Stylish Decorating With Thrift Store Finds
By Victoria Larsen

Finding really great, quality items at thrift or consignment stores, yard sales or swap meets takes time. But it s well worth the foot work you will do to score great items that would cost you a fortune otherwise and can take your home beyond the “basics”, turning it in to something really fabulous! The trick to great finds is to go often.

Frequent your favorites at least every two weeks (giving them time to get more merchandise in stock). The early bird really does catch the worm in this case because unique or quality items are snatched up quickly. When I am in search of a particular item, I tend to go every week on Mondays. This is typically the day when new merchandise is set out after the weekend rush.

What you are looking for are items in your decorating style that have quality construction (even if you need to turn a screw, replace a hinge or do a bit of paint or repair). Decide what your room needs, make a list that you keep with you when perusing these wonderful treasure shops to keep you from purchasing things you really don t need.

Fully examine the item then ask yourself what you will have to do to get it in shape. Recover it? Paint it? Fix it? And are you willing to do it.Remember that these types of outlets are fabulous for finding accessories as well!

I used to see beautiful chaise lounge chairs in romantic old movies and found them to be so sophisticated and classy. I always dreamed of having one. But check out the prices of a new one! But one day, while roaming the aisles of our local swap meet, a woman was selling a rather shabby looking model for a mere $35.00. I grabbed it without even a thought of dickering the price.
Ones similar to it retail at over $700.00 Knowing I could re-cover it, I hauled it home with great pride!

Check out do it yourself home decorating websites for step by step instructions on how to recover furniture. It s really quite easy.

A very stylish occasional table cost me only $20.00 at an out of the way antique store. With high gloss black paint and a stenciled design in gold, the table now graces a guest bedroom and commands raves from visiting overnight guests.

Perfectly “Traditional” in styling and in great shape, I ran across a marble base table lamp with Victorian iron scroll work and all I had to do was to redo the gold finish on the metal with a antiquing kit from the paint store. $10.00 is all I paid for it. A $12.00 replacement shade completed this now treasured piece.

I nearly threw myself through the windshield when I slammed on the brakes in front of a yard sale that featured an exquisite, hand carved occasional chair. $40.00 later (they wanted much more!), I was laying it gently in the back seat and screaming home to place it in my living room.

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This chair looks so expensive that visitors to my home comment about what a fortune I must have paid for it.

By now you are beginning to see that thrift store and yard sale finds don t have to mean that you are decorating your home with “junk”. If you make good choices, use a bit of common sense and hone your “fix it” skills, you can have a very classy home on a dime.

For many wood items such as chairs and tables, a simple coat of paint, an antique finish and a stencil can create an elegant, one of a kind piece for your home.

I found a luscious oval coffee table at a thrift store that is made of very heavy wood (it took everything I had just to get it in the truck all by myself!). But I couldn t resist with its oval top and super quality, let alone the shocking price tag of just $5.00. Why was it $5.00? Because it had the most ugly, bright blue paint on it! A can of orange gel paint stripper later, the application of one of the designs from my stencil collection done with gold acrylic paint made it fabulous!

Now the beauty of the wood shows through and is our coffee table in our “soon to retire to” home in Idaho.
Enjoy your searches….turn them in to a fun treasure hunt, go often, be wise in your choices and you too can have beautiful furnishings on a budget.

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