4 Thrift Store Mini Makeovers

Today I have 4 more mini thrift store makeovers. These are the items you may have just skipped over because the color wasn’t quite right, they may have been a little dirty, or just not what you were looking for. Whatever the reason they were passed by, these 4 items required very little effort to make them perfect.

First up, I have this cute little desk or table lamp. It’s not old, it’s currently selling on Wayfair for $53 and at Nordstroms for $60. Thrift store price, $6.

The lamp is marked Jonathan Y on the bottom, though it looks like it sells under a couple of different brand names.

The lamp does have a nice marble base and a sleek minimalist design.

I assume, the reason this lamp was passed by was the brass discoloring. The paint wasn’t pitted, just spotted.

Nothing a quick spritz with some brass spray paint wouldn’t fix. It helps that I already had a can of Rust-Oleum Metallic brass spray paint on hand from another project.

Cover up your base to avoid over spray and do a few light passes.

Good as new!

Ready for it’s next life. And yes, I probably will remove the stickers.

Next up this covered wicker basket. It’s not large, about 5 inches tall and 6 inches wide.

This little basket is about to become a tissue holder. I have to confess this is not my original idea. This one came to me from a short on Instagram or Facebook where a woman was overly excited about coming upon a small covered wicker basket. She claimed she had been on the hunt for one of these forever!! I personally did not see what the big deal was about but she quickly turned it into a tissue holder. OK, now I need one. 🙂

No, I had no need for the flowers. This basket too got taken outside for a quick spray paint, this time in white with a satin finish.

Tissues are now hidden in plain sight.

All ready when you are.

I also found in my search how someone used a glass bowl as another tissue holder. Now I need one of those too.

I did not find a glass bowl like the one above on my weekly thrift store trip but I did find this glass light fixture shade which is open on the bottom to insert your tissues. Could this be set on a wood pillar candle holder? Oh the possibilities!

Third project. I was currently on the search for a few hooks to hold beach towels and these $2 hooks will work perfectly.

Where I’m going to put the hooks is only 14″ wide so this is a great time to make it custom.

The back of these hooks has a keyhole style fixture. If you’re constantly putting towels on the hooks and lifting off I was afraid these hooks would come right off their screw and the screws would come right out of the walls if they weren’t directly attached to studs.

My quick fix was to nail these hooks directly onto a piece of old molding cut to my custom length of 14″.

The hooks are attached to the molding with finish nails. The backing board can then be screwed directly into studs in the wall making the hooks more permanent.

Not his final resting place but you get the idea.

Lastly, I picked up this old, but not old enough wooden oar. While it is a little weathered I’m not sure it was ever used for rowing purposes. Probably just nautical decor. At $3, it was coming home with me.