How To Decorate For Spring With Thrifty Finds

Have you tried adding a few thrift store or vintage finds in your home? It’s the perfect way to add character to your spaces. Let me show you how to decorate for Spring with thrifty and vintage finds

How To Use Thrifty Finds In Your Home This Spring

Ok, I have to admit that I have A BUNCH of thrifted, flea market, and vintage things that I have collected over the years. There’s nothing like that feeling when I spot a really great piece on the back of a shelf at the thrift store!!

When I am out shopping here are some of the things that I am always on the lookout for…

Metal buckets, pitchers, vases that I can use in a DIY, baskets, wood boxes & crates, and serving trays just to name a few.

So what do I do with these finds after I get them home? Well, I sprinkle them throughout my home. By just adding a few older items to your home you can create a more curated look than if you just filled your shopping cart up with all the latest from Target.

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Spring Decorating Ideas

Here are a few easy Spring decorating ideas and DIYs I have done using my thrifty finds.

Vintage Wooden box

I’ve had this box for years…so long that I can’t even remember where I found it in the first place!! I think it’s a recipe box. Not sure. It is antique by the way it is put together and the wood that was used. Regardless, it’s a cool piece!

I thought it would make a neat place for one of my plants to hang out in! Sidenote, January was bringing me down and I bought a bunch of new house plants to boost my mood!

One of the plants I bought was a Silver Satin Pothos. I had been looking for one of these plants since last summer when I went to Waco and I saw the most gorgeous one on the counter at Magnolia Press…I was obsessed! When I was ordering too many dahlias from White Flower Farm I saw one on their website and had to have it.

All I did was pop it into the opened recipe box. The contrast between the green leaves and the grain of the wood box is so pretty!

On the top of a bookshelf in my living room, I put together a little Spring vignette with my new plant and a few other nature-inspired items that I already had.

This little wood bunny looks vintage but it’s not…I found it on Amazon for around 10 bucks. The light wood looks nice but I’m thinking that I might use my Rit fabric dye trick (you can see me using it here to stain wood beads for a wreath) and make it a bit darker.

On top of a couple of green vintage books, I added a DIY bird’s nest. This is a super easy craft…and so much cheaper than buying the premade nests (plus they look more realistic!) In my Spring Forsythia Wreath tutorial, you can see how to make them

To finish off the Spring vignette I leaned my Moss Wreath against the old window frame that is hanging on the wall.

galvanized pails/watering cans

One of my favorite things to hunt for at the flea markets is old galvanized pails and watering cans that I can use to use in my seasonal decorating and to use as planters. My ALL-TIME best flea market find was a vintage galvanized watering can that I scored for $2!! I giggle every time I see them selling for $40 or more…

A pretty Spring decorating idea is to fill an old watering can with tall Spring branches. This looks pretty inside or out!

On my Vintage Spring Porch, I filled the watering can with fresh pussy willow branches.

Here’s an idea for a vintage galvanized pail, pop a planter of fresh Spring flowers in it. I loved these red anemones. The old chair was from a local thrift store…2 chairs for 4 bucks!!

The great thing about having a stash of thrifty finds is that you can keep reusing them in different places. They are seasonless and work in all kinds of settings.

Once I was done using the vintage watering can and pail on my Spring porch I moved them out to my cutting garden on my DIY Potting Bench for the season.

vase diys

At the thrift store, I’m always on the lookout for interesting vases, sometimes you have to bend down and look waaaayyy on the back of the shelf to find the good stuff!!

One of my favorite kinds of DIY projects is turning these thrift store finds into Pottery Barn-inspired vases.

So I took these basic floral shop vases and turned them into these…

This Pottery Barn Inspired vase is one of the most popular projects on this site. I have it out somewhere in my house all year long. For the Spring just add some artificial greenery for a fresh look.

For the other glass thrift store vases, I did a two-toned effect and added a section of textured paint. Then I cut a few branches of Forsythia to bring indoors to force. Forcing flowering branches means cutting the branches when they are just starting to show signs of waking up in the early Spring, then putting them in water. Your warm house will trick them into thinking it’s time to start flowering.

What I love about doing this with Forsythia branches is that they will flower for weeks once they open…and it’s free!!

pitchers

Keep an eye out for pitchers when you are out thrifting or at the vintage market. Pitchers are another versatile decorating piece to add to your decor. I found this aluminum (I think it’s aluminum) pitcher for just a couple of dollars at my local Savers thrift store. It has such a pretty shape and I loved the hammered details.

On my coffee table, I added a tray with the pitcher filled with white tulips…by the way those are fake tulips…don’t they look real!! Then I finished the tray off with a trailing ivy plant and my little DIY Cement Bunnies...now is the time to grab bunny figurines at the craft stores and give this DIY a try! I’m on the hunt for little chicks or ducks to do this year.

vintage planters

Always keep an eye out for interesting vessels that you can use as planters. Thrift stores and vintage markets usually have a good supply of them..but check the prices because I find that they are all over the map. Sometimes I find a planter that I think should be 10 bucks and it’s 50…and vice versa.

This pot of light pink tulips is from Walmart’s Valentine’s flowers. It was under $5…and now that I am thinking about it I should have gone back after V-day to see if they were marked down…this pink thrift store vessel was meant for them! The pot of tulips fits perfectly inside, I added a little bit of grapevine around the base of the tulip, these little details will make your grocery store finds look more like they came from an expensive florist.

Well, those are some of the ways to decorate for Spring with thrifty finds. So go check out your local thrift stores and vintage stores to see what you can find to use in your Spring decorating this month.

And let me know what you find and how you decorated for Spring with it… send me your finds and pictures and I will feature them in my weekly rewind post. Here’s my email: jennifer@cottageonbunkerhill.com

Today my friends Stacy and Kim also have amazing ideas for using thrifted finds in your decorating.

Stacy | Bricks N Blooms

Stacy from Bricks N Blooms just moved into the prettiest farmhouse in New Jersey and is taking us with her as she shops for pieces she can makeover for her new home. It was a fun shopping trip but what did she end up finding… Check it out for yourself as Stacy shows us all How To Decorate On A Budget With Thrift Store Finds

Kim | Shiplap and Shells

Kim from Shiplap and Shells lives in the Pacific Northwest on the Puget Sounds and I am obsessed with her cottage-style home and gardens! She finds the prettiest pieces when she is out thrifting and has such creative ways to use them in her space. Today she is sharing 9 Vintage And Antique Storage Solutions

I’m sure you will be totally inspired by both of my friends!! They are also amazing gardeners…so be sure to check that out when you visit them too!