Summer is a great time of year to lean into the coastal decor aesthetic whether you live near the beach or far from it. And while we normally equate beachy decor with shocking price tags, there are a LOT of ways to get the look while staying on budget. Especially if you take some inspiration from these coastal projects, all of which upcycle items you can find at thrift stores or yard sales.Read more ›
Pillar Candle Holders with Coastal Style
I first spotted these pillar candle holders at one of those “color-coding” thrift stores. You know the kind I mean, right? Where they group all the housewares by color, and these wooden fellas somehow ended up on the red shelf.Read more ›
Starfish Decor from a Lighted Star Christmas Tree Topper
While working on my recent Thrift the Look: Beach Cottage blog post, one of the most challenging elements to find was a large starfish. I didn’t want to buy a real/dried one from a craft store, so upcycling one was my best bet. I just wasn’t sure what I’d find that could become the starfish decor that I needed.Read more ›
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.Read more ›
Fishing Floats from Thrift Store Vases
Many years ago, I published this project for glass fishing floats by upcycling some vases and bowls from the thrift store. But in the years since, the craft product I used to make these fishing floats went off the market. So, I decided to start from scratch with an even better craft paint to create a new set. Read more ›
Sand Collection Display in a Vintage Spice Rack
There I was in Goodwill, crawling through the housewares when I paused to check an alert on my phone. A friend’s photo of a gorgeous sunset on the beach popped up, and when I went back to thrift shelf scanning, there it was. A vintage spice rack that someone else had painted purple, using it to house her button collection. But with the beach photo still burning a hole in my mind and the spice rack in front of me, I had an idea. To create a sand collection display in the old spice rack!Read more ›
Driftwood Wreath for Coastal Decor this Summer
Up until 2009, I’d always lived near a shoreline- half my life along the shores of Lake Michigan, and half my life bouncing between the Gulf and the Atlantic in Florida. My fondest beach memories are those of the windswept, deserted beaches in Southwest Michigan that were filled with beach glass and pieces of driftwood. And to celebrate those memories, I decided to make a driftwood wreath for our front door this summer.