Since moving out of home and having my own place, I have loved decorating. Home decor is one of my favourite things to shop for besides makeup or clothing. Home decor stuff could be expensive though so one of my favourite places to find great inexpensive homewares is Kmart.
I have been a long time lover of Kmart home decor and I don’t see that ending any time soon because they keep coming out with amazing things.
I managed to grab a few pieces from my last Kmart trip including the test tube vase pictured above.
Continue on if you want to see the rest of my haul and I DIY-ed the vase as well.
This homeware haul is from Kmart in St Lukes mall. I was in the area that day so I decided to pop by and check it out. I usually go to the Kmart in Albany mall.
I got the Test Tube Vase, Test Tube Spice Rack and Bell Jar Candle.
Let’s start off with the spice rack.
I already a better spice rack than this but I got this because I plan on using this as a vase. It comes in this normal wood finish with 5 test tube glasses, some spice labels and rubber lids. I don’t like the colour of the wood but I like the size of it because it’s smaller than the actual test tube vase I’ll show next.
This is what the actual test tube vase looks like. I have been wanting this for months since seeing it on Instagram. It was sold out for a very long time and I couldn’t believe it when I saw three left in stock in Kmart St Lukes. I actually put two in my basket at first but I ended up just buying one.
Next up is this Bell Jar Candle for $12. This came in a nice box and wrapped in plastic so I couldn’t really open it in stores. Unfortunately, I found out that the base isn’t levelled.
It’s obvious on the side but it’s nothing major. I’ve placed it on my table in a way that you can’t really tell unless you’re up close. The candle that comes inside it is not well made either but you could easily replace it with a prettier candle.
These are what the two test tube vases look like. They’re different but I really like both. The one on the left was $8 and the test tube spice rack was $12.
I don’t like the wood finish and colours of each one so I decided to do a little DIY or #Kmarthack as some people would call it.
I used my sister’s paint from doing art in school, some sandpaper and mod podge for the finishing coat to seal the colour.
With the actual test tube vase, you can get away with not sanding the wood because it’s not really a shiny finish or texture. The paint would stick to it straight away. However, I had a bit of difficulty with the test tube spice rack as I didn’t sand it well enough so I needed a few more coats.
I decided to paint the test tube vase black because I plan on putting it in our kitchen. We have white walls and I thought the black would make it stand out and it will also match our red and black kitchen appliances.
https://instagram.com/p/9nVKr5gBWd/?taken-by=astylecollector
Here’s a before and after photo:
The flowers on the left are from our backyard and the flowers on the right I got from the Takapuna markets. The roses are slightly dying but they were also only $3 a bunch.
I definitely like the black colour better. I haven’t decided which colour I’ll be painting the test tube spice rack though and I might use a spray paint for that instead. What I’ve done is a pretty cheap way of transforming this Kmart test tube vase and turning it into something that fits our house more.
Last but not the least, I also bought a shower curtain for our bathroom because our previous pink one from Daiso was in dire need of replacing.
This one is less girly and has summery colours. It was $9. For an inexpensive shower curtain, I was surprised that it is a thick plastic material. I’ve bought a different one months ago that costed more but was quite thin. This feels much better quality.
I hope you liked today’s post which is slightly different to the usual fashion and beauty. I’ve been meaning to talk about home decor more on the blog but I had too many other things to share. I have previously posted about home decor too which is about the wall art DIY in my beauty room. If you want to see more home decor posts or DIYs, please let me know as I’d love to share more homeware hauls and hacks.
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A Style Collector 
I never even thought about replacing our shower curtain. It really brightens up the space. We’ve been living in our old rental for 6+ years. I think I could treat myself to a $9 shower curtain!
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I started just buying new ones because I got lazy cleaning our old shower curtain. For $9, it’s not bad. My previous one was even cheaper because it was from Daiso but I couldn’t find it any more.
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I just unclip ours and throw it in the washing machine. Then hang it back up to dry on it’s own. Pretty easy…probably due for another though.
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I’m a massive Kmart fan all around but I think it’s so clever how you thought to paint the vases to suit your home better, I don’t think I’d ever put the effort in!
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Thank you! I love DIY and I would’ve done a lot more for our home decor if I have more time. This is the first beside the DIY prints/frames in my room and it actually didn’t take a while! It was more on waiting for the paint to dry.
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I absolutely LOVE the test tube vases! They are too cute and totally need to get this in my life ASAP. Reading other people’s blogs is so NOT good for my bank balance, but everyone has such beautiful stuff to share! 😛 lol Great post – and yes, I am going to go hunt this down in Kmart – hope they have it in stock at my local.
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I hope you find it in your local Kmart store! It was sold out for months as I first saw it at the start of the year but only managed to get it last month. At least Kmart is fairly inexpensive though! Thank you! 🙂
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I love the flowers in the test tubes! It looks so lovely 🙂
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Thanks! btw, I wanted to comment on your blog post but it’s hard because my google+ account is for my personal and not for blogging. I wish I could comment easier!
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I really like the black test tube frame, I think it’s much nicer than the wood. Such a pretty way to display flowers 🙂
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Yeah I didn’t really like the original wood finish but I can’t complain since the test tube vase was only $8. Painting it didn’t cost me anything either so yay.
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I love seeing this! My decor is such a mishmash, my style and mum’s (we inherited basically everything from her when she moved to Australia) so I don’t have much in the way of planned style and decor.
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I’m glad you loved it! Thank you!
At least you got your Mum’s stuff though. We had to start fresh and the only thing we didn’t have to buy is the bed and my desk and shelves. The rest we had to buy. It’s almost been a year and I don’t think I’m finished decorating yet. It takes time and effort!
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