5 Thrifty Farmhouse Transformations With Only $8

In case you haven’t noticed by now, one of my absolute favorite hobbies is thrifting.  Whenever I get an hour of alone time I love to head over to the Goodwill and see what kind of treasures I can find.  Some days are better than others, but this last visit I felt like I hit the thrifting jackpot!

A lot of people would probably look this stuff over and call it “junk” but I saw gemstones, you guys!

And since it was 50% off day I scored this entire lot for just $7.50!  I brought my awesome finds home, busted out my paint supply and got straight to work.

Today I am going to share not just one, but my FIVE amazing thriftstore transformations with you all!

1. Lamp ($2.50)

First up is the lamp.  I didn’t get a before picture of the original version by itself since I was so dang excited to get started on this guy, but it was an awesome avocado green color.   That may be great for some people, but it wasn’t going to work for this neutral loving girl.

Sometimes I have plans for a piece the minute I spot it sitting on the shelf and other times I just know that I like it and kind of wing it once I get it home.  This lamp was one of the latter!

I began by using some black spray paint as a base. Once it dried I went over it with some dark gray paint.  I decided that it was looking too dark, so once that coat dried I went over it again with some light gray paint.

I then used some fine sandpaper to distress it a little which pulled through the black and dark gray paint from underneath.  Not too hard though because I didn’t need any of that green coming through!

To finish it up I applied a coat of my favorite wax–Chalky Clear Sealing Wax by Valspar.

I originally planned on shopping for the perfect lampshade to put on my new beauty, but after searching what felt like every store in the city I couldn’t find one that I really liked at a good price.  So I ended up going back to the Goodwill and purchasing this guy for $2.

I recovered it with some canvas drop cloth that I had laying around and it ended up pairing with the lamp base perfectly!

2. Candlesticks ($1 each)

I looked past the weird orange finish on these and fell in love with their shape.

I started with a coat of black spray paint and followed that with the dark gray paint just like I did with the lamp.

I was planning on finishing them off with a coat of white paint followed by distressing, but the nasty orange bled right through! This goes to show you that things don’t always go exactly according to plan, but there is always a Plan B.

I gave them both a quick coat of Krylon Spray Paint in Chalky Mink which covered up the orange perfectly.

To get my “white fix” I dry brushed some white paint on them and this is how they turned out!

SUCH a pretty finish.  I originally was planning on selling them but since I set them up in our living room, I can’t bear the thought of parting with them!

3.  Wood Plate ($0.50)

This one didn’t really need much of a makeover since the wood was already a really pretty color. The price tag from wherever it was purchased originally read $13.50 (!!!)

Still, I felt like it needed something so I dry brushed some white paint on it.

Then I used some painter’s tape to create a grain sack pattern and sealed it with Chalky Clear Sealing Wax.

4. Serving Bowl ($2)

This one was already a gem as is and I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the price tag.  The sticker still on it was from Target’s Threshold line and from it’s clearance sticker I saw that it was originally $34.99.  Crazy!!

The color of wood isn’t exactly my style so after unscrewing it from the glass bowl I gave it two coats of white paint and distressed it.

I finished it off with some Chalky Clear Sealing Wax.

I’ve been going back and forth on whether I should use it as our new fruit bowl or if I want to use it to put seasonal décor in.

Just imagine how cute this would look with some fake grass and Easter eggs for Spring or some evergreen and cinnamon sticks for Christmas time!

5. Clay Pot ($.50)

This pot already had some cool weathering probably from being kept outside.  I simply dry brushed some white paint on it to lighten it up a little.

It looks like it could have been purchased at a botique for soooo much more than 50 cents with just that one little update, right?

By the way I should mention that the greenery and hydrangea that I popped in this pot both came from the dollar store.  Pretty impressive, right?

Just a reminder of what my loot looked like before I got all paint crazy on it…

And what it looks like now!

Not only do I love how little thrifted transformations cost, I also really enjoy brainstorming all of the possibilities and seeing how different the final product turns out.  I often have nowhere to put my new treasures, in which case I end up selling them for a small profit.

I should be back later this week to share my latest DIY build with you all!  

Linking up to these awesome parties.

(Affiliate links may be provided for convenience.  For more info, see my full disclosure here.)