It’s time to begin making your holiday projects, whether for decorations or as gifts. Start your holiday projects by searching for bargain items you need at second hand stores. Check the internet, type in DIY projects and you will get many thousands of blogs and websites to find ideas.

You will be the star crafter at every holiday with your bold or understated creations. Pick a family member or friend and think of what they really need or what they really want and go from there. Make a list and head out to your local thrift or second hand store, a much less inexpensive option when purchasing DIY materials.

Pleasing the hard-to-please

One of the hardest people to please when gift giving are teens and pre-teens. We all know they want electronics, but just give it a try and make something for them. They just might appreciate the effort. Give their room a makeover, but start slowly as not to shock them when they open the door. Start with the headboard. Personalize it in a way that can’t be disliked. Use PVC pipe and paint it silver so it looks like metal instead of plastic. Then glue it together as a frame. Use a volleyball net or chicken wire to hang their favorite, outgrown T-shirt collection. If they are into rock bands, there is a huge variety of various rock artist shirts at your local second hand stores or you might find them as easy as looking under their bed. 

Easy step by step directions can be found here.  

(Courtesy of Design by Joanna Palmissano, Salvage Secrets – Photo by Susan Teare) 

Recycle and Repurpose used goods from second hand stores

Give a gift to the whole family and put together a new coffe, end table or other piece of used furniture made from recyclable items. Or surprise your best friend, the one who is always making homemade gifts for everyone else and give it to her. Personalize it with items under glass that you know are representative of their character. As a finishing touch, carve your initials in it and be proud of your work.

Take an old door purchased from a recycle center or thrift store, cut the decorative legs off of an old end table and glue or screw them into the corners of the bottom of the door.  Either paint the entire door and legs the same color or different colors or sand and stain it all.  Turn it over so it’s standing up. An option would be to put a clear glass top on the door so when drinks or books are put on the table they are level.

If a weathered door is not the style you’re looking for, use decades old wooden soda bottle boxes, two or four depending on the size of the table.  With these there is no need to paint or stain, part of the charm is the uniqueness of the brand names and pictures on the sides and ends.

Simply stated book shelving – not just for books anymore

Nothing could be easier than buying used metal brackets at a thrift store, or you might already have some laying around the garage. Use a treasured book or buy a themed book you love from a second hand store. Install the brackets wide enough to hold the book, set it on top and voila! You have a shelf to display your treasures. Click here for instructions.

(Credit: Mark Metzinger/Studio D via HGTV Flea Market Finds)

Class up current décor

Feel the old world charm of gently used, but aged suitcases to make a chic statement bedside a nightstand. Find the used suitcases at your local second hand stores, such as the Arc Stores in Butte County. Brush them off, spiff them up, or simply leave them in their current condition. Stack them, add a glass top or not and adorn with an equally chic used lamp, your reading glasses, a vase and your favorite book. 

Find simple directions here.

 (Image credit: Victoria Pearson)

Once you get a few DIY holiday projects under your belt for gift-giving or for yourself, you’ll build your confidence and be set to tackle bigger tasks. Don’t underestimate your own ideas though, if you need or want something you haven’t been able to find, absolutely Do It Yourself, then you can post your own ideas on the web.

You’ve got to start somewhere

Remember, beginning a DIY holiday project is generally fun and extremely rewarding, but start with a plan, a budget and shop at second hand stores to gather the items you’ll need. Visit the Arc Stores and print out the $5 off a $15 purchase coupon to bring with you. You’ll be well on your way to saving money and saving the environment by rescuing and recycling. Happy hunting and creating!