How to Give Old Trophies a Makeover

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If your house is anything like *my* house then you might just have a few 5th place old trophies lying around… I wanted to make these old trophies look cute!

A vibrant blue fireplace with a checkered tile interior is surrounded by abstract wallpaper. The mantel features colorful decorative objects and a piece of abstract art. Magazines are neatly stacked on the floor.

Story Time: I LOVE trophies. It’s probably the 1970s oldest child in me because in my day and age they were not handed out readily. I think we got one for soccer but otherwise, you had to actually do or win something to get one. UNTIL…. I was in junior high school at my grandparent’s house for the summer and it came time for the club tennis tournament. (And yes… it was as waspy and cringey as you’re imagining- tennis white, clay courts, the occasional bucket hat… it was also my entire world that summer!) For this particular tennis tournament they had age divisions and various events which meant young Charlotte could sign up to play singles, doubles *and* mixed doubles in her age group as well as the age group above. I don’t recall there being dozens of kids at this particular club, which ultimately meant that, when the dust settled, I had managed to either win or land as runner up in about 7 different events, and THIS meant- you guessed it- SEVEN TROPHIES. Huzzah. World trophy domination.

A young child with blonde hair smiles at the camera. They are wearing a plaid shirt and a white sweater draped over their shoulders. The background is a neutral gray tone.

All this to say… I love a trophy and every time I see one in the wild, I want to buy it and do something with it. I wasn’t sure what I could do… until now. See how I gave these thrift store trophies a colorful glow up which of course means I’m on the hunt for more!

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Three golden trophies are displayed on a wooden table. One features a horse rider, another a horse, and the third a golfer. They have black and blue bases with engraved plaques. Bright windows in the background suggest a well-lit room.

Step 1: _{Take apart} the trophy

Granted all trophies are probably a little different, but… the three I had were all very easily dismantled. All three had a hex nuts underneath the base (one required me to cut apart the felt pad glue underneath). I held the nut in place with my finger and was able to unscrew the figure on the top of the trophy to disconnect everything from the central threaded rod.

A person holds a black rectangular object with three screw holes and a circular hole in the center. The background shows a wooden floor and a colorful striped rug.

A hand holding a vintage trophy with a gold horse and rider on top. The trophy features blue and gold columns and a wooden base with the year "1986" displayed.

Pro tip… take a picture of how the trophy looks before you take it apart AND keep all the little pieces organized in a ziplock bag.

A Ziplock bag containing a brass saxophone neck, a couple of pieces of wood with holes drilled into them, a long metal rod connected to a lock washer and nut and mounted in the bag. They sit on a white surface.

Step 2. _Wrap the central post

Grab whatever yarn you want to use and secure the end of one strand with a bead of hot glue onto the end of the trophy pedestal. I glued my yarn in place in a few places around the pedestal as I carefully wrapped it around paying attention to keep the yarn neat and straight. I wrapped the thick yarn around the pedestal once, but for the skinner yarns, I went back over with a second layer just to fully cover the pedestal.

A hand holding an artistic brass and steel object with a Damascus pattern. Green yarn is partially wrapped around the top. The background is a white surface.

Step 3. _Paint the other parts of the trophy

I spray painted all the other parts of each trophy with two exceptions: the marble blocks on the golf trophy. I could have painted these too, but the marble was pretty and I didn’t mind the texture/ color.

A small horse figurine, painted turquoise, stands on a multicolored spray-painted surface in a workshop. Shelves and tools are visible in the blurred background.

Spray-painted cardboard with a pink wall plate, green drawer knob, and yellow disc spread across. Bright, scattered colors on a textured surface in a workshop setting.

Step 4. _Reassamble the Trophy

Reassembling each trophy was pretty easy… I had to look back at the before photos for one of them, but it was just a matter of threading the central bar back through all the trophy parts.