How to Make Glass Apothecary Jars out of Things from the Thrift Store
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Normally, I love being creative, but when it comes to decorating my home I’ve become a total copy cat lately and I have to say I kinda love it. Takes the stress out of redoing an entire 2,100 square foot house that hasn’t been updated since 1965. Somebody else has already put thought into it and I know it will look good. But raising a family of four, updating a home, and paying back tons of student loans on one income leaves us on a tight budget. So I’ve been following all kinds of blogs recently like Copy Cat Chic & Knock Off Wood. It’s my new hobby, no, obsession.
Today my sister came over to watch the kids for a few hours so I could run some errands. I was itching to start a new project, but after spending 3+ hours on the blinds the other day, I wanted a quick, easy one. I was also determined to create my own Pottery Barn knock-off. Or several. But this time I was sticking firmly to my $20 budget.
Or these:
photo credit: Pottery Barn
Have you been to the Pottery Barn website? Personally, I’ve been stalking it recently to see when those amazing crab melamine plates would come back in stock. (FYI, they’re back, and I ordered mine yesterday. So there, I’m not just a copy cat I’m also an actual consumer. Except I’m a consumer on a $20 budget.) If you’ve been there, you know these vases & apothecary jars sell for anywhere between $20-$60 a piece. Who wants just one jar? Every magazine shows them in groups.
Plus, I figured if I made these hubby would be happy too because while they are technically a home accessory, at least they’re also functional.
So while I was out running errands I stopped by Goodwill. Can you say “Jackpot!?” I scored this entire lot for $13:
Then I stopped by AC Moore & bought this epoxy for less than 5 bucks:
So my materials list consisted of:
1 set of 6 dessert cups
5 vases
1 apothecary jar (I was hoping to score more of these, but it was the only one they had. There were more at AC Moore, but they were more expensive.)
1 tube of epoxy
Total cost: About $18+ tax
First I scraped the price tags off with a Pampered Chef nylon scraper. If you don’t have these, do yourself a favor, and grab some right now! They are cheap and awesome! I guess you could also use a nylon putty tool/scraper, but I like these because they are small enough to get in tight spaces & don’t have the long awkward handle. They are the PERFECT tool for scraping price tags off of just about anything, as well as getting stuck on food off of your dishes. Sometimes you just need to add a little warm water.
After that, all I did was turn the dessert glasses upside down and epoxy the vases/jar to them. Done! (If you’re not familiar with epoxy, it’s just very stinky glue made specifically for glass & metal) 10 minutes & less than $20 later I had 6, count them 6, for less than the price of 1 at PB. Yay me!
This photo was taken before I scraped the price tags off & epoxied, but you get the idea. I happen to think that if I had professional lighting crews, a high-quality camera, and a set designer mine could look just as nice. Filling them with the seashells we collected at the beach last week will probably also help. ;p
If I remember I’ll post more pics after the epoxy has dried & I have figured out where to put them all.
Hey, for $3 a piece, it’s a 95% savings off of paying $60 for one jar. I’m a happy camper!
P.S. If you have any jar candles that you have burned all the way down, this would be an awesome way to reuse them!
If you liked this tip, I so appreciate your pins and shares!
TheVirginiaHouse says
You are my kind of girl! Thanks for another great idea and for linking up to We Can Do It Cheaper!
stephaniegiese says
Thank you for your kind words, I love seeing all the things you are doing in your home!
the VG huis says
Score! Your knock off turned out great. ~Stacey