with spray paint for the holidays! They had a bunch of these stocking holders -- I got rid of ours last year because they were falling apart: 

Some were in decent shape but some had areas where the finish was coming off: 

I just took some sandpaper to those areas and sanded until the finish was smooth and not flaking anymore. 

Then I sprayed with my old go-to spray paint, oil rubbed bronze: 

They turned out as good as new! You may have noticed them on the new fireplace in the basement: 

I ended up moving them upstairs to the family room fireplace: 

I also found this CUTE wood reindeer set: 

I loved their modern shape! I took the old bows off and sanded them down a bit -- they were pretty rough. Because of their rough wood I knew spray paint wouldn't cover well, so I grabbed my favorite red paint for Christmas: 

You can't go wrong with Santa Red! :) 

I did a couple coats -- still letting a bit of the wood grain come through: 

I added some bows just to see how they looked but I think I like them without better: 

I spent about $15 on the four stocking holders and the reindeer and the makeovers were easy! The deer are my favorite because they are so unique and fun. :) 

This isn't your regular thrift store...check out some of the photos I grabbed from my visit: 

If you live nearby I would give Mission 27 visit -- the location is massive and they have an incredible selection. (Their women's clothing is crazy good.) This location is near Midland Antiques, another favorite of mine, so you could make a day of it! :) 

I plan to be back before Christmas but not making any promises! Depends on how much wrapping I get done. ;) Hope you all have a wonderful and safe end to your week! 

Table turned DIY bar cart

Hey all, I hope you had a great weekend! I didn't mean to be away on Friday but we ended up heading out and spending a fun fall day exploring around our pretty state. Indiana in October is just stunning! 

I finished up a quick DIY over the weekend that I'm just tickled about. It turned out even better than I had hoped. I found this small, skinny table at our local Habitat Restore a week or so ago: 

I've had a spot in mind for a bar cart in our dining room-turned-library for about a year now. I've almost bought one in various stores many times now, but none of them felt just right. Most were too industrial or way too fancy for what I wanted. 

I found one a couple weeks ago and loved it, but didn't know if it would work in the spot. I went home, measured, couldn't stop thinking about it and crossed my fingers that it would still be there a couple days later. Thankfully it was and I took it home for $15! 

I'm assuming there was a glass top on it at some point but I had a different idea in mind. The finish was that speckly faux wood look that I don't care for: 

The wood wasn't in great shape in some spots so between that and the finish I knew I was going to paint it. My go-to is usually black, gray or blue -- this area has plenty of blue and gray so I knew I wanted black. I thought it would look great but it looks SO great. :)

Before you spray paint anything you need to clean it really well. If you leave any residue on there at all the spray paint will not cover it:

It was filthy! I wiped down every little crevice. If you have stubborn sticky spots (not unusual on older furniture) you'll want to sand those down a bit and then wipe again. 

I'm taking advantage of every single spray paint day we have left this year! :) I took the table outside and started the process of spraying. I used this stuff just because we had it and I didn't want to go to the store: 

It's great for metal but can be used on wood too. I was happy it was a primer and paint in one. Normally I would have sprayed some kind of primer on the table before the black. 

Later on I went to the hardware store and had a piece of wood cut down to fit the top and then picked up a wine glass rack from Pier 1. (This one is similar to mine.) I used some scrap wood underneath to build up the wood because it wasn't thick enough for screws to be installed from underneath: 

You can't see the scrap wood when you look at the table but I went ahead and sprayed that underside black as well just in case. 

I secured the top to the table with my nail gun and then hung a few of our wine glasses. Then I added some of our favorite barware that has been hidden away in cabinets:

We LOVE it! I'm sure I'll change things up a bit eventually but I'm so happy with it!: 

It's perfect in this spot -- we needed something there but I didn't want it to feel too heavy.

NOW I just have to keep the Nerf bullets away!:

Someday I'd love to find some wheels that fit over the legs -- I think that would finish it off perfectly!

I love the design. The bamboo look is a classic. :) I spent less than $30 to redo the table -- $15 for the table and about $12 for the wood: 

It's been awhile since I've made over a thrift find -- we just don't need a lot of new furniture and I love pretty much everything we have. This one took some patience to find but it's just exactly what I wanted for this spot! 

Have you shopped the Habitat Restore Store? I love checking it out every few months -- you can usually find great pieces of furniture and they always have cool lighting. Our location even had some beautiful tile and flooring that would be perfect for a smaller space! 

Affiliate link included for your convenience! 

Check out some of my other spray paint projects below!

Spray painted door knobs: 

Spraying outdoor light fixtures: 

Spray painting brass lamps: 

Chalk paint spray paint -- does it work?

Hello there! How is your week going so far? I'm looking forward to things slowing down just a bit around here -- and I've started my fall decorating, which I'm kind of excited about. I am determined to do a fall tour of our house this year!

I was so excited to see this new spray paint, I knew I had to try it. And when I did, I knew I had to share the results with you! The chalk paint craze is still going fairly strong, don't you think? I don't see it going anywhere soon. I've used it before and will link to some of those posts at the bottom, but for now, I wanted to share this spray paint chalk paint: 

I got it a few weeks back and was excited to try it but wanted to wait for the right project. I ended up using the paint on a Goodwill tray I've had forever. It corrals a lot of our office supplies in the new loft (I shared the reveal last week): 

It was a creamy white before, but I wanted bright white to go with the shiplap walls. I have to say, I wasn't thrilled with the product overall. It sprays funky, doesn't cover great and the final finish is pretty rough. I'll go into more detail in a minute, but I wanted to give it another try before I wrote to you guys about it. 

I had this ampersand from years and years ago -- I was going to sell it but decided to try this spray paint out on it to make it work in our home a little better: 

And I wasn't any more impressed with the paint this time, so boo. :) Here's the deal. If you use it keep in mind a few things:

1. It sprays all over the place. Most spray paint is fairly easy to direct, but this blows out cloud of "chalk" with each spray. You definitely need to do this in a well ventilated area and a mask isn't a bad idea. 
2. This is very much still an oil-based paint (hence the name "chalky" paint.) It is not chalk paint in a can, it just gives the finish of chalk paint…kind of. ;) 
3. It does not cover well, which is quite the opposite of chalk paint I've used out of a can. It took four coats on this small item and still didn't cover well. 
4. It leaves your piece feeling "chalky" -- thats the best way to describe it, but more so than the regular stuff. It doesn't come off on your hands, but it's rough feeling. I think that's what I like least about it. 
5. It takes longer to dry than regular spray paint. 

Obviously you can tell I was not a big fan. :) I've also noticed there's a lot more "stuff" on the finish when I'm done, like dust and fuzz that I have to wipe off. I'm not sure if it's from the actual can or because of the way it sprays -- it may kick up stuff around the surface that lands on the item: 

Now this piece had a rough surface to begin with, so it's not a great indicator of that last one, but you can see there that even with all those coats it still didn't cover completely.

I also wasn't a fan of the can and how it sprays. On another item I sprayed (a light switch cover), the finish turned out horribly. It's super rough because it was spraying little drops. The paint also dripped all over the can (and my hands) so that wasn't ideal.

I DID like that it was so easy to distress, just like regular chalk paint. That part went easily: 

With regular chalk paint you have to wax it to keep it from rubbing off. I'm not sure how these will do over time if they were being handled a lot. I'm thinking you'd need to spray a clear coat on them, but I can't speak to that just yet. 

Overall I wasn't thrilled with this product which is a shame because I think it could be great for harder to paint items! For smaller decor like I did, I'd say maybe try it out? But if you are trying to paint a larger piece or something you will want to touch often I would not recommend this. Stick to paint out of the can. :) This isn't reliable enough that I would recommend it for a larger piece. 

I could have grabbed a bad one, who knows! I'm not sure that I'd try this one specifically again. Have you tried the spray paint chalk paint? I'd love to hear your experience with it! 

Here are some of the items I've painted with chalk paint with more information about the process…

My Goodwill stool in aqua: 

This still looks exactly like the day I did it! 

And this dresser used to sit in our foyer. I've since moved it (and repainted it): 

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