Our Hopeful Home: Easy DIY Coastal Decor: Attractive Coral Pedestal For Less

With summer being literally right around the corner, I've been thinking a lot about coastal decor and how to incorporate it into my home. You can certainly purchase it, if you're willing to spend the big bucks. Me, I'd rather DIY it!

One trend in particular that I'm enamored with is the coral decor trend. It's not really new, though. I remember seeing it "done" by Pottery Barn a few years ago. But suffice it to say that their price was out of my league. Back then I came up with my own end-run solution around their prohibitive cost. You can see what trick I used in my DIY Pottery Barn Faux Coral tutorial.

That's why I was so thrilled to find this natural coral piece at my Salvation Army for just a few dollars. I've been holding onto it for a while waiting for the right project. Today I'm going to share how I did it, along with some other projects from my awesome blogger friends as part of our monthly Thrift Store Decor Upcycle Challenge.

The Rules:

Upcycle an item(s) from a thrift store, resale store, or garage sale into a new piece of decor.
There's no monthly theme.
There's no budget to stick to.

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Okay, so here's what I had in mind. I knew as soon as I saw it at Michael's that I could make it myself. I really loved the look of the bright white coral against the gold. Only problem was, my coral was more beige than white, and I did not have a gold pedestal to set it on.

So the search began for a gold pedestal and I came across this thing at Goodwill. I wasn't sure if it would work, but I thought for $1.97 it was worth a try. I have NO idea what it might have been in its previous life, but I love its vintage vibe.

My only concern was that my natural coral's color was a bit on the grungy side. Nowhere near as white as the coastal decor coral you see in magazines. The fix? Why, one can of white spray paint, of course!

Well, what do you think? I was pleased with the new look!

And here she is, post-painting, sitting pretty on her golden pedestal. I'm not sure which way, exactly, is "up" but I chose to place the cup upside down for stability. I also chose not to glue it in permanently so that I could use the coral again in the future. Instead, I secured it with candle wax adhesive which works great for times like these when you need a temporary, invisible fixative. If you're not familiar with it, just google "candle wax adhesive" and you'll find a number of different types you can use for all kinds of projects.

Here's another close-up of the pedestal. Isn't it gorgeous? Just the right amount of patina.

I had fun styling it along with some of my other coastal decor elements. All my pretty starfish, sand dollars and balls made of shells were purchased while on vacation at the New Jersey shore.

All in all I must say that I considered this a DIY success. And the fact that both elements of the project were from a thrift store for less than $5.00 (including paint) was the icing on the cake! The coral pedestals I saw in the store were nice, but I think my original creation has somewhat of a shabbby chic, je ne sais quoi about it, don't you think?

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And now for more thrifty goodness!

Check out what my fellow upcyclers have shared below!

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