Thrift Store shopping or Op Shopping as we call it here in Australia, is one of my favourite things to do to find treasures to upcycle! Charity stores are actually just one of the 10 types of places I find furniture and decor to upcycle – see more places I find treasures HERE.

This week, as one of the Ambassadors for Essential Stencil, we were challenged to find some thrift store items to upcycle or repurpose and stencil on! It has been so much fun to see what others are coming up with and if you’d like to enter the challenge, you can find out all about it here. Entries close March 8, 2020.

So here are some fun items I found at the thrift stores last week (you can also check out my highlight on Instagram).

Thrift Store Haul:

Pine tissue box cover

This box below had numbers glued to the outside, which I removed and sanded back.

old toy box
Old Toy Box
Small burlap/hessian pot holder
seagrass basket
Seagrass Basket

Preparing my pieces to stencil

I went live on my Facebook page showing how I prepped each of these pieces before I stenciled on them, so here’s the replay below (feel free to skip to the parts you’d like to see).

Essential Stencil Thrift Store Challenge

I used two different stencil sets for the Thrift Store Challenge, and you can find them here:

Here’s the live I did over on Essential Stencil Facebook page showing you how I stenciled each of my op shop finds:

And just another little video on how I sealed the Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint stain I used on the little Farmhouse tissue box, because I forgot to finish it on the live:

The Finished look:

I hope you like these and feel inspired to go find your own treasures at your local op shop! Let us know what you find! Which one of these is your favourite? Tell me in the comments.

thrift store challenge finished
Farmhouse tissue box cover

Again, if you love any of the stencils you see here or on Essential Stencil, use my code IRESTORESTUFF for 10% off your entire order (excludes shipping) at this link: ESSENTIAL STENCIL