Estate Sale (kinda Like a Thrift Store) Makeover to Beach Decor!

by Michelle McCaughtry

8 Materials

1 Day

Easy

I picked up a box of wood pieces at an estate sale for $3. So many cute pieces to work on. Here is my beachy wall decor with homemade chalk paint, unicorn spit and some sea shells.

estate sale kinda like a thrift store makeover to beach decor

Here is the whole kit and kaboodle. Not bad for $3!

I chose this piece because I loved the wood grain pattern. I decided I wanted to dry buff unicorn spit onto one side to really show off the pretty grain.

I grabbed my chalk paint I mixed up using Calcium carbonate powder, water and Sherwin Williams paint color called Cascades. It is a gorgeous deep teal/green. I used a cheap chip brush to apply the paint to the back and sides of the piece.

Chalk paint dries really fast. Here it is sitting on some shot glasses to dry.

Once the chalk painted side was dry I flipped it over. I lightly sanded with 220 grit sandpaper to take off any shine or sealer that may have been on the wood. It looked unfinished but I wanted to make sure I had a good clean base to start with.

When you are "dry" buffing onto wood you want to mist your piece lightly using filtered water. Smooth the water over the entire surface using your hand.

Then I took a lint free rag and put some full strength unicorn spit in the color Navajo Jewel. This is also a gorgeous deep teal/green and the SW Cascades color is an almost perfect match. You then buff the color onto the wood piece, following the grain. I love how wood reacts to unicorn spit buffing - the various colors that pull thru the grain are beautiful!

Once the navajo jewel buffed layer was dry I decided to add Dove's Cry sparkle unicorn spit. Not sure why, but I wanted something different than my usual beachy green/blue look.

Using a lint free cloth like before, I put the Dove's cry full strength on the cloth and buffed that over the green.

What a cool rainbow effect! And once I applied the sealer the colors deepened and became more jewel like - I loved it!

I used Rustoleum Triple Thick glaze spray to seal - this is an awesome oil based sealer. Unicorn spit must be sealed with oil based sealer only. Water based will reactivate the spit and it will smear - not what you want to happen..

Last I took some E6000 glue and glued on some shells I had painted earlier with unicorn spit, and a starfish decorative piece I got at Joann Fabric. I also used two unpainted shells.