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Modern Thrift Store Art Makeover

March 18, 2021 by Bre 4 Comments

Is anyone else shocked at how expensive large art is?  Of course “real” art has a hefty price tag, but even large artwork from Target isn’t cheap!  

I needed large art for a wall in my living room, and decided to save some money by doing a modern thrift store art makeover instead of buying “real” or new artwork at the store.

This is great! See the process of this thrifted art makeover, and learn how to update your own thrifted artwork!

It was the PERFECT way to get that fancy-pants look of original artwork without the expensive price.  Love that!

I know some of you want original artwork in your homes, too, so I figured it would be helpful for me to show the process of this thrift store painting makeover.  You may be saddened to learn that you need ZERO artistic talent to pull this off.  So really, anybody can do this!

Supplies Needed for a Thrift Store Art Makeover

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  • Thrifted painting – it doesn’t really even matter what it looks like!  Just find a painting on canvas and you’re good to go.
  • Large-scale stencil (I used this FolkArt Delicate Lace Stencil)
  • Iridescent paint
  • Acrylic craft paints in desired colors
  • Paintbrushes

These are the basic supplies needed to modernize a thrift store painting. It's a project anyone can do - no artistic talent needed!

Also, if you’re new to buying thrifted home decor, check out my blog post on 8 Home Decor Essentials to Buy at the Thrift Store.  It will really help you!

How to Give a Thrift Store Painting a Modern Makeover

Before we start, I have to reiterate that I am not an artist and certainly am not a painter!  So if you’re an artist, please don’t judge my work too harshly.  Understand that this tutorial is for people who just want to modernize a thrift store painting and not create a world-renowned work of art!

Now that I’ve got that disclaimer out of the way, let’s jump in and update this painting!

Step One: Tape Off the Frame and Place the Stencil

Because I wanted to keep the frame that came with the artwork, I taped it off to protect it from getting paint on it.

Next, I set down a lace pattern stencil in the center of the artwork.

Place a stencil onto a thrift store painting to give it a makeover.

I started with the stencil in the middle of the painting because that made the most sense to me.  I don’t think it really matters if you put the stencil elsewhere.

Step Two: Stencil Over the Painting with Iridescent Paint

My goal for this next step was to dull-down or mute the original painted image.  I didn’t want to totally cover it; I just wanted to obscure it.

Use a stencil and iridescent paint to give thrifted art a modern look.

To accomplish that look, I used an iridescent paint in a pearly white color.  It was a little translucent so the cityscape painting could show through a bit.

A thrifted painting makeover was done with a stencil and paint.

I repeated the stenciling process until the entire canvas was covered with the lace pattern.

Step Three: Blend the Painted Stencil Edges

As you can see in the photo above, there is a line where the stencil edges meet.  That doesn’t look great, so I dipped my brush in the same iridescent paint and then wiped most of it off.  Then I gently brushed at each of the stencil seams to soften that edge.

To give thrifted artwork a new look, blend paint and a stenciled pattern on the original artwork.

I also did this along the border of the painting and the frame.

When this part of the thrifted art makeover was complete, the painting looked like this:

A stencil and iridescent paint was used to update a thrift store painting.

It was okay, but not the exact look I was hoping for.  The underlying landscape image was still too visible for my taste, so I got back to work.

Step Four: Add Brushstrokes of Different Color

To really take this thrift store art in a modern direction, the next step was key!

Here I chose three additional acrylic paint colors to add to the canvas.  They were all in the same general color family, but different enough to stand out from the iridescent painted stencil pattern.

To modernize a thrift store painting, add brushstrokes over the artwork.

I added a little bit of each color to a paint brush and added lines across the canvas.

Painting the frame of thrift store artwork also helps update it.

I also finished things off by painting the frame.  The original gold had a lot of dings and damage, so painting it was a good option.

Americana Decor Satin Enamels paint is wonderful for painting a picture frame.

The Completed Thrift Store Painting Makeover

Once I finished, I was so happy with my thrifted artwork update!

A thrift store art makeover took a dated and boring painting to modern and fresh! Get the step-by-step tutorial in this post.

Notice how the stenciled pattern shows through in certain places, as does some of the original painted artwork on the bottom layer.

A thrift store art makeover done the way I did it lets you keep some of the original look while giving it a fresh spin!

A thrift store painting got a fresh new look with the help of stencils and paint.

Filed Under: home decor

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. susan martin says

    March 19, 2021 at 5:44 pm

    Will have to try this! I’m looking for a large piece of art also and it is sooo expensive! What color did you paint the frame?

    Reply
    • Bre says

      March 20, 2021 at 7:44 pm

      Hi, Susan! Thank you! Yes – keep your eyes peeled when you’re out and about. I paid $19 for this huge framed artwork, so there are deals to be had! The color of the paint on the frame is Gray Taupe in Americana Decor Satin Enamels paint. 🙂

  2. Christie says

    March 19, 2021 at 8:43 pm

    This is amazing! I have a large canvas in a frame I was hoping to do this on, but the original artwork is all very, very dark. So, I’ll have to save this for another day. Beautiful work!

    Reply
    • Bre says

      March 20, 2021 at 7:42 pm

      Hi, Christie-
      Thank you!! I’m so glad this method might work for your large canvas. Best of luck with your project!

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