I really enjoy visiting thrift stores to see what kind of goodies I can find. Zack loves it, too, so we make it a fun Mother/Son outing, usually ending in a Starbucks run.

He likes to look for “treasures” at Goodwill, and he always seems to manage to find a toy that has to come home with him. Some of his favorite toys are the cheap, used toys that he picks out at thrift stores. I’m pretty certain that we have more three-wheeled toy cars than any other household on Earth.

We also have several plastic pots, since they apparently make the best dog toys EVER.

I’m a bit more picky about my “treasures” than Zack is, but I still manage to find quite a bit of great stuff. There’s really nothing quite like taking something ugly and turning it into something great. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling on the inside. Or, maybe that’s just the paint fumes finally getting to me.

Pretty cute for $4 and a can of white spray paint, huh?

People often say to me that they wish they had my creativity or had my ability to see the inner beauty in ugly objects. Well, it’s not rocket science. AT ALL. In fact, it’s more trial and error than anything. Believe me, there have been a LOT of errors throughout the years. Just ask my husband about that dresser we got for free on CraigsList several years ago that basically fell apart as soon as we got it out of the car. Scrap wood, anyone?

If you’ve been too nervous to jump into searching CraigsList, garage sales, or your local thrift store, let me hold your hand and lead you down the path of repurposing! Here are a few of my favorite tips to keep in mind:

• I encourage you to go to thrift stores often. I go to my favorite one at least once a week. I think the best items are to be found on Tuesday mornings (or during your Tuesday lunch break if you work outside of the home). Remember, most people clean house and donate their unwanted items to the thrift stores on the weekends. The “Tuesday Plan” gives the store staff all day Monday to put out the new goods, so you are most likely to have the best selection on Tuesday.

• When looking for furniture, look past the color of the piece and the ugly hardware on the drawers. All of that stuff can be changed. You first need to find something that is the right size and shape for your home, just like you would in the fanciest of furniture stores. Once you find a piece that meets that criteria, you need to figure out if it’s sturdy enough. You don’t want it to fall apart like my dresser. Shake it a little bit and see if it’s wobbly. If it is wobbly and you don’t consider yourself good with a cordless drill and wood glue, keep on walking. If you see it’s a little shaky in the joints and have a husband who humors you enough to put a few extra screws where it’s loose, then go for it!

This chair was $10 from Craigslist. I loved the shape of the back, so Tom and Zack helped me sand and repaint the chair an antique white. I sewed a new cushion and it’s now my super comfy (and super adorable) sewing chair.

• ALWAYS look at the clearance aisles when you go to craft stores, home stores, or even department stores. ALWAYS. I posted yesterday that I found some great buys at Hobby Lobby for 80% off. Today, I went to Target to pick up a birthday present for Zack’s buddy, and I found a $4 white square bamboo tray in the process (originally $20). I have no clue what I’m going to do with it, but I will figure it out.

• If you see something and can’t get it out of your mind for a few days, GO BACK AND GET IT. I saw a purple desk at Goodwill on Tuesday and it suddenly hit me today that I had to have it. Zack and I ran over there and I actually had to fight off two other people for it.

The after is in my mind…but cross this:

with this:

It’s so beautiful in my mind…I hope it turns out that way in real life. If not, it’ll be another mistake to add to my list like a notch in my belt.

• Most importantly: Don’t worry about making a mistake! If you totally ruin a coffee table you bought for $10 at Goodwill, then you are out $10 but have probably learned something new. As my mom used to tell me, “I’m sure you’ve wasted $10 in worse ways than that.” My mom is always right.

New to repurposing? Tell me what you want to create for your home and what you will look for when you start your search. An old repurposing pro? Tell me about your favorite project that you’ve completed. Have questions? Ask them here and we can all try to answer them. Let’s have a little repurposing party in the comments section!

This week, Kristen at We Are That Family his hosting a “greatest tips” Works for Me Wednesday. Since I love thrifting tips, I thought I’d include th
is post. For another great tip, check out Teach Me Tuesday!

I’ve mentioned this before, but I have always found the kitchen to be quite a decorating challenge. I’ve never wanted my kitchen to look cluttered with too many knick knacks, but I also don’t want it to look sterile and uninviting.

So, instead of being beautiful, my kitchen became a receptacle for junk that didn’t have a home. I know I’m not alone in this, so don’t try to hide behind your computer screen and act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m calling all of the Internets out on this one.

I’ll show you what I mean, if you promise not to judge me.

Here’s the wall of my kitchen that holds my refrigerator, cooktop, and most of the cabinets. It is apparently also the place where tiny R/C airplanes and all the paper in my house goes to die. I was actually warming some soup when this photo was taken, so you may not snicker because there is a pot on the stove. However, you may snicker at the ugliness of said pot.

Here you will see a smaller counter, some cabinetry, the oven, and the microwave. You’ll also meet my best friend – the coffee maker – and it’s step brother, the cappuccino maker. You can also see it’s third cousin, twice removed – the coffee grinder. The cappuccino maker and coffee grinder don’t get much use, as pre-ground Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is my one true love.

Next, you’ll see our sink and surrounding counters. Do you see the three elevated bar areas? Junk. Magnets. Just in this photo alone you can see my purse, a camera lens bag, a bowl of “crap” (we’ll get to that in a minute), and some gardening gloves – clearly, all things that belong in the kitchen.

This was the scene looking from our living room to our kitchen. Scar-y. And do you see that silver Nambe bowl there in the corner? Um, yeah. My husband and I got that as a wedding gift and he quickly adopted it as his “crap bowl.” There is just random junk in there – change, receipts, gum wrappers – random “guy” junk. Just in case you missed it the first time, let me re-emphasize that this is a Nambe bowl.

Even our pet fish, Blue, had his own little junky home. I let my then-2 year old son pick out his “castle” and rocks, and I’m pretty sure he picked out the most hideous items ever created.

So, when the Nester announced that she was going to have a Mr. Linky party showing 10 minute changes people have made to rooms around their homes, I knew that my kitchen had to be included. She’s been writing a really great series called “Ten Minutes to a Room You’ll Love,” and you should definitely check it out. So far, she’s covered master bedroom, living room, bathroom, and kitchen.

Okay, I will freely admit that my little kitchen spruce-up took more than 10 minutes. Between the shopping for goodies, finding a home for all the random junk that used to live there, and stopping every few minutes to play Hot Wheels or Wall-E with Zack, it took quite a bit longer. Everything from start to finish was completed while DH was at work, though, as most good projects usually are. 🙂

Are you ready for the “after” photos? Yay! Me, too!

Here’s my long stretch of cabinets with the cooktop. It’s still pretty sparse, but I know that DH (i.e. the cook) would seriously freak out if more of the counter space was taken up by pretty things. He had a secret freak out about this already. He thinks I didn’t know, but I could see it all over his face.

Ahhhh, there’s nothing quite as nice as a clean refrigerator.

I bought a little bronze lamp at Home Depot and added a gold tassel from Tuesday Morning. I also bought an amber apothecary jar at Tuesday Morning and filled it with Zack’s rock collection. I added a little photo of a 7-month old Zack to the little vignette, but I’m not planning on keeping it in this frame (and maybe even printing the photo in black and white). It’s just what I had laying around that wasn’t in use. I wish that I could figure out a better way to hide the wall outlet here, but putting anything directly in front of it would cut off too much prime counter space. I’ll have to think on that one (and I welcome your suggestions!).

I totally stole the mirror above the cooktop idea from Nester. I had this little mirror stored in a closet, and it matches my appliances perfectly. It doesn’t reflect anything beautiful like I know a mirror should, but I really felt like I needed something in that space and it was free. We’ll see if it lasts or if I find something else to hang there. On the other hand, I totally love my little french rooster! I thought he was a steal for $7.99 at Tuesday Morning and couldn’t pass him up.

My little coffee station saw a change as well. I put the cappuccino maker and coffee grinder in the cabinet, since they don’t see much use. That freed up some space to add my two-tiered server that I bought a few years ago at a Southern Living at Home party.

I decided that our staple bananas would look nice on the server – or better than they looked on their chintzy old banana hammock. I also thought it was a nice place for the beautiful footed coffee mugs my parents sent me for Valentine’s Day (I think they are too pretty to actually use). I also added some odd glass vessels I purchased a while back at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for 5 cents a piece (I bought 5 of them for a grand total of 25 cents!). I stuck another Tuesday Morning tassel on one of them, because I thought it dressed it up a bit.

On one of the little elevated bar areas, I added this glass jar and two finals from Hobby Lobby (all three from the 80% off section, people!). I filled the jar with some Spanish Moss and twigs that I’ve used in other parts of my home.

Next, you’ll see that the “crap” bowl has been greatly reduced! Also, the hodge podge of pictures that were on the right side of this ledge has been replaced with a new piece. I had this hurricane vase collecting dust in a cabinet, so I cleaned it off, added some more of the moss, twigs, and branches, and then added a little birdie.

That little bird was marked down to $1 at Hobby Lobby. He’s all chippy, which I’m sure is why he was on super sale, but the chippiness is what makes me love him even more! See how cute?

Even Blue got in on the action with new digs. I used another glass vase that I had on hand and added three stalks of Lucky Bamboo (I stole this idea from my mother-in-law). Blue is very happy there, and I’m even happier to have the rainbow monstrosity out of my kitchen.

I’m so excited about my new kitchen! It was a pretty, cheap, and simple update, but I think it made a world of difference. It still doesn’t look like it came out of a home decor magazine, but it’s liveable and it’s “us,” and that’s all that matters.

P.S. Don’t forget you have until Friday night to enter the big giveaway! If you win, you could even use the plates to decorate your kitchen.