Garage Sale Finds

A little while ago I went to a community garage sale with my Mom, my sister and my older niece. It was a horrible rainy morning, but we decided to be hardcore and still go for it. When we arrived at 8am, we almost thought that it had been cancelled as everything looked pretty dead. All of a sudden, everyone's garage doors began to open. They were having garage sales, literally. We probably stopped at about 25 houses in total and had a great day together. My niece started her love affair with barbie and got a lot of cute toys.

Here's some of my haul:

Two lampshades - $5 for both

Outdoor lantern with candle - $2

Barn Star - $1

New pillow forms - $2 for both (These are ridiculously expensive in the stores)

I also got some oven mitts for $1 and two pictures for $6. I didn't go to many garage sales this year, but there are definitely deals to be found. I plan on going to more next year to see what I can find.

Revamped Lamps

When we first got back to Canada, my Mom gave us some lamps that she had found on the curbside. They were super tacky with the flowers on them, but I liked the shape of them and knew I could do something great with them. They followed us to two different houses before I finally got around to finishing them.

Here are the steps I took to complete them.

The glossy hunter green and gold finish with flowers didn't really fit in in our house.

I used a plastic grocery bag and some masking tape to cover the cord to keep the paint off of it.

I took some plastic wrap and covered the light socket and lampshade connector.

This was the spray paint that I used. It was recommended to me by someone at Home Depot. You can't see it here, but it has a really great nozzle that prevents your hands from getting covered in paint. I chose a metallic brown colour that had a hammered effect. It was around $10

I didn't take any shots of the actual spraying of the lamps but here is a breakdown:

- make sure the lamps are clean and grease/dust free

- set up an area outside (weather permitting) or in a garage where you won't cover everything in paint mist. I used moving boxes.

- Spray a light even coat over the lamp. At this point it wont look great, but don't rush it! The first coat never looks good! Thin coats make for a nice and even end result.

- Wait 12 hours for the paint to cure

- Do another coat and wait for it to dry.

- If necessary, do a light touch up coat.

- I waited 3 days for the paint to fully dry before using the lamps. Paint might feel dry to the touch, but it takes a lot longer to fully dry.

I had been looking for some lampshades for a while and finally came across these at a garage sale. They were $5 for both of them, which was a great buy. Lampshades are really expensive new, so I was glad to find these.

Voila! They fit in nicely with our decor now.

I love how the colour turned out. I actually used the rest of the paint on other projects. 

If you ever see something at a garage sale or thrift store that you like the shape of, but is a hideous colour/pattern, don't leave it behind! It could turn into something just right with a little elbow grease and paint! Thanks Mom!