I’m sharing with you my best tips for decorating with thrifted decor steals! These tips will help you create a curated, pulled together feel in your home, and all with thrifted finds!
Welcome To Part 3 of Decorating With Thrifted Decor Steals!
This is my final installment of this series! It has been such a joy to share my tips with you all. I sincerely hope these tips have been helpful in your thrifting journey!
Be sure to check out part one and two of Decorating with Thrifted Decor Steals!
A Little Backstory On My Passion For Thrifting
Decorating with thrifted decor steals has become somewhat of a hobby for me. I absolutely love it! It’s like fitting a puzzle together and when you find just the right piece, it’s so satisfying!
Decorating my home with thrifted finds was born out of necessity. I have always been a thrifter, but mostly for clothing. We recently went through a season of little to no income. During that time, we moved into our current home. I had a vision for the feel of this home and our previous apartment decor was not going to work. God opened up so many doors to give us this home, and I was determined to make it ours in every sense of the word.
I began selling what I didn’t love in order to have the funds to thrift items that I did love. I was making over side of the road finds and hand -me-downs so they would fit into my vision. Building the aesthetic in this home has been so much more than decorating. After years of moving around, we had finally landed where we wanted to stay and I was creating and building a home.
During that time I started my instagram account and eventually this blog. The whole journey of sharing this home becoming ours has been so special to me.
A Home Is Always Being Made
I talk about making our home as if it’s in the past, but a home is ever evolving. A home is always being made.
Every dinner made with love.
Every bouquet of found flowers.
Every frame full of meaning that is hung.
Every touch that adds beauty and charm.
Every cuddle.
All the laughter.
We are creating a home.
Making this home has indeed been a labor of love. It has been a challenge to create a cohesive feel with 90% thrift store finds, but when you have no other option, it forces you to get creative.
As I began identifying the different guidelines I was following without even really realizing it, I decided teaching others how to decorate with thrifted finds had to be a blog post!
As it turns out I had much to say! I broke the post up into three bite size posts (see part one and part two) and these are my final three tips for you here!
Tip One | Refinish your Thrifted Decor Steals
When you decorate with thrifted decor steals and the space is just not working, consider giving the item a new finish. I have a few ideas below of different ways you can give thrift store finds a mini makeover.
Painting and Sanding
This could be as simple as painting a frame. This frame below used to be a heavy dark brown, and now it looks fresh and light with the frame painted white!
Replacing a frame makes a big difference as well! I found the art piece below with a dark heavy frame. I switched it out for this cream colored vintage frame I bought empty at an estate sale, and it just happened to be the perfect fit! The entire piece now feels lighter overall and that fits the feel of my home much better.
Try spray painting literally anything! This crock was once dark brown, but I spray painted it white and now it’s bright and modern feeling while maintaining some rustic charm.
Brighten the mat of a vintage picture frame by spray painting it white. When I purchased this frame at an estate sale the mat was light blue with a unicorn print inside! 😂
Sand off an unwanted finish on a wood piece to get more of a fresh, raw wood look.
Transform a thrift store lamp into a trendy upscale lamp with a little paint using a tutorial like this!
Paint an entire piece of furniture like I did to this cabinet below, and give it fresh new life with a tutorial like this!
Slipcover Your Furniture
Also consider slipcovering your furniture. We have never bought brand new living room furniture, and even the cheapest couches at Ikea were not in the budget when we moved in to our little home.
My solution was to find Ikea couches on Facebook Marketplace that I knew could be slipcovered to match. When we bought them on Marketplace (months apart by the way. Patients is a virtue! 😉), one was the color I currently have and the other was light blue.
All we had to do was buy the matching slipcover from Ikea and it saved me hundreds! I learned later that people also make custom slipcovers for Ikea furniture on Etsy in really cool on trend textures like velvet and linen. That would be a such fun option as well!
Try Rubb n’ Buff For a Metallic Finish
If you follow me on Instagram you’ve probably heard me mention Rubb n’ Buff. I’m obsessed with it!
Rubb n’ Buff is a really concentrated paint product that gives a metallic finish to your piece. The coverage is amazing! It comes in a tiny tube, but a little bit goes an incredibly long way.
I love the look of muted gold, so I use the color European Gold to create a curated look among my thrifted metal, brass, or even wooden items.
A coat of Rubb n’ Buff was used on this wall sconce. It used to be a shiny yellow brass, but now it has a beautiful vintage gold tone.
Create a cohesive look among thrifted candlesticks by giving them all a coat of Rubb n’ Buff.
I love using Rubb n’ Buff on vintage frames as well!
This cutie pie vintage mirror was transformed from yellow brass to vintage gold with a coat of Rubb n’ Buff.
On this one, I even used the Rubb n’ Buff to cover up some cheesy little crystal “diamonds” in the corner of the frame.
It takes some patience, but if something has good bones, it can almost always be changed cosmetically. It’s incredible what paint can do! Don’t judge an item by it’s color. 😉
Tip 2 | Use Your Levels When Decorating with Thrifted Decor Steals
When creating a vingette or display with your thrift store finds, you want to create different heights to keep the eye moving.
You want a balance of taller items and shorter items to create varying levels. One of my favorite ways to create levels is with thrifted books. I’m always keeping my eye out for pretty books at the thrift store in my color palette. (See part one for guidance in choosing a color palette for your home.)
Stack the books, starting with the larger books on the bottom to lift an item to create different levels.
Top a small stack with leaning mirror or frame.
Or use the books themselves as the display. Mix the way they are displayed, standing up or lying down, to keep the eye moving wondering what will come next.
You can also turn the books so their pages face out. This gives you a neutral palette with just a tiny pop of color in their binding.
Or mix it up like in the photo below!
I also use these wood slices a lot to get height in my decorating and they add great texture as well!
My Uncle made these for my Grandma’s 80th birthday party, but they would be so easy to DIY! Now there’s a decor item that could be straight up FREE!
Tip 3 | Create Collections For Big Impact When Decorating With Thrifted Decor Steals
When like items are grouped together it creates such a “pulled together” impact. It looks curated and intentional, yet cozy and settled.
Find something you love and collect it! Be sure it is something that sparks joy in you. It is the most fun to be out thrifting and score an item to add to your collection. The hard thing is stopping when you have enough!
Occasionally though, I find an item for my collection that I love more than an item that I currently have in my collection, and I just do a little swap!
If you are wanting to create a collection on a budget think of items that are easily mixed and matched such as white dishes, glass pitchers or vases, white linens, brass candlesticks or baskets. Stick to the classics to create a timeless collection that will never go out of style.
A prime example of a collection in my home would my white pitchers and white dishes.
Someday I would love it they were all antique ironstone, but for now it’s about half and half. A trained eye may notice the pieces that are not real, but having real ironstone pieces mixed in with other white pieces can deceive the viewer and the collection looks grand and authentic.
In reality, nearly all of these pieces came from thrift stores and garage sales, and some have even been found on the side of the road!
The plates that hang on my wall came from my parent’s garage, if you can believe it!
If you’re looking to create more impact in your decor, try building a collection. You may even want to take a look around your home and see if you already have a collection started that you didn’t realize was there! We are creatures of habit you know, and often drawn to the items that have a similar feel.
Seeing The Beauty in Things
I think overall, if you see the beauty in an item you will able to make it look beautiful in your home. Look beyond the fact that it’s sitting on a thrift store shelf and ask yourself if you’re drawn to it. Often pieces just speak us. Does it spark joy in you? Does it remind you of a happy memory? That’s what will give a piece a lasting place in your heart and home.
When you start paying attention to what you are feeling about an item, you will only be bringing home pieces that you love.
It is a very satisfying feeling to look around your home and only see items that truly bring you joy! And for me, it is just the cherry on top if that item was a thrift store find that I scored for just a couple dollars.
I hope you feel so equipped now to decorate with your thrifted decor steals!
If you have not yet read my other posts in this series, be sure to check them out for more thrift decor tips!
Have you started decorating with thrift store finds yet? I’d love to hear about it in the comments! And if you have any thrifting questions, do ask and I will do my best to answer.
Best wishes in your thrifting adventures friends!
Here’s to making our homes a beautiful haven!
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@lovinggracehome
