A Quick Thrift Store Makeover

I guess you're by now your starting to see a theme emerging.  I love to take ugly things that I find at thrift stores and make them work in my house.  I'd rather spend 5 dollars and a few hours making something than whip out my credit card and buy something online.  The subject of this post is no exception.

I found this pillow at the Goodwill and immediately liked the dimensions.  The pattern?  Umm, not so much.

I personally think that the Southwestern Cougar motif was soooo last year.  I can't imagine why this little gem ended up at a thrift store. 

I followed a tutorial by Censational Girl to make a no-sew pillow cover.  I had found some burlap at Wal-Mart on super clearance (.50 cents/yard) and knew it would be perfect in the downstairs guest bedroom.

Once I turned the burlap into a pillow cover (which took about 45 minutes) I decided to spruce it up a bit.  I had some acrylic paint in an off-white color that I thought would look perfect.

I taped off some approximate stripes and slipped an old diet coke box inside it so the paint wouldn't bleed through. I also made sure to press really, really, really hard on the tape at the edges.  Since the burlap is so rough, I wanted to make sure the paint wouldn't get under the tape and make the lines less than crisp.

And then I dove right in:

It took me a little longer than I expected because the burlap is so rough, it just lapped up the paint.  But I eventually finished in about 30 minutes.  I let it dry for an hour and then flipped it over and did the back.

Another 30 minutes of painting and an hour to dry and I had this:

The paint worked great!  The lines are real defined and it goes well in the bedroom.  Success!

Budget breakdown:
Pillow: 2.00
Burlap: .25 (I only used a tiny bit of the burlap that I had on hand)
Paint: 1.50 (But I only used about half the container)
Total: 3.75

Lindsay.