Thrift Store Decor

My Twitter friend Maria asked if anyone had pictures of thrift store décor finds that they’d like to share. Since virtually everything in our house came from Goodwill, I went around and snapped a few pictures. Then I thought they’d make a good blog post too, so here you go… our thrift store décor!

I like mirrors. I think they make a room look pretty and bright, and with nice frames, they add interesting touches to walls. All of the mirrors we have came from thrift stores, so I took a few pictures of the ones on our main level. We have a couple more good ones in our almost-finished basement, but I’ll save those for another day.

This mirror is from Crate & Barrel, and I got it several years ago at a thrift store, for ten bucks:

That clock that you see reflected in it was another thrift store find, for six dollars. It’s huge and we love it.

In our hallway, we have a little round mirror that I really like. Mainly because the frame is so great. It’s made of several pieces of wood that fit together perfectly to make a nice circle. I got this one years ago, at a thrift store in the town where we used to live.

And last but not least, we have this rustic-style mirror in our bedroom, hanging over our dresser. The hooks are perfect for long necklaces, and I like the look of the whole thing. It still had it’s original World Market price tag ($49) on the back, but I got it at Goodwill for $7.

Did any of your décor start out at a thrift store or garage sale?

EDIT: My parents sent me a couple pictures of their thrift store decor. Like us, nearly everything in their house is secondhand (they taught me well!). This china hutch was two dollars (and all of the Pfaltzgraff china inside came from thrift stores too):

And remember, when it comes to furniture, as long as the piece you buy is solid and well-made, sanding and varnish or paint can do wonders to transform a piece, even if it’s old and a bit beat up. Like this coffee table that we rescued from a thrift store a few years ago. Check out Better After if you’re looking for inspiration. Awesome furniture is all around you in thrift stores, you just have to see its potential!

My parents also made this mantle to go over their fireplace, using a thrift store mantle and scraps of lumber:

If you have a blog and you’ve posted pictures of your own thrift store finds, please leave a comment so that we can all see!

Last updated by Frugal Babe at December 28, 2012.

http://twitter.com/SparingChange Meg

I think it is funny how we remember how much we paid for things when we get them from the thrift store, garage sale or flea markets. Most of our house is decorated in garage sale finds. Some of my husband’s favorite pictures in our bedroom are his metalic world map etchings. When we saw a pair of them at a garage sale, I was thinking the woman would be asking $20 each. She was asking $3 for BOTH pictures. I am pretty confident about most of the prices we’ve paid for many of the things around our home, and it is because I am still amazed at the great deals we got. We have this GORGEOUS curio (spelling?) cabinet. A gentleman was getting divorced and wanted to unload everything he could as soon as possible. This $5,000+ piece of furniture was ours for $100. It is a conversation piece for everyone who comes to our home as they compliment how beautiful it is.
But to answer you question, I would say that 75% of our decor is from garage sales, flea markets or the thrift store.
http://www.economiesofkale.net/ Economies of Kale

Most of our house is furnished with op shop (thrift store) finds and hand-me-downs, but they’re not quite as pretty as yours! Although we do have some nice pictures in frames that came from the op shop.

My desk is solid wood, but is varnished in an almost orange colour and now has scratched on it from when we moved house. I’d love to sand it back and then either paint it or varnish it a nicer colour, but would you need an electric sander to do that? I imagine it would take a long time by hand
frugalbabe

I think you’d only need an electric sander if you’re wanting to remove all of the current finish and get it back to bare wood in order to stain and varnish it. If you want to paint it, you’d just need to sand it lightly to get rid of any flaking bits and roughen up the surface enough for it to take a coat of primer. Once you cover it with primer (Kilz2 does a good job), you’ll be able to paint it whatever color you want and the orange stain won’t show through. We’re currently in the middle of painting a set of French doors white. They used to be stained a dark brown color, and we didn’t sand at all – just cleaned them well and primed all the wood. Have fun with your desk!

Thrift Store Decor

Great eBooks:

Recent Posts

Blogroll