Thrift Store Swap Reveal #2

It’s been exactly 86 days since the very first Thrift Store Swap Reveal… and if there’s anything I’ve learned (being a veteran swapper and all 😉 ) it’s too expect the unexpected! This go around we expanded the swap from the 6 fabulous ladies who started it all to a terrific group of 10! That’s almost twice the fun!! Score!

For our second reveal (since we’re doubling the fun wink wink ) we decided that each girl would buy and receive two thrift store items… but maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m assuming that y’all know what the Thrift Store Swap is! For those of you who are new to the swap we’re a group of gals who love to re-purpose! Lyn over at Mid Michican Mom thought up the whole fabulous idea… it works like this: Gal A heads to her local thrift shop where she buys two items under $10… and then mails them to gal B! Gal B re-purposes her two items from Gal A and sends two more items to Gal C… it’s a giant circle!

So every gal receives two mystery items to re-purpose… and once the items are received the rules are there ain’t no rules! Anything goes… as long as you re-purpose your items you’re golden!! Isn’t that fun? I have an absolute blast working on these little projects… it’s so much fun to open the box and see what you have to work with! It’s exceptionally fun if you get an impromptu scavenger hunt before opening your box!! My scavenger hunt came in the form of a wrong address… more specifically someone who shall not be named might have given poor Laci from Sequins in the South the wrong address!

Give me a break ok?! We’d just moved into our new house and I thought I was so fancy when I told Laci our new house number… I never memorize numbers fast so I was way proud of myself for remembering those three little numbers! Yup I remembered wrong! Luckily we had a tracking number on my Thrift Store items so we knew they had been delivered… I just had to knock on a few doors to find them! They were safe and sound with the sweet little lady three houses down! Yup I’m that gal.

Anywho… time for the before photos! Here’s what was in my box!

That’s right… coasters and a lamp! Best. Present. Ever! I have needed new coasters for almost a year and a half… water rings are literally trying to take over my house! I think I’ll have to re-paint my dresser to get rid of them in the bedroom. Yuck!

If you’ve been following along you know that I had several ideas for these little coaster babies… and after all of the voting and inspiration I decided to go with the wallpaper idea. I know what you’re thinking “She used wallpaper on her last swap project!” You’re right I did… and I had a hard time picking between the Instagram photos and the wallpaper samples! In the end I just had to do it… I mean I found the perfect wallpaper sample! I absolutely fell in love and just couldn’t give the little deer up!

Of course before I could apply my wallpaper samples I had to remove the multi-colored paint job… and after a little bit of paint stripper I found that these coasters were actually bathroom tiles! White square bathroom tiles! How awesome is that… you could buy a whole box of tiles at the hardware store and make them into coasters! All you’d need is a bit of glue and an adorable wallpaper sample!

(If you’re starting with a multi-colored mess like me check back next week… I’ll show you how paint stripper took the paint right off (in under 10 minutes!))

Once my “coasters” were good and stripped they were no longer technicolored but a clean white slate! That means applying my wallpaper sample was as easy as cutting and pasting… literally! (If you need help applying wallpaper samples to any project check out this post! These are the steps that have worked for me every time!)

I love how these little guys turned out… and so does the hubby! When I showed him the finished product he was very impressed insert happy smug smile here… I love when he loves my ideas! I still have quite a bit of my wallpaper sheet left… so I may have to hunt down a couple more bathroom tiles! I could definitely use coasters for both my living room and bedroom! The water rings on my coffee table are almost as bad as the ones on my dresser. Yikes!

Plus there’s a couple woodland creatures I haven’t used yet 😉

I love love love how they turned out… they’re the perfect color scheme to go with my living room! The whole problem with finding coasters (remember I’ve been looking for a year and a half!) is that every option was either the wrong color or way too expensive! I love that these are the perfect price (cheap!) and can be totally customized to go with any decor… even if you’re looking for a light aqua deer option!

While the coasters were easy to re-purpose… the lamp was a little harder to figure out! I think I was making the whole thing way too difficult… I wanted some big grand re-purpose but I just couldn’t come up with anything big and grand. I didn’t want to just spray paint my little lamp and call it a day!

So instead I set the lamp on my desk and proceeded to stare at for the last month and a half. It’s just been sitting there mocking me… the cheeky little bugger! In the end I decided to go with a metallic spray paint for the base… it’s not a revolutionary re-vamp but it gives the base that little something extra that I was looking for.

Of course glittering the entire base would have been more my speed… but I was afraid that the glitter would go everywhere each time we turned the lamp on! No bueno! Spray painting my little lamp took about five minutes… I think I spent more time taping off the electrical parts then actually spraying! Once the base was dry it was time to move on to the hard part… the shade! I didn’t want to spend $10 bucks for my little $1 lamp… so I did what any good Thrift Store Gal would do and re-purposed an old lamp shade from my “donate” box!

It was a little tall so I had to change the frame up a bit… and then it was all about the decoration. The shade started out a boring beige (totally not going to work) so I headed out on a quick wally world trip where I picked up a scarf from the dollar bin. Yup a grey and aqua scarf… who knew they were so versatile?! This one is totally my jam!

I absolutely love how it turned out! (I say that a lot don’t I? Well it’s true! I tend to work on things until I love the end result so I love all my projects! haha!) The metallic finish is the perfect touch of glam and I love that little bit of aqua in the scarf! If you want to know how to deconstruct a lamp shade and re-invent it as a smaller scarf-shade (I am soooo calling this a scarf-shade!) then check back next week! I’ll post all the details!

So which re-purpose is your favorite? The little deer coasters or the aqua and silver scarf-shade? I don’t know which one is winning for me but I am partial to those little deer!

Either way I’m loving both items from the second round of the Thrift Store Swap! I think Laci did a great job shopping for me, don’t you? If you’d like to see what I purchased at our local thrift shop head on over to Less House More Home… that’s where I’m headed! I can’t wait to see what Maggie did with my two items!! Especially since I sent her candles…

Before you go don’t forget to pin! I made a few adorable images for you… one for each project!