Hacks To Spruce Up Dollar Store Items And Make Them Look Like A Million Bucks

Dollar stores and their growing popularity with consumers have caused quite a shift in the retail industry. Customers shop for items usually reserved for small sections of big box retailers in dollar stores solely selling items for $20 or less.

So, why not grab some dollar-store bargain items and spruce up the purchases with these hacks?

Keep Those Old Salt And Pepper Shakers

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Stores filled with rustic decorations to accent the home are typically in vogue. Using old salt and pepper shakers as mini flower pots or to hold potpourri are ways of replicating the items retailers sell, but for much less.

Shakers come ready-made to either paint, fill with soil, and plant flowers in them, or if they have potpourri inside, the built-in holes will release the scent slowly.

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Make Those Bookshelves Full Of Fantasy

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Jessie Daye/YouTube
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Although reading hard and paperback books are going the way of the dinosaur, those that still have them want a way to jazz up their library shelves.

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One way is to buy plastic toys from a dollar store, mount them on a piece of wood and paint them in the color of your choice. The toys make outstanding bookends and give those drab shelves a little fantasy look!

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Tennis Balls + Sock = Magic Massager

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As we age, aches and pains in the body are more common. Massage therapy is an effective way of finding relief, and this dollar store hack is cheap and variable.

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Place a few tennis balls in a sock, and knot the open end. Now you have the perfect tool for self-massaging that sore neck or back.

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Bucket Of Organization And Fun

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Many parents can relate to kids who draw, paint, and color with crayons, creating their works of art and leaving a big mess behind.

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With a 5-gallon bucket and tool-belt organizer, which can both be found at the dollar store, kids can neatly access and, more importantly, put away their crayons and art supplies. All it takes is a little glue!

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Hula Hoops But Make Them Magical Chandeliers

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A hula-hoop, fairy lights, and some lace can convert a dollar store toy into a trendy chandelier for decoration and lighting.

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For just a few dollars and some creativity, improvements to the home and lighting experience will result from turning something we played with as kids into rustic artwork.

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Liven Up Any Dollar Store Vase Using Only Paint

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Vases sold in dollar stores are available in many shapes, sizes, and colors. If a little metallic paint is sprayed on them, they look more luxurious.

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Whether made out of glass, plastic, metal, or clay, they can be made into dazzling creations with an old can of spray paint or a brand new one for merely five dollars or less.

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One Person's Trash...

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Trash cans of several varieties line shelves of dollar stores everywhere. Their usefulness does not have to be limited to a life filled with garbage.

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Drill holes in the base of the can for runoff water, and grab the spraypaint of your choosing. The result is a beautiful upcycled planter!

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Pool Noodles Aren't Just For The Pool

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Offly enough, foam pool noodles, usually in neon colors, are an affordable addition to any yard decor.

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Cut the noodles into whatever shapes and forms the imagination can think of, and this poolside toy instantly brings some extra life as a garden decoration.

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Upcycle Compact Mirrors

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Makeup compact mirrors are very convenient to carry and have lying around. They also can be used as decorative mirrors around the house that will make guests' jaws drop.

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A trendy hallway or bathroom mirror can be created by decorating the perimeter of multiple dollar store cosmetic mirror with anything from yarn to popsicle sticks, then gluing them together.

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Hanging Soup Can Herb Garden

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Soup can planters
YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP via Getty Images
YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP via Getty Images
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Tin cans from old items bought at a dollar store can be recycled into almost anything today. One option is to convert old soup cans into hanging herb gardens in the kitchen.

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Drill holes in the bottom and one on each side near the top of the can. Then use a file to smooth any jagged edges. Spray it with your favorite color and allow dry. Lastly, attach a piece of 16-gauge wire to the two holes drilled.

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A Picture Frame Message Board

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While whiteboards might be a bit much for someone's day-to-day, there is nothing wrong with sprucing up a fun picture frame to create a message board!

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All it takes is a picture frame of your choosing, some fun paper to put inside, and dry-erase markers. The result is a personal message board you can hang anywhere in the house!

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Repurpose A Vitamin Box

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Vitamin boxes can be used to store items that need a bit more managing, not just pills.

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Instead, think about storing tiny items such as coins, earrings, paper clips, and even hair ties and bobby pins in vitamin boxes. Trust us, you'll be thankful they're all in one central place!

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Hang Your Pots On A Show Curtain Rod

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The beauty of a shower curtain rod is that it can serve other uses, like a place to hang pots and pans in the kitchen to save space in cabinets.

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All you have to do is grab a rod and some curtain hooks from the dollar store, paint them the color of your choosing, and then secure it to the kitchen wall.

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Spice Up Your Pantry

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Plastic or glass containers or mason jars with lids have as many functions as the mind can imagine. Containers used to organize and spruce up the space inside the pantry are one viable idea.

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Putting food items like pasta or ingredients like spices, sugar, or salt in these canisters and labeling them accordingly goes a long way toward organizing and spicing up any pantry.

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Use Pots, Pans, And Plates For Bird Feeders And Baths

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On their own, dishes, pots, and other dollar-store items are not always the most expensive looking. If they are put together with some imagination, they can be transformed into outdoor bird feeders and baths.

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Plates, pots, cups, and vases can be turned into fancy accessories for the feathered guests in people's yards with ease and little to no money.

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Brighten Up The Bathroom

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DIY Soap Dispenser
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One dollar store item that always seems to be in stock is clear glass soap dispensers. The downside: they are a bit boring. So, brighten them up with a few well-curated items.

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Whether it's colored gems, fake flowers, or even a beautiful-colored soap, adding color to a clear soap dispenser gives any bathroom an extra edge.

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Make Icing Their Boo Boos Fun

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Kids' ice bags
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What do you get with an ordinary washcloth from the dollar store, a ribbon, and some creativity? You get an animal or character-themed ice bag for your children's bumps, bruises, and scrapes.

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Icing down the areas where kids get hurt is never an easy task, but it can be made a little more enjoyable for the child and the parent with this imaginative hack.

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Organization Calendars Made Easy (And Cheap!)

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Why go and spend way too much money for a predesigned whiteboard to use as a daily calendar when a less expensive option is available? Sticky notes and a corkboard are essentially all you need for this.

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Colorful paper, glue, markers, and post-it notes can be used to design your own daily calendar.

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Get Charged Up With Binder Clips

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DIY Cable organizer
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With simple binder clips from the dollar store, all those cords for devices, monitors, printers, and all their attachments can be organized and, more importantly, keep from getting tangled up.

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Attach clips that fit the desk or workstation, run the cords through the handles, and never again deal with that mess and chaos.

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Hang Baskets For Towels And Save Space

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Decorating the bathroom with baskets has dual purposes. Regular baskets typically kept on the floor can be hung on walls and filled with towels and toilet paper.

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Toiletries and washcloths no longer need to be on shelves or wicker baskets that will take up too much valuable floor space or get in the way.

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Clip That

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Someone with little imagination looks at a clipboard as something to write on. Among the alternative uses for them is as a hanger to display things instead of writing on them.

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Homework, tests, report cards, artwork, and photos can be hung on a wall and admired with only a thumbtack for support instead of an extensive frame.

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Dazzle People With Mirrored Pots

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Planters inside or outside can now sparkle and reflect the decorator's personality by adding mirrors.

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Patience, about five dollars, and a glue gun are all you need to convert drab-looking planters into works of art. If there are more pieces of mirror available, they can be used to decorate anything else you have lying around the house!

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Dollar Stores Can Help Organize The Car, Too

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Parents who drive anywhere with small children know the importance of keeping them entertained or busy during the trip. All their toys, books, and video games can now be organized and sorted with an over-the-door organizer.

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Organizers or even aprons with pockets can be thrown over the top of the front seat so that it hangs down the back. There is now some space to store the kids' trinkets and playthings.

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Customize Your Laptop In Minutes And For Pennies

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DIY Laptop Protector
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Laptops are a daily part of many lives, and traveling or moving them around can occasionally cause them to get damaged. Dollar stores sell contact paper that can be repurposed as protective cases for laptops.

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For example, a DIY hack t try out is using paper that looks like freshly cut wood and placing it over the front and back of your laptop.

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Make Any Book Into A Storage Box

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Without damaging one of your books, get one from the dollar store or a yard sale to use as a box for storage.

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Hardcover books will be sturdy if enough once they are hollowed out to be used as a place for jewelry, cosmetics, candies, or any other items that can fit.

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Revamp Old Paint Cans Into A Place For Kitchen Utensils

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Old soup cans or small paint cans do not need to go into bins to be recycled. They can also be used as creative storage containers for kitchen utensils.

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Grab some paint and decorate the cans! Once they're dry, you'll have a creative and bright addition to your kitchen.

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Give A Dollar Store Mug New Life

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Buying someone a mug as a gift from a dollar store may look as cheap as it costs. For a few bucks and some artistic ability, the mug can become artwork.

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So, grab a quirky-shaped mug, some paint supplies, and perhaps some gemstones if you're feeling fancy, and decorate away!

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DIY Mouse Pads

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Sitting at a desk for hours and typing away is boring and mundane enough. Designing your mouse pad with dollar store items is a simple way to make work fun.

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Cork pads can be put together and covered with colorful and patterned paper and some glue to spruce your desk right up.

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Ruined Rubber Gloves Make For Great Puppets

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Rubber dish gloves that are on the shelves of almost every dollar store are notorious for getting holes in the fingers easily. Now, they do not have to be thrown away; instead, they can be made into finger puppets for small children.

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Accessorizing the puppets is easy and fun with yarn, paint, beads, and any other craft items you can think of. But first, cut off the gloves' fingers just below the knuckle. Then, get to decorating!

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Create A Dazzling Candle Display

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This hack does not alter the purpose of a candle. Just by adding thumbtacks from the dollar store or art supply place, plain candles can become magical displays of art and creativity.

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Preferably using white candles, tacks in any color can be placed in any pattern your heart desires. Tacks aren't the only thing that can be used to revamp a plain white candle, though. Think about placing the candle in a hurricane jar and tying dried flowers around it with twine!