Quick and Easy Spring Decorating Ideas for Your Garage Sale Junk

Spring is in the air and chances are you've spent the last few weeks cleaning, de-cluttering and getting ready for an upcoming yard sale. Before you place a five-cent sticker on your garage sale garbage, take a moment to think about some fresh uses for your old stuff.

Let me help you start your brainstorming session by offering some new uses for old things most of us have tucked away somewhere in our home (or stored in our garage).

Cork boards - The last time I cleaned my office I found two large cork boards I wasn't using any longer. When my husband cleaned out our shed, he found a half-dozen circular cork boards that are usually used to set plants on. (Since my plants usually die...I had plenty of them left over).

I spray painted the cork board circles bright green and hung them randomly in my daughter's room to look like polka-dots. If you are feeling extra creative, you can create caterpillars out of the circles or use six of them to create a large flower. You can even paint them to look like baseballs, basketballs or soccer balls for a sports-themed room.

I created a colorful spring photo collage using one of the rectangular boards. I simple covered it with a bright floral fabric and criss-crossed matching ribbon across the front of the board. Wherever two ribbons met on the front of the board I secured them using large, inexpensive upholstery tacks.

I created a simple message center using the last corkboard. I had some left-over chalkboard paint and quickly covered the board with three coats. I attached a notebook, pen and sticky note pad on the one side and left the other side blank so I could write a quick "I love you" note, or add verses and inspirational quotes with the chalk. I placed this chalkboard in our laundry room as a fun addition to one of our gathering places.

Clay Pots and Planters - It is easy to give a planter or pot a quick update using a can of spray paint or outdoor paint markers you can find at most craft stores. As I mentioned earlier, I don't have a green thumb so I tend to have a lot of pots lying around in the garage, craft room and shed.

Each spring I grab a few empty pots and use them as bright storage containers throughout my home. I painted three pots and placed them in my office to hold scissors, pens and markers. I painted another one to match my bathroom and use it to hold my daughters brushes and combs. Large clay pots also make wonderful utensil holders in the kitchen. You can simply spray paint them to match your décor.

I also recently decorated my daughter's room in a garden theme. Since she is extremely crafty, I created a small "art center" in the corner of her bedroom. I sprayed a few more pots in with vivid spring colors and placed them on her art-desk to hold crayons, scissors and paint brushes.

Glass Plates and Dishes - One of my favorite unique ways to update my homes' look for spring is to display family photos in unique ways. Recently I found a "set" of five plain glass dishes on clearance. I purchased the plates and dug through my "memory box" to find items to decorate them with.

I found some vintage photos of my grandparents that my mother had copied for me. Since they were an unusual size, I couldn't frame them using a typical frame. I proceeded to copy them in black and white and while resizing them to fit the plate. Then, I took decoupage medium and "glued" the image to the back of the plate. They turned out beautifully. While there was a bit of "bubbling" that occurred as the glue dried, it gave the vintage photos a wonderful antique look. I added a black plate holder (that I also found in my "junk-room" and ended up with a unique wall display. (You can view the plate collage I created in the photo on the left).

You can also decoupage brightly colored napkins, children's artwork and your favorite greeting cards onto the back of clear glass plates. This is a wonderfully inexpensive way to update your look based upon the season.

So, are you ready to transform your garage sale clutter into spring decorating treasures? Continue reading Associated Content's Spring Decorating articles for more great "trash to treasure" decorating tips.