I never realized just how much of my home decor was thrifted until I decided to start brainstorming areas of our apartment to photograph for this blog post! As a newlywed with no job (want to hire me??), thrifting has become such a joyful hobby for me–the activity of taking a day to shop around the thrift, vintage, and antique stores in Spokane–there is actually 1 million of them here I don’t know why but I am living for it. But also the time and creativity that goes into rearranging pieces in different areas of our home and finding the thrifted pieces a new spot in our place is so much fun and feels a bit more rewarding than buying something brand new.
I get a couple of questions here and there when I post my ‘thrift hauls’ to Instagram about how and where to thrift, which are really general and require pretty vague answers. The how can seem really daunting at first if you’ve never tried thrifting before, but really you’ve just got to dive right in. I’m still not a pro at thrifting retail, but I’d like to think thrifting and styling home decor is a secret talent of mine.
Always check the home section, and always check my two favorite “areas” of a home section that are usually there in some form or another: the rattan / basket / woven materials section, and the ‘wood’ section. I’ve found some of my best home decor items sifting through the woven baskets and wooden items that always seem to have their place in a thrift store.
As for where, it’s a little difficult to answer that as well, because every town generally has different thrift stores unless they’re chain thrift stores such as Deseret Industries, Value Village, Goodwill, etc. I do love my fair share of scouting out home decor in each of those places, but my favorite and best finds have usually always come from local, less curated thrift shops. I’m not going to say where I thrifted each piece I feature in this blog post, because that would be a little pointless, but my hope is that the general idea of the piece might give you some inspiration on what kind of similar pieces you may want to add to your home!
That’s what’s so great about thrifting! You get to pick and choose whatever you want and style them however you want because they’re one-of-a-kind!
Basket wall
You better believe this popular basket wall trend was splashed across my Pinterest boards for weeks before I even set foot into a thrift shop. This is such a cute, trendy way to fill a blank wall in your home! I love that it adds warmth to the wall as well. I’m really into orangey-auburn tones right now and this basket wall totally pulls my living room/ dining area together.
Funny story-this basket wall idea that was all over social media and Pinterest was actually what set my love for thrifting home decor in motion. I visited several different thrift stores before I felt like I had enough to start hanging them, but in the mean time I found some other great pieces to put in our apartment as well, and it was like once I started I couldn’t really stop! Now thrifting for home decor is almost a weekly occurrence for me!
As far as placement, I sort of had a shape I wanted in mind, stuck the largest one a little off-centered in the ‘middle’, and went with the color scheme and shape I wanted while I winged it, and I actually loved the way it turned out! Which is good, because I used thumb tacks and I didn’t really want to–nor probably couldn’t–put any more holes in the wall than I already had for this project. If thumb tacks don’t work for your apartment or your baskets, I know you could very strategically place sticky putty or sticky tabs on two to three areas on the back of the basket to hold them in place on the wall.
Table-top decor
I technically found the wheat stalks outside, does that count? Just kidding, the rattan coaster set sitting there is my thrifted pride and joy. $4 and that set became an integral part of this table top’s decor.
Table top decor follows one rule for me: less is more. I wanted to combine a modern white look with a bohemian one (who doesn’t these days? #basic), and I love the way the white pottery I thrifted in London compliments the rattan coaster set. I also just can’t help but admire the way the leafy plant is peaking through in this photo!
There are so many things to style your table tops at thrift stores like Value Village and Goodwill. You just have to keep in mind the aesthetic you’re going for, and it’s pretty smooth sailing from there. I’m drawn to anything white, or on the contrary, warm and earthy, like a pretty clay vase or even a cool looking lamp base that you could affix a modern shade to.
Vintage spoon wall
You will definitely not find me eating off of any of these spoons, as most of them have seen better days. I had to throw away a couple of them that had food stuck on them for who knows how many years. Gag.
But, they make for great wall decor! A friend of mine did this in her home a while ago, and I loved it! This also adds warmth to the white walls like in a way that just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
i LOVED the uniqueness of all of these spoons, and a lot of them actually looked used and old, which is what I was going for. I stuck these to the wall with cut pieces of the command strips and had to strategically place the strips to where they would rest between the spoon and the wall.
Who knew spoons were so photogenic? These guys are placed right above my stove, which I love because it adds a vintage look to the already 1970’s vibe that we’ve got going on in our kitchen.
Cutting board decor
This is another trend I’ve seen a LOT of on Pinterest, and I have to say…I’m here for it.
Most of what I’ve seen of the “cutting board trend” has been this circular shape, but on display on cute floating shelves in the kitchen. Basically I just put mine here to hide a really unappealing electrical outlet, but I mean this countertop cutting board is also a cool variation of the trend. I love the contrast it brings to the kitchen!
Framed art
I had been on the hunt for botanical prints for some time and I’ll let you in on a cool little secret: these are pages of an old book that had been torn out to be sold at a vintage shop, and if you look closely you can probably tell because the dimensions of these pages didn’t fit any frame.
Tyler saw these the day I hung them up and then looked at my Monsterra plant right next to them and looked back and forth again and said, “So….we need a bunch of plants in the house…but we also need pictures of plants?” HAHA yes. Yes we do cute husband.
My biggest thrift takeaway and advice from this experience was to go thrifting with the potential of an item in mind. Lots of things can be up-cycled, refurbished, or simply modified to not look quite so “old” in your home. Plenty of my thrifted items have turned out to serve a different purpose than my intended plans were for them.
Jewelry display
Speaking of serving a different purpose, I originally bought these pretty white marble coasters in a set of four because they were really cheap and so gorgeous, but I already had a set of coasters and what newly married couple needs two sets of coasters. Nobody that’s who.
I was keeping my jewelry on a marble Walmart jar lid, which was pretty, but these are so so gorgeous! I love the messy, lived-in look of just throwing your earrings onto a pretty plate and these marble coasters are perfect for that.
Bookshelf and bookshelf decor
This rattan bookshelf is hands down my favorite thrift find ever. I had been searching for one on the internet, which was looking like anything size-worthy of what I wanted was going to be over $250, but I found this one for $40 at a vintage shop! I’ve seen plenty around since then at a couple other thrift stores as well! So I don’t think they’re terribly hard to find.
Whenever I would look for bookshelf inspo online, a lot of what I read was “Styling a bookshelf can be so hard!” and I would always think, “What in the world could be so hard about it?” but I came to realize that while it’s not “so hard”, it can be a bit challenging.
Really, less is more, especially on tinier shelves like this. I styled this bookshelf probably four totally different times and still didn’t like it. The most I removed from the shelves, the more I started to see my style emerging. My favorite thing about it is some of the ceramic pieces I thrifted as well as some killer finds in the book section of a consignment shop. The Ancient Egypt book was such a good find for me, especially since the spine is so pretty and neutral.
One word of advice for styling bookshelves: plants!
A home for your plants
When in doubt, put a plant in it. That’s what I say, anyway.
Really I tend to gravitate towards plant holders the most at thrift shops. Everything has such good potential to house my next green pal in my eyes, which is sort of a problem because now I have a section of my storage room dedicated to plant holders that don’t have plants yet and the ratio of plants-to-pots is sadly disproportioned.
I’ve bought so many plant pots without realizing that they were going to be plant pots, like the vase with the Pilea in it in the first photo, for example.
Plants bring so much life to our apartment, and I love switching up the look of the pots to see which one goes best in my bookshelves, on my kitchen counter, in the corner, etc.
Moral of the story: don’t say no to something unless you absolutely cannot put a plant in it.
Centerpiece arrangement
This one is pretty self-explanatory, but I’ve been loving seeing what holiday decor I can add to my home with understated, thrifted pieces. This eucalyptus arrangement looks so pretty at the center of or table with the fall decor, and it was only $2!
I think when I’m done using it as a centerpiece, I’ll use it to make some sort of wreath! There are soo many things you can find at thrift stores that would be beautiful centerpieces, from big, dramatic pottery pieces, to little $2 eucalyptus leaves and table runners.
Cute storage alternatives
I’m kind of, ahem..anal when it comes to organization. A lot of our storage is really exposed in our apartment, so I really wanted it to be cute and not look super cluttered.
I love the little basket I found for my hair scarves! It’s the best way to store all of the fabric that used to get wrinkled folded in a drawer.
I use baskets for anything and everything, and it makes storage look so much more effortless and cute! I thrifted the cute basket on top of our bathroom vanity, and keep all of my nail polish in it. Not pictured, but I have another basket for scrunchies, and another one for feminine products!
I love mixing the look between sleek acrylic and glass storage holders like the one I keep my barrettes, bobby pins, q-tips and cotton balls in, pictured here, and the more natural looking basket storage alternatives.
Random Basket Decor
I mean, if you got anything from my blog post, it should probably be that I really love baskets.
Baskets truly are my favorite thing to thrift for, because of their endless possibilities –plant holders, holiday decor, catch-all baskets, storage containers, table-top decor, and the list goes on.
I hope you were able to draw some sort of inspiration from what has inspired me throughout our little home! Warm tones, pretty rattan furniture and baskets, wooden accents, and some greenery is really such a fail-proof aesthetic for any home in my opinion!
I would love to answer any thrifting questions or give tips and tricks when I can about how else to thrift for home decor! Leave a comment below if I missed one of your favorite ways to style thrifted home decor!
Happy thrifting!
