I’ve paired up with a group of talented ladies to bring you a monthly Thrift Store Decor Upcycle Challenge. Each month we will create a new home decor piece from an item(s) we’ve found at a thrift store, yard sale, resale shop etc. There is no budget or specific theme so we are free to let our creativity run wild!
Amanda | The Kolb Corner Chelc| Inside the Fox Den
Erlene | My Pinterventures Kim | Made in a Day Sara | Twelve on Main
Debra | Shoppe No. 5 Shirley | Intelligent Domestications
Marie | DIY Adulation Lindsay | Crazy Organized Michelle | Our Crafty Mom
Julie | Live From Julie’s House Dru | Polka Dot Poplars
Maureen | Red Cottage Chronicles Pili | Sweet Things
Colleen | Life on Kaydeross Creek Ann | Duct Tape and Denim Sherry | Savvy Apron
You can also follow our board on Pinterest for more upcycled decor inspiration!
Did you see my post last week about the Fun & Funky Boho Lounge I created for a local festival? It came out great! I didn’t get too crazy with time consuming DIYs for the project because it was only temporary – everything would be taken down when the two day festival ended. But, one of the easy projects I tackled was turning a pile of louvered bi-fold doors from the ReStore into two sets of decorative screens.
I lucked out and caught a sale at my local ReStore – their bi-fold doors were all 2 for $10 the day I stopped in. These four doors come out of the same house, but 2 of them were stained brown and 2 were unfinished. Easy fix, right?
I had some Minwax English Chestnut left over from my DIY Farmhouse Table, and it ended up being a pretty good match for the 2 darker doors. After vacuuming the dust off, I brushed the stain on with a chipwood brush then wiped off the excess with a rag.
I started off working on them laid flat on the table, but quickly realized that it made more sense to stand them up. The stain drips through the slats to the other side and if you don’t catch them while they are wet, you’ll have permanent spots. Standing them up eliminates a lot of that.
I let them dry overnight, then added some inexpensive utility hinges. I thought about getting some nicer ones, but I didn’t want to replace the hinges that were already on the doors.
I have to say – I am embarrassed at how many times I had to redo the hinges. The doors have a definite front and back, plus my doors have that horizontal wood panel breaking up the louvers. If you look in my first photo of the doors in this post you can see the one on the far right is upside down, which makes the wood panel not line up, not to mention the louvers are going in the wrong direction. And the hinges have to be opening in the right direction to make your screen fold correctly. With all those variables, I definitely attached and reattached the hinges more times than I care to admit.
Once the festival was over, I decided the larger of the two screens would look great on my deck. I’ve been plotting a little boho style makeover out there, and I thought the screen would fit in perfectly.
My deck has a pergola, so it already feels very much like another room in the house, and the addition of the screen makes it even cozier.
The screen looked fine all by itself, but I decided to hang some metal sconces I had in my attic in a random pattern. I attached them using heavy duty wire.
Why I have this many sconces that aren’t in use, I have no idea…
I like the look of the sconces on the screen, and I may pick up a few more as I come across them at the thrift store.
I added the Papason rocker and one of the side tables from the festival lounge to make a comfy spot for enjoying a glass of wine and a good book.
Or…just the wine. 😉
While the staining was kind of of tedious (and I was an idiot with the hinges), the screen was a pretty simple project, and you can’t beat the price. If the DIY gods smile on me, I’ll share the rest of my deck makeover next week. 🙂
Be sure to check out all of the other creative upcycle projects my fellow bloggers have come up with!
I’m linking this post up at some terrific blog parties – you can find my complete list of places I party HERE.
