This sweet and thrifty vintage inspired nursery is decorated almost entirely with thrifted decor! I want to show you how quick and inexpensive it can be to give a nursery a mini makeover using only decor – no projects! Follow my tips on how to create a vintage inspired nursery with only thrifted decor.
Before
Before I started decorating this space it was kind of the afterthought room, filled with odds and ends furniture. I had nothing hanging on the wall. The room was fairly uninteresting and definitely did not have much charm.
To start, I gathered all of the thrift store finds I had bought with this room in mind, and began!
Getting Started With a Thrifty Vintage Inspired Nursery
I love being able to play off of the child’s interests if I can! I like to do this while keeping it neutral and not overwhelmingly tied to one theme.
We have bunnies that live in our backyard, and when my toddler sees them it’s the highlight of his day! I have always loved the vintage feel of Beatrix Potter, and with it being popular still today, I knew it would be very possible to find these items second hand.
I like to build off of one piece, so I was thrilled when I came across this framed vintage inspired Beatrix Potter art on Facebook Marketplace. It’s oblong shape made it the perfect piece to go over the crib! So, for $10 I had my starting piece and I built from there.
Building the Color Pallet
To build the color pallet in my thrifty vintage inspired nursery, the muted red tones are what spoke to me the most in this sweet little Beatrix Potter print. They feel warm, cozy, and inviting.
I also knew this vintage dresser would be staying in here. It has always screamed nursery to me! The muted red from the Beatrix Potter art with the tone of this wood are beautiful together.
I think I am drawn to warmer tones in the decor, because the walls in this room are painted a cool gray. There is also the white crib which is cool tone, too. The room needed warmth.
Keeping muted reds and warm tones in mind, I was beyond thrilled to find this very unique area rug on Facebook Marketplace. I also scored this for $10!
The rug sits in front of the crib and I love the cozy, old world feel it gives to the room! Such a small, inexpensive piece but I feel like it has such a huge impact and sets the tone for the entire room.
Bringing in Vintage Elements
One of my very favorite additions to this room is this hobnail milk glass lamp! I was beyond thrilled to find this at one of my favorite small town thrift shops for only $6! And to my surprise, it still works!
Again, I love the character this piece adds. To me, vintage items have so much depth. They have somehow withstood the test of time and remained classic.
You may know by now how much I love white decor pieces! They are so classic and seem absolutely timeless. I challenge you to find a white decor piece that couldn’t be incorporated into a modern home or a vintage home and still look fresh! White also gives the eye a place to rest and offers a very clean look.
Moving on to to other vintage pieces, this handmade cross stitch made me giddy when I found it at an estate sale! It’s so unique and a little whimsical, making it perfect for a vintage inspired nursery. The colors also played off of my Beatrix Potter art so well. I love them together!
Clean and Simple Gallery Wall
A gallery wall is a beautiful and inexpensive way to make a big impact in a thrifty vintage inspired nursery! Thankfully I was given two beautiful plates, so I had a great place to start!
At Christmas time, my sweet sister in law gave me these two beautiful, white ironstone plates with pops of blue and green around the rim. I knew immediately that I wanted use them in the nursery!
I love their unique shape, the subtle color they provide, and of course, their vintage vibe. That sparked the idea for a plate wall in here above the dresser! So I began collecting white plates of various shapes and sizes to create a dynamic yet clean gallery wall.
I also really wanted to incorporate this white shelf that we have had for years . The dimension it gives to the space is exactly what I wanted. And the ability to add little touches on the shelf to tie in my color palette is perfect!
I added in this photo of my parents and I at my Aunt and Uncle’s historic 1800’s traditional wedding. This photo is so special to me, and this little shelf was the perfect place to display it!
How Do You Create a Gallery Wall?
- Choose a variety of items such as art, framed photos, plates, signs, small shelves, architectural pieces, baskets, or anything you can see looking beautiful on the wall. Think outside the box!
- Lay all items for the gallery wall on the ground and arrange.
- Adjust the layout until it feels balanced.
- First, hang the piece that you are most certain about where you want it displayed.
- Continue building the gallery, taking pieces straight from the floor to the wall, one at a time, until your wall is complete.
Using Downloadable Art
Downloadable art is my new favorite thing! It’s so inexpensive and an easy way to add vintage charm to a space. I make it a habit of mine to pick up thrifted vintage frames, and the downloadable prints can be printed to custom fit those often irregularly sized vintage frames.
This sweet downloadable bunny print was a fun find at Heirloom Print Shop. They were having a sale at the time, so I think it cost me less than $12 to buy three different prints. After purchasing, I downloaded the print to my computer and it’s now mine. I can print out as many copies in as many sizes as I like! You may have noticed that a smaller version of this bunny print made it into my spring cottage refresh.
Bringing in an Antique Rocker
This antique rocker was a Facebook Marketplace find for $15 dollars! I was immediately drawn the needle point seat cushion. At first glance I was drawn to this chair because someone took so many hours to create this beautiful work of art in the needle point cushion. Additionally, I was drawn to the muted blue and red tones in the cushion. They are perfect with my color palette in the room! They tie in quite well with my blue and green trimmed plates on the wall as well as the muted red tones in the art and the rug.
Using Unexpected Items as Decor
I don’t know about you, but I love baby clothes! Tiny versions of what we wear as adults is just the cutest!
I was really excited to have this sweater on display in the room! It was hand knit by my grandmother and it adds great texture to this wall that’s filled with a lot of flat, white pieces. Moreover, the warmth of this piece being handmade by someone I love is the very feel I want in this room. If you can somehow capture love and put it on display in a room, I think it would be through handmade items created with care. Who doesn’t want to fill your baby’s nursery with love?
Maybe you don’t have any handmade items of clothing, but a sweet little outfit that is significant in someway can fill the same purpose. Perhaps the little sleeper your baby was wearing when you came home form the hospital. It could be an item that used to belong to a relative or even you as a child.
For an aesthetically pleasing hanger, I snagged these beautiful wood hangers. Random tip, they are also available in adult sizes as well and I highly recommend them for slouchy tops that are constantly falling off of plastic hangers.
Wood Toys
Aesthetically pleasing wood toys are perfect in a vintage inspired nursery!
The wood tones add beautiful warmth to the space. The toys also create a feeling of life in the room because, clearly, a child lives here.
Wooden toys are also pretty easy to find at thrift stores or garage sales if you keep your eye out. Another great place to look would be etsy and even instagram. So many of my friends on instagram sell sweet wooden toys and vintage items on their accounts. I’ll list a few below so you can go check them out!
@thrifting.with.emily – she always has a good selection of vintage wooden toys and is currently having a buy one, get one 50% off sale!
@refoundgoods – in addition to beautiful wooden toys, she has many vintage kitchen items that I find myself just drooling over.
Some vintage inspired stuffed animals also add a warm and whimsical touch! This little Corduroy bear is so sweet!
Baskets for Storage
I absolutely love baskets! I love their texture and I love their variety of shapes. And I definitely love how easy they are to score at thrift shops, garage sales, and Facebook Marketplace.
Please don’t ever pay full price for a basket unless you are truly in love or perhaps need a bunch of matching baskets! They are absolutely abundant second hand, and often for just a couple of dollars.
They are perfect for storing stuffies, or to keep a collection of bedtimes stories by the rocking chair. And of course, they add that beautiful old world texture I am always looking for.
Vintage Books
I’m always using vintage books! I can hardly help myself!
They are beautiful, often in muted tones, and just like the baskets, abundant second hand at very inexpensive prices. I’ve acquired vintage books for as little as a dime or even free!
They are wonderful for creating levels and adding color to a space!
These books are a mix of children’s books and literature for adults, but I would love to one day have this shelf filled with vintage versions of classic children’s books.
Toddler Crib Tent Tip
Obviously, I took this off for most of the photos because the aesthetic is not exactly vintage, but I had to include this miraculous device!
This is a crib tent. If you have ever had a toddler crawl out of their crib but you are not ready for them to be in toddler bed, this tent may solve your problems. We discovered it with our third child and we are never looking back.
It’s like a pop up tent and it is secured under the mattress and then ties to the sides of the crib. There is an opening that zips closed to get the toddler in and out. The entire tent is mesh and made for safety and breathability.
This crib tent been a very helpful tool in managing a house full of children. I couldn’t not share since it may save someone’s sanity!
Future Plans For My Thrifty Vintage Inspired Nursery
I would love to one day add some detailing to the walls in here like beadboard or board and batten. I think it would be lovely to paint all the trim white and maybe even add some vintage rosettes around the door frame. There is a tutorial by Sarah from She Holds Dearly, in which she gives standard bi fold closet doors a vintage shaker look! It’s a truly amazing transformation and I’ve always wanted to try it!
I also want to paint this bookcase (which we picked up for free on Facebook Marketplace) white or possibly gray. I like the color, but I think I want more contrast between the bookcase and the quilts. My Grandmother handmade a quilt for each baby, and those are the pieces that a I want foremost on display there. I think they would really pop against the white.
Real Time Progress
In the meantime, I wanted to share the real time progress with you. We have a lot of kids, we homeschool them, and my husband is starting a business. We don’t have a lot of time or financial resources for house projects.
Looking at photos on instgram or blogs makes it easy to compare. They also make it so easy to forget that there is a process. Often many long months or years of a process.
One thing I hope to do by sharing decor tips with you all, is to encourage you to make the most of what you have, right now. You may not have the time or budget right now to DIY an accent wall, as is the case for us. But you can always decorate!
I believe the more intention we put into our decorating and the more skill we develop in that area, we can have the look we want without knocking down walls or doing a kitchen renovation.
We all have to start someplace and I believe we can start with decor and create our desired vibe in our homes just as it is, right now.
Because no matter if it’s a 90s prefab or a historical beauty, our house is our home.
Inside the home is where the tone is set, comfort is fostered, and our people live and feel cared for. You don’t need to improve every inch of your space to create that kind of environment.
Life is lived here.
Memories are made.
Snuggles are given.
Imagination is explored.
This is what our family will remember.
Yes, make your home beautiful, but make your home yours dear friend. No need, truly, to worry about what everyone else is doing.
I hope my thrifty vintage inspired nursery sparked some creative juices to go out and decorate your own space! And I hope you feel encouraged that it can all be done with decor, and thrifted decor at that!
Have a beautiful day friends!
Love,
Emma
PIN FOR LATER
@lovinggracehome
