Nifty Thrifty Girl » Trash to Treasure

what are the chances?

niftythriftygirl — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:27:31 +0000

Remember this…

the retro dresser I found at the local thrift store and made into our tv stand? What are the chances that I would find another dresser just like this one? Apparently, pretty good because I found another at our local thrift store…exactly like the first one! This dresser wasn’t as pristine as the last one but it was marked down to $17. YES, $17!!! I knew I could work my magic for that price. In typical Nifty Thrifty Girl fashion, I was so anxious to transform the piece that I forgot to take some before pics to show how ugly it was. I did snap some photos of the drawers so you can get the idea of its gold/yellow ugliness…

And a shot of it primed…

And…the finished product…

Our new dining room buffet. I thought the original drawer pulls & knobs were pretty cool so I painted them with a satin nickel spray paint and re-installed them.

Not bad for a mere $17, eh? I spent more on the paint & spray paint than I did on the dresser!

Have a project you’d like help with? Don’t hesitate to contact me! Stay tuned for more re-dos that I will be offering for sale.

someone likes pink…

niftythriftygirl — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:40:37 +0000

I had a little extra time last weekend so I decided to tackle my upstairs hallway. I had wallpapered it a few years ago with this lovely floral wallpaper I had coveted for so long. Then I made the brilliant decision to paper the stair risers which now clashed with the hallway paper. The clash of the two wallpapers was driving me crazy! So, off came the hallway wallpaper and in came the pink paint. I had a heck of a time trying to decide on a color. It was between an ice blue, a cream or a pink. I settled with pink (since I seem to be drawn to anything and everything pink these days).

I bought this horrendous plastic faux gold mirror last month at a thrift store for $6.99.

I originally thought I would paint it a lovely shade of lime green…or perhaps hot pink…but opted to use it at the head of the stairs…

…and figured white would be best.

My child complains that the hallway now looks like a “baby’s room”, but I’m happy with it…for now. That’s the joy of paint, it can be changed in a few short hours!

from pathetic to pink

niftythriftygirl — Fri, 13 May 2011 20:15:55 +0000

A few weeks ago my town had it’s annual spring clean up – which means tons of junk that people clean out of their houses is put roadside for pickup. I’ve always looked forward to this time of year so I could scour the streets for junk treasures. Like they say: One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!

This year, however, because I am trying to purge I decided I would avoid looking. Ha. When I took my dogs out for a walk early on the first ‘trash’ day they stopped at a roadside pile and sniffed. And what to my wondering eyes did appear…but two vintage basket weave metal patio chairs. I gazed at them, pondered, shrugged them off and decided to go on my way. Hours later I could not stop thinking about them! So…I went back and they must have been meant to be mine because they were still there.

Here is their before and after:

After much scraping, metal brushing, rust removal, priming and painting, I have a lovely pair of pink patio chairs!

retro dresser re-do

niftythriftygirl — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 16:18:04 +0000

I was lucky enough to stumble across this 5′ dresser at my local thrift store. For a mere $49 this gem (that needed a little TLC) came home with me!

I’ve been wanting to replace my giant, cottage-looking armoire that held my tv for some time now and I knew this piece would make the perfect contemporary tv console. So…with a little paint and some new drawer pulls…let me introduce you to my new tv console…

I’m thrilled with the results. It’s a much needed change from the old armoire, plus, it makes the living room look so much bigger.

sweaters, sweaters…everywhere…

niftythriftygirl — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:07:52 +0000

…and not just because it is frigid outside, but because I am obsessed with recycling old sweaters! I just made another trip to my local thrift store and loaded up with another batch of wool sweaters (and a few cotton ones, too). I have great plans for all these lovely sweaters…

Oh, so many things to be made…purses, pillows, coffee cozies and needle caddies. First, a few pillows:

I’d better get off the computer and back to work. Needle caddies coming up next! Stay tuned for updates. Many of these pieces can be purchased from my etsy shop…but some will not be listed as I have to work on my stock for this year’s Farmer’s Market booth.

Stay warm!

time to get cozy

niftythriftygirl — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 13:46:07 +0000

I recently scoured my local thrift store with a friend and brought home several wool sweaters. I love to recycle old wool sweaters, felt them and make purses or pillows out of them. The sleeves of the sweaters usually go unused, until now. I found that the felted sweater sleeves fit perfectly over a coffee cup or travel mug. I embellished each cozy differently with crochet edging, embroidery and felt accents. How fun to have a cool, recycled cute cozy for your coffee! You’ll be the envy of all your friends!!

Did you know that it is estimated that 14 billion cups of coffee are served every year wrapped in a single-use, cardboard coffee sleeves which ends up adding up to 2.8 billion pounds of trash? Ugh. That makes my stomach sink. But…YOU can save a tree, be proud that you’ve used an up-cycled item…plus, look super stylish with my new coffee cozies!

The coffee cozies are great eco-friendly gifts for under $10 and are now available in my Etsy shop. You can click the “SHOP” tab above or click on my Etsy showcase on the right sidebar. Valentine’s Day is upon us so grab your coffee lover a cute coffee cozy!

side table make-over

niftythriftygirl — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:15:32 +0000

A few weeks ago my daughter and I headed out for a little shopping. I had been thinking about a pair of side tables I had seen at an antique store. I’ve been wanting side tables for quite some time and I couldn’t get these off my mind. They weren’t exactly what I was looking for but the price was right, at $36 for the pair. Instead of heading to the antique store I took the chance and headed to the local thrift store. With those side tables still in my mind, I couldn’t believe what was sitting in front of me when I walked into the thrift store. Two perfectly adorable side tables.

They needed some major TLC but at a mere $8.99 (!) each, I knew they would be coming home with me.

I cleaned them up, sanded them lightly and gave them several coats of paint. I also sprayed the handles with an oil rubbed bronze spray paint. And here are the little darlings now:

I just love these little tables and I found the perfect matching lamps for them once they are in place in my living room!

flea market, yard sales, new kitten and fireworks

niftythriftygirl — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:50:52 +0000

It’s been a busy week for Nifty Thrifty Girl. I went to the local flea market early on Sunday and scooped up a bunch of treasures.

The muffin tin will be used to hold some of the clutter in my office/craft room; the door with metal lattice insert will be refashioned in some way and hung on my office wall to hold business cards, etc.; love old license plates so I couldn’t pass these up at $2 each! The metal trays will be re-purposed as magnetic boards for above my daughter’s new desk – that I purchased for $10 at a sale (it’s actually an old sewing cabinet, complete with vintage sewing machine that will eventually be removed)

I love the deco style and funky knobs. The drawers were full of goodies, too…

I’ll share the ‘after’ pictures of the desk make-over shortly. I’ve only gotten as far as the primer but hope to finish it this week.

In other news…it was my daughter’s eleventh birthday and while at the Farmer’s Market she spied something she wanted for her b-day. A kitten. I, of course, caved and said, ‘yes’. Meet Waffle, our new family member!

He’s the sweetest boy – ever! The dogs have adjusted well, but our other male cat isn’t thrilled with the new addition.

To top the week off we watched fireworks at the lake.

Now, back to school and back to the routine!

What’s in drawer #3?

niftythriftygirl — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:07:28 +0000

I haven’t had my usual good luck at yard/garage sales this summer. It seems there isn’t an abundance of furniture or vintage pieces. Then, last week I hit the jackpot. As I pulled up to this particular sale my eyes were drawn to a white dresser. As soon as I got close enough to inspect it…and to see the price, I was overjoyed and almost yelled, “It’s MINE!” For a mere $25 this little gem came home with me.

It was perfect – it was sturdy, it was already white, had glass knobs, and two darling upper drawers. I knew exactly how I was going to transform it for my dining room.

And here she is…

I am in love with this piece of furniture!

This piece has got me so excited, I’m off to find more bargains. Happy sale-ing everyone!

I’m in the Mood Lighting

niftythriftygirl — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:16:47 +0000

I was in my bedroom the other night staring at an empty corner and I had a thought…I need some mood lighting. For some reason, this idea just popped into my head so I ran to my garage and grabbed an old lampshade frame (I just happen to have lots of these, collected from sales & flea markets over the years). I didn’t have any ‘fancy’ fabric so I decided that burlap would give it an interesting look.

I took one long piece of burlap and quickly covered the frame; hand stitching it around the top and bottom.

It wasn’t the finest job, but I wanted something quick, because that’s how I am. Plus, my free time is so rare these days I wanted to move on to the next project!

If I had been more patient I would have cut individual pieces to fit each side. I tied pieces of jute around the frame corners to tighten the burlap. And into the bedroom it went…where I filled it with tiny white Christmas lights.

It looks great at night. The perfect mood lighting!

I love this piece so much that I’m going to work on a hanging version for the corner of my living room. Stay tuned!