Making your house your home shouldn’t have to break the bank. I’m all about creating my own space by using thrifted finds transformed into something new. Today, I’m going to show you how I took a couple of different basket frames found at a local thrift store and turned them into custom wall art.

Would you have considered these two dated frames as having potential? In order to do that, you kinda have to look past the obvious and see something more. That can be hard at times, but seriously, most anything has potential to some degree, right?

FUN FINDS

The first frame I’ll show you is the oval empty one that is just waiting for a purpose. Since the natural basket color wasn’t quite striking it with me, I decided to use one of my favorite stains, Espresso by Minwax, that I also used on this vanity.

Just wipe on with a heavily loaded brush, let soak for about five minutes, and wipe off excess. You can even do this to those natural colored baskets you can find at thrift stores and stain them to match your decor.

Now what to do about that empty center…hmmm… I debated on using all sorts of mediums, but in the end I wanted to create a faux chalkboard sign. In order to do that, I traced my basket frame interior onto a piece of chipboard and added a ¼” allowance, then I cut out a matching piece.

To make the chalkboard, I painted two coats with my Deco Art Chalky Finish in Carbon, letting dry thoroughly between coats.

While I could have left the oval insert as a chalkboard that could be erased using this paint, I wanted to make a permanent phrase on it instead. For that, I chose to use the phrase, “It is well with my soul”, that I designed and printed out. To make it look nice, I then transferred using my DIY transfer method.

One evening my husband went snow tubing with the the oldest kids, and I painted this while hanging out while my youngest slept. Yes, it’s that easy. Once painted, I hot-glued the board into place and it’s ready to go. I’ll show you the “after” in a second.

Now for that PINK mirror. bluck. I tore off the lace and flowers, but then had the old hot glue to deal with.

DIY TIME

No problem. If you ever want to remove hot glue from something, just grab your hairdryer and it will re-melt the glue so you can pull it off. I have snatched countless perfectly good grapevine wreaths, etc. from curbside and used them again by removing the ugly that existed.

Once those flowers were off, I used a Rust-Oleum Flat White spray paint to give it a new look.

It seemed sort of boring just a plain white, so I used my DecoArt Chalky Finish in Relic to add an accent to the inner ring.

THE REVEAL

Put it all together and…voila!

It took only a few basic materials and time to make them new. Crazy what a little DIY effort can do, isn’t it? I like that no one has these in their home – they’re unique and have that handmade touch you can’t buy in a box store.

Which is your favorite? I like them both for different reasons. If you would like to have them as your own, you can find them in my shop.

I hope this encourages you to not only try you hand at thrifting, but to also see potential in cast-offs.  It can be an adventure in every aspect, and even more fun when you take someone with you! My gang of 6 loves to join me on my adventures. Who do you love to go treasure hunting with?

Pin and share to inspire others to try to create their own wall art too! ♥

Coming up next week is our Trash to Treasure Transformations and I will be sharing a new project with you. Stay tuned!

MEWE  |  PINTEREST  |  GAB

More of my thrifted projects for you like my wall art: