37 High-End DIY Thrift Flips | Affordable Home Makeovers

Welcome back friends, it's a mega compilation this week of DIYs that I've done over the last year or so, or some of them. If you're new, hello, I'm Tracy and welcome to my home here in Sussex, England where I love to create high-end home decor on a budget. Lots of thrifting, lots of shopping my home and revamping items and of course the holy grail of thrifting is the freebie. I found this box at the auctions in the rubbish, I mean what can I say, I'm a classy gal, I hang around bins and I just love the color of it but it had a bit of a rotten bottom so I took the bottom off and then where the lovely old nails were, I decided not to pull those out because it could have split it. So after hammering those in flat, I got some chicken wire and used a staple gun to attach it to the top and then to hide the staples, I took some coir and glue gunned it around twice to make a nice thick rope. I wanted to change the color of these giant HomeSense candlesticks that I found and originally I thought about actually just using spray paint but in the end I went with dark wax and it was wonderful rubbing that over, it instantly changed the effect so don't always jump to the spray paint, have a look at your waxes. These went from spring decor to fall. They're 30 balls of wool for just £10 in a charity shop which was beautiful to display in a basket. Before decorating, I decided to use the wool and make giant pom-pom seed heads so I took an old cardboard box, did the two circles in order to make the donut shapes with a little wedge taken out which makes it easier for the wrapping. I went quite a big size as well because I wanted these pom-poms to be a foot across. I used string in the middle which makes it much stronger when you're pulling really tightly to form a good ball and then I took a pair of scissors and just cut all the way around. I'm sure you know how to make pom-poms, I haven't done this since I was a child so maybe you haven't and this is a good refresher. My furry supervisor Bertie helped me find branches that I could use as stems for the seed heads and yes I am styling in a four because I don't follow rules. I had a collection of old candlesticks that I'd previously painted, they were all mismatched so by using rub and buff and doing the same technique on each you can create that uniformity, that cohesive look. I like to use three different colors of rub and buff and it can also be used outdoors as well so I picked up these green planters which I used in my summer decorating out on the veranda. I decided that actually I also wanted to use them in the fall but the bright green wasn't going to work so by using rub and buff I was able to very quickly and cheaply transform them for another season. I left some of the bright green showing through almost like a verdigris effect. Plastic planters, practical, lightweight, easy to move around but not aesthetically pleasing so this technique shows you how to create a stone effect that you can use outdoors. I sprayed just the top part of the inside up to soil level. To create the effect I used waterproof tile grout, builder's sand, some leftover white tile adhesive that was not worthy of going on the walls, a black paint and this was the only black paint I had to hand and a toothbrush. The builder's sand is purely to change the color of the grout because I only had leftover grey grout and I didn't want a really grey concrete pot, something looking really harsh. I wanted something with more golden tones in it. As the mix started to dry I was able to go over and start patting down all those peaks and you can see as it's drying it starts to lighten and change color. Natural stone is not just one color, it has lots of different shades and textures in there so I used the white grout in order to just add a little bit more visual interest and just applied it randomly. As it dried it dried back not so bright white. I watered down random black paint as long as it's exterior you can use any type and just use a toothbrush to create the splatters representing pore holes that you would see in stone. Now I had no brown paint at the time which is unusual for me so as I'm always one to improvise I watered down some coffee colored grout and used a rag just to dab on that extra shade. Of course it is grout, it's waterproof, if you wanted to use the brown paint just make sure that it's exterior. And here we are several months later weathering in nicely. Now regular viewers will know that my indoor faux stone effect is one of my signature home decor makeovers. This is the original version using just two ingredients which is wall filler and dirt. I get it all lovely and granular like this by scooping up the molehills in the field. The latest version of this technique has developed into using all sorts of herbs and spices and as always I do inside the pots as well underside of lids make sure everything is covered. I have a weakness for brass candlesticks but not the shiny ones so this method is going to show you how to dull down that shine. I mix salt, any salt will do, with vinegar, any vinegar will do, into a pot that has a lid and is also big enough to take the item that you're wanting to dull down. Mixing up that solution I brush it all over the brass, pop it into the pot, leave it overnight and normally it's absolutely fabulous, it's done, it's magic. However there was a tough lacquer on these which proved quite tricky so the first attempt didn't work so I used nail varnish remover, brushed that on and that normally does the trick, it starts to blister and you can just take off that lacquer and repeat the process but these were really quite stubborn so I'm afraid the big boy had to come out. A little bit of stripper, let it blister, wash it all off after about half an hour and then put it into the salt and vinegar solution. After the chemical reaction has happened, a quick rinse under the tap and they're ready to style and over time they will dull down even more as the air gets to them and they oxidize. I often buy job lots from auctions so four or five items normally about £20 and you get random things in there. This was a particularly good lot, I found a frame in there had no back on it obviously seen better days and I decided I was going to create a personal gift for my daughter. So the first thing to do was take it all apart and clean it up. I cut a back for it out of some old hardboard flooring that I'd ripped out of the cottage when I was doing the renovations there. As I was sanding I could see all the beautiful timber showing through so I wasn't going to put any paint on that. I left some of the black on there as I liked the effect that it created, however the mount inside was not playing ball with me. I tried sanding it back, didn't look great so I sprayed it all with a matte black paint, gave it a distress, I added some of the gold rub and buff, I distressed that, I basically had a big play around with it, added some dark wax and got it to a point that I thought I like that. Old books are another job lot that I love to buy at auction and again we're looking for hundreds of books for £10. Now this one is a 1940s street atlas of London and my daughter lives in London so because it was really quite badly damaged I didn't have any qualms about pulling out pages. So what I did was go through it and find areas of London that had significant meaning to her and to her husband and then I arranged them on the board that I'd cut previously, attaching them just with ordinary glue and putting them at different angles and just randomly applying them for visual interest. After trimming off the surplus all the way around it's time to put the together and I like to use silicone to hold everything in place. Remember to save your ice cream ice lolly sticks because they make great packers. For extra fixing I added pins and staples, a unique and personalised gift for less than £5. Another random job lot and in this was a little table which I thought would make a great riser. So the silicone came out again instead of using glue and once I got a good dollop in there I waited it overnight and then decided that the colour was a little bit too honey for me. Lovely great detail so I decided to use white wax to lighten it. I've got a two-in-one makeover for you now. So this single headboard is very old, it's oak. I did do a paint effect on it because I planned on using it in the house and then I never got around to it. So now I've found a new home for it. The first thing was to give it a really good distress with the sander and using a decorator's tool to get into all that carved detail and it very quickly came up with a lovely chippy finish. Now to accompany it is this £20 mirror that I picked up at a thrift store to charity shop. Really bad varnish job but that's not a problem because we're going to go over with several coats of white chalk paint the old white and after a good distress and taking the paint off the mirror with the blade it's ready to go with its partner to its new home and it went out onto the guest cottage veranda. Using brass wall plates that I'd salvaged from an old mirror I was able to safely attach these to the wall of the veranda. Hubby did say wait and I'll help you later but later's not really a word in my book so I struggled on unfortunately I didn't drop it. I didn't add any additional protection on these two items as they're sat so far back on the cupboard veranda the elements never get to them. Another one of my weaknesses in home decor are mirrors any shape any size I am right there for them and these little ones can be picked up so cheaply and are really quick and easy to make over and look lovely in vignettes on shelves in groups or even just propped up against bigger items. Now I did try after a good sand to use white wax on this one but it really wasn't given the intensity of colour that I wanted so I switched over to osmo oil stain it's a white oil stain you can control the intensity of it by how much you wipe off after you've brushed it on. Rolling pins soon to be my new addiction I've just discovered rolling pins and I'm going to use the white oil stain again on this one you'd make sure that you take off all the wax whatever covering is on there this is great to use on chopping boards as well so it's the same principle you brush it on you wipe it off you get it to the intensity of colour that you want and let it dry overnight it needs 24 hours to really dry properly if you want to use it for food then make sure that you seal with a top oil a clear mat osmo do a great one. This small ornate round mirror very very heavy was picked up at a charity shop for just a few pounds it needed a really good clean but once it was dry I decided to go with a chalk paint with an Annie Sloan this is a cocoa which I absolutely love the colour of I like to elevate my mirrors when I'm painting them and it just makes going around the edges so much easier. I've purposely missed some areas to allow that colour underneath to show through and then once dry I've gone over with a white wax. I picked up this ornate damaged vase for just six pounds in a charity shop the damage didn't bother me at all and I love the fact that it had this really interesting relief on it now on this one I used my cafe espresso chalk paint absolutely love this colour it dries very flat and what I like to do is maybe slightly over spray in areas and then use a heat gun in order to encourage hazing cracking when thoroughly dry I gave it lashings of white wax and then really over applied it on the raised areas. Sometimes all you need to do to a piece is sand it is to take back the finish that was on there this is a frame that I've had for many years it's been through many transformations and now I'm just going to create a distressed finish by sanding and using a decorator's tool obviously with the furry supervisor close by and then just finishing it with loads of white wax. I found this modern giant orange pine candlestick in a charity shop the lacquer was too thick and too difficult to get off so I decided I was going to paint it with on fleur which is a gorgeous chocolatey brown I decided not to go in smooth strokes after all I stippled on lots and lots of the brown paint and then finished it with white wax in order to create this textured effect. This long oak dressing mirror would have originally been on a stand but at some stage it's lost its stand and the brackets that I used earlier on the mirror that I put onto the cottage veranda actually came off this one so it's always good to salvage what you can from different pieces on this one all I needed to do was take off that horrible brown varnish when you want to get to the edges but you don't want to take the glass out of the mirror just slide some paper between the mirror and the frame and it protects the edges you can use the same technique for when you're painting and waxing as well my heart skipped a beat when I saw this in the front of a charity shop five pounds for a basket this size now granted there was a little bit of the wicker coming away in places and I didn't have any spare wicker to repair it so I knew it had to come home with me and then I had to think of a way of sorting out the wicker situation so after a jolly good clean I decided I'd get some glue and some twine and some clamps and sort the problem out that way this next mirror was not a charity shop find this was an auction find the hammer came down at 50 pounds and for a mirror this size with this amount of detail was a great price now when I got up to it closely I noticed there was a lot of damage there was some very ugly repairs from the past so after a good wash I decided I was actually going to do a paint effect on it so again I went in with that on fleur to give it a base I did it almost as a mist coat because I wanted different colors to be showing through when it was properly dry I then went in with a French linen but I dry brushed it on so you only use a tiny amount of paint on a project like this once you've got that base cover on so it's great to use with test pots on the smaller detail I switched to a small brush after dry brushing some old white I went back on with the other two colors that I'd previously used here's another two-in-one makeover for you now a lot of my pieces get made over again and again and again and this lamp is a case in point I decided that I was no longer into rust spray and actually I was going to do my stone technique now this is the newer version of my stone technique so we're still using the joint compound the wall filler and we're using soil cayenne pepper I've really enjoyed working with that crushed chilli is my absolute favorite to be pushing in this is a great way to raid your store cupboard check out what's out of date all your herbs your spices there's no need to waste them just because they're out of date you can use them in a completely different way so after liberally applying your wall filler mix and getting it to that tacky texture you can start applying and I always go on with soil or compost first because I do like to use that and then I start to work in my herbs and spices chilli flakes in this case and I do get lots of questions about well don't they just fall off no they don't if you push and work them into the compound mix you could seal the piece when finished if you're worried about it if it's going into a high touch area you could spray it with just hairspray if you wanted to or you could use a matte lacquer I didn't protect the lamp holder because I'm actually bringing the all the way up on there and to put the shade on now the shade I'm going to do in a different way along with the flex and that's part two of this two-part makeover the English weather stopped play outside so it's into the kitchen to finish this off now for part two I'm going to be using my wrapping technique and for this I like to use different types of string and cord and twine today in this one I'm using coir bean if you're enjoying this video so far I wonder if you could do me a favor could you hit the thumbs up please give me a thumbs up because that tells the algorithm that you are enjoying this and maybe other people would enjoy it as well and I want to spread the word on my home decor technique so let's get out to as many people as possible it all back together and I love to use vintage led light bulbs I found this dish in a charity shop for just five pounds now it's heavy it's terracotta and it's probably quite trendy actually as it is but I don't do trends and I don't really have that much black in my home so to change it I'm going to elevate it again which helps get around the sides and I'm going with this matte into silver and chrome and this is a lamp that I bought probably home sense because I don't tend to shop anywhere else apart from thrifting so I've decided I am now not into silver chrome so I am changing the color of this the first thing I'm going to do is cover up those electrodes so we don't damage anything and then I had a random black spray you can use any black spray to do this matte or gloss so I gave it a jolly good spray again I didn't protect the cord because well you know what's coming don't you the cord's going to get wrapped the rub and buff has come out because I'm wanting to create an aged antiquey gold brass type of effect so I'm applying this just randomly to start with letting some of that black come through and also whilst it's still damp still wet I'm applying a little bit of the cayenne pepper just to help create that aged effect when it came to the inside of the light shade I wasn't overly impressed with the way the rub and buff was sitting on it so I just whipped out some gold spray and a couple of squirts later the whole thing was covered I didn't like that brightness of it so I took some dark wax and applied it with a rag it gave a super effect so I was really pleased with that once it was thoroughly dried I got the glue gun and the twine out and wrapped the cord so by using things I already had probably nothing more than a few pennies worth of products I've created a whole new lamp giving it a whole new lease of life in our home how to make an instant coffee table I needed one for the guest cottage veranda I didn't have a spare one so I took four vintage potato chitting trays and popped those together instant coffee table this lamp has had so many makeovers over the years I have had it for decades in fact hubby and I bought it when we were very first married some 30 odd years ago I don't know how many years I've been married I'm not romantic at all anyway we bought it in Covent Garden in London it was so expensive for us as a newly married couple with very little money but I just keep on revitalizing it and it continues to live with us as I'd already wrapped the lamp holder and the flex on its last incarnation I did cover those up but I love the stone effect on it so much that it is now taking pride of place in the kitchen next to the coffee station I'm a waste not want not kind of gal you've probably figured that by now and I like to get the most out of everything that I own now these grey cushion covers were not doing it for me anymore but too expensive too good just to throw away so I decided I would dye them these dylon pods are amazing they're so easy to use you just pop them into the washing machine following the instructions obviously and lo and behold it dyes but it only dyes natural fibers not man-made so what to do well I came upon the ingenious solution of just turn the cushions inside out the cushion covers and so the knitted undyed part has gone on to the inside perfect for my summer styling on the veranda it's another mirror folks oh you can never have enough mirrors and this one was only four pounds I could not leave it behind I did actually have a counter and I confess to owning almost 100 mirrors it's now over 100 mirrors so after removing the old wires and giving it a good clean it then gets a few coats of the old white chalk paint a little bit of a distress and that's it I tend to use cord or if I've got old chain that's spare that I've kept it from somewhere else then if I'm hanging them I'll hang them with those but quite often with the smaller mirrors at a local charity shop that specializes in furniture for just £12.50 it's a very solid build modern with a very bad varnish job that's peeling away so I decided to do a crackle glaze effect using old glue now you can use any glue for this I happen to have some wood glue it was quite old so I decided to do a bit of a test run on a scrap piece of wood once the glue goes tacky I popped the paint on and to encourage the cracking the hazing I applied a heat gun as the was successful I moved on to the chair I gave it a good wash and then the paint I was using was French linen by Annie Sloan I use an old flat brush because I'm with glue here and also I'm not going to be putting my brush into the paint can because it's going to corrupt the paint so always decant into another vessel if you're doing something like this as this was quite a big item to do this effect on I worked in sections so I would glue wait for it to go tacky paint heat gun and now I'm going in and distressing rubbing back in areas and also using a damp cloth the whole thing gets covered in clear wax and then to add some detail I moved on to the dark wax it's collection day at the auctions I've got this pine coffee table old pine for 42 pounds young Bertie's not impressed so he's in the footwell having a bit of a hump it is a really heavy piece and fortunately these sack trolleys are brilliant for moving things around it's really well constructed I am loving all of it particularly this really large drawer that it's got I'm guessing once upon a time this had long legs on it it was a table and it's been cut down the only thing I'm not loving is all the orangey yellowy colors here so I'm going to very carefully sand this back I don't want to go too heavy because I don't want to take the patina away and I'm just going to finish it with white wax this giant wooden candlestick was found at the Malvern fair and I paid 16 pounds for it hubby did manage to snap it in two before we got it home but in all fairness to him I think it had been broken before because there was a lot of old glue in the joint having it in two pieces actually was a blessing because it was much easier to sand and white wax and then I glued it back together before styling remember the cushion covers that I dyed for my summer veranda well I needed more cushions for my fall veranda and just because you've dyed them once doesn't mean to say you can't dye them again so the Dylon Pod came out again this time espresso brown straight into the washing machine you do it on a full cotton wash no water saving or anything like that and hey presto yes we've got brown cushions waste not they've seen better days obviously and their bottoms are none too cute either so I took off the legs gave them a really good sand down took it back to the blonde wood and then for finishing I just used dark wax and it really aged them so I left those to dry did a few repairs to the chair I had some old Paris gray paint which I absolutely didn't like anymore so I made a new color by mixing it with on fleur so don't be frightened to mix up your paints particularly colors you don't like anymore to make some new product to paint the faux leather I used the first coat undiluted so no water added the seat pads were actually stitched into the chair which is not the easiest situation to work in but I managed to get my paintbrush in there now the second coat you spritz the brush you don't water the paint down because all you'll do is reactivate the paint underneath when two coats are dry I covered the whole thing in the clear wax to seal everything and then I had a play around with dark and white wax to create effects I had quite a little production line going doing four chairs at once but when they were all done I left them to dry wax 24 hours and then in with a soft cloth give it a buff and the same with the legs to create new bottoms I found some old lining material and just created a template by drawing round and then fixed that with a staple gun I made holes with the bolts so I knew exactly where the legs were to go and then reattached them I'm always on the lookout for trays particularly wooden ones because they're super easy to flip so with this one it has some lovely handles on but I didn't particularly need the handles so I've taken those off and set those aside and they'll come out on another project with this one I use the sander in order to take the strain take most of it off and finish off with a little bit of hand sanding and some white wax this little chest of drawers was in one of the earlier auction lots it had had a very bad paint job so I made sure to take the paint off the sides here and give that a really good sand down the rest of the piece I didn't sand I just gave it a good clean out came the Paris Grey the On Fleur mixing up our paint colour again but this time adding the joint compound adding the wall filler to create texture I covered the whole piece the drawers and the carcass creating this raised effect when it was completely dry I then went over with another colour which was the old white and covered the piece entirely when it was completely dry I then got the sander out and sanded down all those lumps revealing the colour underneath I then covered it in clear wax and added detail with the dark wax and if you've got this far I just want to say a huge thank you thank you so much for watching and I hope you visit again soon take care