Beach Cottage Decor from the Thrift Store

My “Thrift the Look” blog hop challenges are one of my favorite things to do. And this time around, the theme is Cottage Decor. Any version of cottage decor was up for grabs, but I chose to work on a thrifted version of beach cottage decor or coastal cottage decor.

If you’re not familiar with my Thrift the Look challenges, here’s the skinny: I choose a professional photograph to recreate using thrifted pieces and upcycling ideas.

And for Beach Cottage Decor, my inspiration photo came from an unlikely source: a product photo from Birch Lane.

Update- Birch Lane no longer uses this photo in the advertisement for the rug that was showcased.

I was quite taken with the vignette behind the couch. It looked like it came straight out of a beach cottage without being overly regional. In other words, it was neither too nautical nor too tropical.

So, I decided to thrift my look for beach cottage decor with this vignette in mind!

I honed in on the vignette components: colored glass bottles with fishing net decor, coastal wall art, a starfish, old books, seashells, and a square basket. With my inspiration photo in my head and saved to my phone, I spent the next few weeks thrifting my little heart out.

And I found a TON of stuff.

Once I had a bunch of thrift store pieces to work with, I set my sights on a few upcycling ideas and repurposed projects to complete the vignette. Fingers crossed that my version of the vignette comes together!

This post contains affiliate links for your crafting convenience. As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. All blue, bold, and underlined text is a clickable link, either to a product or to a related post.

Upcycling Ideas for Beach Bottles

Right away, I knew that the colored glass bottles in the inspiration photo were something I could easily recreate. I mean, I’ve made very similar decor before – with these glass fishing floats!

First, I needed to give the clear glass bottles from the thrift store some color, starting with the stained glass spray I’ve used before.

However, I changed up my approach this time– and layered both colors on each glass bottle.

I varied the number of coats and dominant can of paint for each one, ending up with a nice variety of colored glass bottles.

Now for adding the fishing net component to my beach bottles. Remember that macramé purse in the collage photo of my thrifted decor pieces above?

Well, I had this crazy idea to wrap it around the largest glass bottle…

First, I removed the lining and strap from the macramé purse. Then, I placed the largest bottle (jug, really) inside the purse.

Next, I trimmed off the excess on the bottom and the top. I used jute twine to basically stitch those openings shut – as close to the bottle as possible.

Think of how corsets would be laced up– that’s the kind of “stitching” I did with the jute twine.

For my next bottle, I a grass place mat to use as “sea grass” on one of my other beach bottles.

A little hot glue later and I had a sea grass-wrapped bottle.

And for the third bottle, I knotted jute twine like fishing net (using the technique in my glass fishing floats post). 

Beach Cottage Decor from the Thrift Store

With that, the nautical bottles for my beach cottage decor were done!

I assembled everything else I had – coastal wall art (purchased years ago from a thrift), vintage books (from various thrifts), the basket, my starfish decor (you DEFINITELY need to check out this blog post about it here), and some seashells.

Ready for it? How close did my version of coastal cottage decor come to the original inspiration photo?

What do you think? I’m kind of loving how it all came together – and every single thing either came from a thrift store as is or as upcycled by me!

It’s not, perhaps, and IDENTICAL match to the original inspiration photo, but I wouldn’t say “no” to an entire home outfitted to match my vignette.

*****

Thrift the Look: Cottage Decor

NOW – check out all the kinds types of Cottage Decor that my blogging pals (the Creative Vintage Darlings on Facebook) cooked up for their Thrift the Look challenge. Everyone went with a different type of “cottage”, so there is plenty of decor variety.

     Sadie Seasongoods | Little Vintage Cottage

 

    Home to Heather | Itsy Bits and Pieces | Audrey Would Vintage Home

*****

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the inspiration photo and my thrift store version of Beach Cottage Decor.

I hope you enjoyed this Thrift the Look challenge as much as my previous ones: French Farmhouse Decor, Lake House Decor, and Boho Decor!

And if you enjoyed these upcycling ideas for coastal home decor, then you may also be interested in my sea glass bottles, too!

Craft on!

S

Want to be notified when I publish my next upcycling project tutorial?

Please subscribe here.

Join me on Social Media:

 

 

 

 

 
PIN ME!