The Goodwill bins were not good this week, and decorator @JuliesDesignsandSigns says she barely found anything. Most people would have shrugged and gone home empty handed. Instead she hauled out a few cheap, shiny castoffs, promised herself that every one would be finished that same day, and turned the lot into home decor. The star of the show was a bag of plastic giraffes that now pass for solid brass.

Her rule for the project is simple. Whatever she brings home gets a makeover right away, and nothing goes into what she calls her doom pile. That means no clutter heading for the garage, which she jokes might be the real accomplishment of the day.

She starts with a pair of trophy cups. She has been seeing vintage trophies all over home decor lately, but these are a little too shiny and bright for her taste, so the goal is to make the cheap versions look like the real thing.

Aging The Trophy Cups

The cups turn out to be easy to take apart, which she says makes painting them much easier. She has been loving silver and gold mixed together, so she rubs Dixie Belle silver gilding wax over the bright gold. Then she tones everything down with a Dixie Belle brown glaze to give it what she calls that perfect aged look.

One trophy came with a plastic base, but she happened to have a real marble trophy base in her stash, and it fit perfectly. She keeps everything, she says, and moments like this are the reason. The finished piece is a good size for a chunky candle, and she points out it could just as easily hold florals, seasonal filler or even small Christmas trees.

A Little Gold Frame For A Little Painting

Next she found a little gold frame. She admits she already has approximately 4,000 picture frames, but this one was so cute she could not leave it behind. She had a small painting that needed a home, so she covered the glass with a drop cloth, glued the painting to it and set it back in the frame.

It ended up in the hallway, where she hung shelves a long time ago and hoped the girls would decorate them. They have not, she says, so she has apparently taken over. She adds one cute little girly touch and walks away without trying to redo the whole area that day.

The Plastic Giraffes

The giraffes come last, and they are the part everybody remembers. Someone had already tried to turn an entire bag of plastic animals gold, she says, but the paint job was sticky. She rescued five giraffes because she thinks she knows what the original painter was trying to do.

Her trick is that if you want something to look like brass, you have to start dark. She sprays the giraffes black first. Then she dry brushes Dixie Belle gold gilding wax on top. According to her, it works every single time, and she says you can even make plastic giraffes look like brass with this technique.

• Spray the plastic piece black to create a dark base.
• Dry brush gold gilding wax over the top, using a light touch.
• Let the black show in the crevices so the finish reads as aged brass.

It is a handy method for anyone who finds a thrift shop figurine in the wrong finish. A bag of animals nobody wanted can turn into a matching set for a shelf, a mantel or a bookcase.

The Week Behind The Makeover

The video goes on to show how tired she was that week. She says nothing dramatic happened, but Mondays are spent editing YouTube videos, and one day off turned into two. She learned that for her, one excuse makes the second excuse a whole lot easier.

The whole reason she started her “two things” challenge was to give herself permission to do two small things she enjoys. When she is tired, she says, she does not need to quit, she just needs to simplify. That week she thinned out her mantel garland, spread pretty fall florals onto her bookshelves and counted it a win because she showed back up.

An Estate Sale, Some Chiggers And A Soccer Tournament

She also squeezed in a trip to PopShelf with her friend Lee, where she bought nothing but enjoyed a giant bow and a pillow and throw sale of 30% off. Across the street was a Habitat Restore, which she says used to have lots of random building supplies and now is mostly new stuff. An estate sale next door gave her a folding camping stool, though she thinks something there was biting her. She learned what chiggers are that day.

At the sale she also paid $10 for a little brass box with a shape she had never seen, and she put it on her bookshelf with pieces of an old dictionary underneath. Her son built a chair in shop class and a birdhouse, and she plans to stain them to match the porch columns. Another estate sale gave her old tubes of leads and erasers, and she put those vintage office supplies in glass jars.

Her family capped the weekend at a soccer tournament, where she says the boys went undefeated and won gold without a single goal scored against them. She also announced a vintage drop on her website for November 5th at 6:00 p.m. Central, in the home decor tab.

What To Take From It

The lesson from the giraffes is the same one she learned during the long week. A bad day at the bins does not have to be a wasted day. Plastic that looks bad can be spray painted, waxed and made to look expensive, and a project does not have to be big to count.

She also says that it is okay to rest, and that many moms feel guilty doing it. Her final thought is that learning to let some things go is part of figuring it out, and then she heads to bed, well after midnight.

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