Guest Post | Jenna @ Rain on a Tin Roof

 

Hi Y'all! I'm Jenna from Rain on a Tin Roof. I'm terrible at "About Me's". In fact, so terrible that I use pictures on my own About Me page on my blog. It's quite comical. In short, I'm a southern gal who loves some serious thrifting, crafting, re-purposing, and home diy-ing, which is what my blog is all about. While other 14 year olds wanted to read Seventeen, I was reading Christopher Lowell's Seven Layers of Design, and re-arranging my bedroom. What can I say, I'm a geek when it comes to decorating. I can handle a power saw with the best of 'em, but tend to make my Grunt Labor (hubby) use the power tools. {It makes him feel special to be needed. Total reverse psychology, y'all.} A comfortable, eye-pleasing room just warms my soul, and makes me proud its mine. I love turning something old and decrepit into something new and amazing. It's a thrill. I even started carting my daughter around to yard sales when she was a month old. It's important to train 'em early around here. If this hasn't bored you enough, you can read more here.

 

Today, I'm so happy to be doing this guest post for Helen while she is enjoying her wedding month!

Congratulations, darlin!

 

Now, on to the important topic here:

 

Thrifted Makeovers

 

I love me some thriftin'. I love Goodwill's, I love yard sales, I love diggin' through junk and having people gawk at me like I'm some sort of insane person. (Ok, maybe I am a little.) I also love a handful of Germ-X after each of these excursions. But, I digress. (Warning, this may happen more in this post. I am slight ADHD.) So, today I have gathered for your reading/reviewing pleasure, and hopefully to inspire you, some thrifted makeovers I've done.

 

Thrifting Rule #1 Never Leave A (Almost) Good Lamp Behind. If the shape is right, don't worry about the color, or even the wiring!! Re-wiring a lamp is super easy!

 

 

Exhibit A: I absolutely loved this petite marble (I think it's marble?) lamp below when I saw it at one of my local thrifted stores. The shape was beautiful, the marble was gorgeous, it was the perfect size for my kitchen counter. Problem: the wiring was bad. In fact, the wiring had been cut almost completely out and the socket was some sort of funky one. No worries! I snagged the lamp for a few bucks and headed to Lowe's to pick up a new wiring kit.

 

I re-wired it in less than an hour (those kits are super easy to work with), re-covered a shade (another thrift find), and got the end result:

 

 

Exhibit B: I found this brass lamp at Goodwill for $4 on a half-off day. I liked the shape, but I LOVED the marble base. Sorry, I taped it up before I took the 'before' picture!

 

 

The wiring on this one was fine! All I did was spray paint the brass with grey spray paint primer (I liked the gray primer color best), did a satin spray topcoat, and bought a new shade at Target.

 

 

And a close up of the marble:

 

 

Gorgeous!

 

Thrifting Rule #2 It may be Ugly and Smelly, but give it a shot anyway.

 

Exhibit A: I call this the Despicable Red Ottoman. I found this at a thrift store that was packed to the gills with junk and somewhat smelly. This ottoman was only $8 there. Luckily, the smell of the store hadn't rubbed off on it yet, but I gave it a good coat of Febreze and Lysol anyway.

 

 

The red was horrendous. Needless to say, I did not buy it for its color. Grunt Labor had wanted something to prop his feet on while watching Sportscenter, and I thought this would be perfect. I got out some extra canvas I had from re-covering dining room chairs, made a quick slipcover, and painted a blue stripe down the center.

 

 

Grunt Labor likes it. He's happy and I have a pretty ottoman for $8. Score!

 

 

Exhibit B: This circa 1970's plastic owl was found at that same smelly, packed thrift shop. The colors definitely left something to be desired. When I got home, I ran for my can of trusty white spray paint, gave it a good coat, and now it greets people upon their arrival into my crazy little world.

 

 

Thrifting Rule #3 Look to the Unexpected for Storage.

 

 

Exhibit A: Vintage Coke Crates don't just have to sit on tables. Turn them sideways, screw 'em to the wall, and store ties in them! Grunt Labor uses these for his ties and belts. Stylish, Functional, and Unexpected.

 

 

Exhibit B: I love metal. A lot. Especially metal baskets. I'm a sucker for 'em. I took these old gym locker baskets, turned them sideways, mounted them to the wall, and store my cookbooks in them.

 

If you'd like to check out more of my thrifted makeovers, head over to my blog: Rain on a Tin Roof. I'd love to have you follow along!

 

Now go get thriftin'.

 

~Jenna

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