Our house is filled with thrift store, and garage sale finds. They are some of my favorite pieces in the house. Many waiting for a little makeover and a few already made over. One thing I love about garage sale and thrift store home items is once you are done with them in one space, you can make them over again and put them in a different area, giving them a second life. And also, anytime I am in the mood to shop, but not spend money, I head to the thrift store, usually walking out spending less than $20.00. Great for budgeting, so there's that.

Thrift Store Mirrors

Mirrors have a place in decorating any room, round, rectangle, square, oval, all shapes and sizes, a mirror can always fill a spot. They can also be on the pricey side. I wanted a couple of oval mirrors to put with some pictures we just had taken of our kiddos, to create a gallery of photos and mirrors. The small galleries would go on either side of a random built-in in our living room (on a side note I am thinking of painting the built-in white, what do you think? you will see it below). Oval mirrors would reflect the light from the windows and offer a soft shape to balance out all the lines and square edges in the space.

Here's a couple I was looking at:

Source | Mirror 1 | Mirror 2 |

Then one day, I was looking for a desk chair in a local thrift store and came across these:Not quite the color I wanted, but I loved the shape and price. I think I paid $33.00 for the pair. Much better than $130 ++ for the ones above. I brought them home where they sat for like six months. This past week I finally got around to painting and distressing them. In all, it took less than an hour to give them a new look. I pretty much painted them, let them dry overnight, and in the morning ran sandpaper over them to distress them. Super easy, I don't know why it took me so long to do?So, do you think I should paint the built-in in the above picture? I think I am leaning towards painting it. It is looking a little busy with the brown trim.Also, when I mentioned earlier about using thrift store items in another space when you are done with them in another... I can already picture these mirrors in a bathroom. Something like this:

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Second Hand Chairs

Next are these brown chairs I picked up in a 2nd hand furniture store for like $50 each The detail on the arms and legs is fun and they are quite comfortable. I plan to paint the frame white and reupholster them in a light fabric. This will be a first for me doing a project like this. I will let you know how they turn out.

Here is the look I am going for:

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Below is a cute desk chair I found at the thrift store. It is comfortable, sturdy, and I love the shape and size of it. I am still trying to decide on a color for it, but it will for sure get a coat of paint and new fabric on the seat.

The dresser below is a favorite find. I picked it up at a garage sale for $10.00.

I bought it two houses ago. When I first brought it home I was super excited to paint it purple and put it the end of a hallway, see pic below. In our current house, I had no use for a purple dresser, so I stripped it and gave it another makeover. Now it lives happily in our living room, and you can see my post about stripping and painting it here.

Thrift Store Art

I also purchased the art on this gallery wall either from a thrift store or garage sale. I knew I wanted a gallery wall of florals, find my inspiration in this post. I am a sucker for a good gallery wall. With a lot of patience and pulling over for garage sales, and anytime I was near my favorite thrift store going in to have a look, I was able to put this gallery wall together for around $120. I don't think I could have gotten the art alone for under $250.00, let alone framed.

This bird string art I picked up for $3.00 at a thrift store. It may not be for everyone, but I love it. That is the thing about art in your home; just you have to love it:)

Thrift Store Accessories

I also love the little lamp pictured below. I might eventually get it a new lamp shade, but I loved the marbling and colors on the lamp. I paid $2.00 for it.

Then there is this adorable candlestick; I paid 50 cents for it. All I did was put a couple of taper candles in it, and it's perfect on our mantel.

And my latest find was this lamp, I paid $2.68 for it (including the shade and lightbulb). After spending another $3.98 for a can spray paint in all, it was less than $7.00. Again, I found it at my favorite thrift store. It's the perfect size and color for this corner of the room.