thrifting Archives - Page 3 of 4 - Wise Craft Handmade

May 7, 2013

Preparing for Summer Cocktails with a Repurposed Bar Cart

The wise craft household has upgraded the bar. Or at least the bar cart. The first one served us quite well, and was perfect our cocktail Fridays, but when Peter recently moved into a new office,this cabinet came home when there was no longer a need for it in the new space. I wasn’t totally sold on its art deco style and kind of pretended it wasn’t in our dining room for about a week- until I thought, what the hell? Let’s just move all the nice glasses and liquor bottles there and call it a bar cabinet? I spent part of last Saturday cleaning the glassware that I could move in there (everything from wedding registry crystal to vintage glassware that used to be available in detergent boxes).READ MORE

April 1, 2013

DIY Geometric Garland out of Vintage Sheets

I was quite entranced with Spring this past weekend, Seattle truly outdid itself with beautiful weather! We had dinner on the beach (I, of course, brought home more rocks), we walked the neighborhood, dyed Easter eggs, and had Peep jousting wars in the microwave, and made our traditional Easter dinner of ham, carrots, asparagus, etc. I wanted to make the Easter table feel as Springy and came up with this garland after seeing a similar paper version in an old kid’s crafting book from the 1960’s. I love that it creates a really geometric shape and gives a new spin to everyone’s favorite triangular bunting shape. I think these will stay up for a while, I smile every time I pass them.

Here’s how I made them.

October 24, 2012

Emma's DIY Desk

Another project we did for Emma’s room redo was fill the need for a dressing table and chair. There is a bit more mirror time these days before school, and I thought it would be nice for her to have a place to keep all her earrings, lip gloss, and… slingshot.
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August 13, 2012

Geode Redo

I bought this geode while out thrift shopping several months ago and its just been sitting on a shelf in my studio ever since. I love the pink striations of the geode, but the back is kind of, well. I think its kind of ugly.

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July 16, 2012

DIY Easy Tabletop Redo

I stole a few minutes to myself the other day and went thrifting. I came across this oil painting and found myself buying it. Wasn’t exactly sure why. I don’t see it on our walls, and don’t even particularly like it as a painting. I do like the colors a lot, and the composition isn’t bad at all. The price didn’t hurt either.
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April 17, 2012

Quick DIY: How To Unify Picture Frames

July 5, 2011

Dining Room Cocktail Bar Sparkle

In the midst of a ton of things going on right now, I started obsessing thinking about adding a little sparkle to the dining room. Just cause. In its newest version, this room is so much cheerier and brighter than it has been (before and after pics in this post), I absolutely love everything about it. But there was a void in the corner, it just needed something there, nothing crazy or complicated, just something. I thought about a large plant (even though Gracie is good about not eating plants, THAT one would be the one, with my luck). I tried out a couple of things we had, which were okay but not the answer.
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October 6, 2010

Halloween DIY Ideas

Decorating with some favorite Halloween DIY’s for the season!

Thrifted dishes with waterslide decals.

Spray painted ceramics is an easy, very fun DIY project. (Instructions for both of these projects- and more- can be found in my book, Wise Craft: Turning Thrift Store Finds, Fabric Scraps, and Natural Objects into Stuff You Love.)

I surprised even myself when I jumped into decorating for Halloween as soon as the calendar said October, but I did. I guess doing these projects has warmed me up to the whole idea of Halloween. (Plus, its another reason to rearrange things around here, you know?) I’ve been keeping a few of the completed projects in orange bins down in our basement so that I could easily find them. I still need to put up the black ivy and spider web for the front yard…the kids are insisting.

I pulled out a few Nancy Drews with sinister titles for the living room side tables.
I am currently hunkered down and working on Holiday DIY projects and having some fun. I don’t know why I still get surprised at what can be made with humble thrift store items, but I do. The fun is in the transformation!

Little do my kids know, but this weekend I’m taking them to a Christmas tree farm for photoshoot props.
Cause that’s how we roll around here….

April 2, 2010

Stacks of Books

If anyone is looking for kid’s chapter books at Seattle Goodwill stores, I must apologize now, because I think the kids and I cleaned house around town yesterday. I told them they could have any chapter book they wanted, so “go get to shopping!”. (We are on Spring Break, and I insisted everyone have an ample supply of books to lose themselves in.) As a mom, isn’t it the best when we get to say a resounding “yes!”?

March 22, 2010

Painting the Family Room

In the midst of plenty going on around here as usual, I’ve decided that now, right now, is the time to paint the family room. Peter is convinced that I can’t paint a room as well as he can, but I think he’s busy enough to let me have a go at it. (He, of course, is wrong, we know that.)READ MORE

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