My Best Thrift Store Finds Of The Year

It was a great year for thrifting!! This was probably my best year ever at finding some amazing pieces that I use all the time! Let me show you my best thrift store finds of the year.

You never know what you are going to find when you walk through the front doors at a thrift store!! Sometimes I walk in and walk out within a couple of minutes because they are picked over.

Other times I get giddy with excitement because I spot a gem as soon as I walk in…I just love those days!!

I’ve looked through all my photos from this year and have gathered all of my favorite finds from this past year. Let me show you how I’ve incorporated them into my designs and give you some ideas on how to use your own thrift store finds this year!!

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What to Look For When Thrifting

• Trays
• Silver/ Pewter
• Vases
• Ceramic Pots
• Baskets
• Candlesticks
• Frames
• Ironstone
• Dishes

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A Year of Thrift Store Finds

Here are my favorite thrift, flea market, and vintage store finds from this year and how I used them in my home.

If you don’t usually visit these kinds of places you definitely should start!! One reason that I love to is that you can find some unique pieces to add to your home that won’t break the bank.

Another reason is that adding a few vintage finds to a room can really make the space feel pulled together and lived in.

January- Silver Footed Bowl

This silver bowl was a bargain at $3.99, I couldn’t pass it up! I wasn’t sure what I was going to use it for but I brought it home and cleaned it up a bit first.

I created a lily of the valley arrangement using a piece of floral foam, small flower picks, and moss.

You can see all the details of this easy flower arrangement project here.

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February- Pink Thrifted Planter

I’m really not a “pink” girl but I thought this planter was really cute and I loved the shape of it and the rustic, aged look of it. To cheer myself up in February I popped in a pot of tulips that I grabbed for a few dollars at Walmart.

There are even more ideas for How to Decorate for Spring with Thrifty Finds here.

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March- Magnolia Inspired Brass Planter

On the Magnolia website last Spring they were selling a brass planter that was so pretty…and I really wanted it and had it in my cart but it was 30 bucks and I just couldn’t pull the trigger!!

Then I walked into a local thrift shop and saw 2 of these kinda ugly silver flower planters that must have come from a florist because they had floral foam still stuck inside. They were $3 and the same shape as the Magnolia one!!

With a little spray paint and antiquing wax, I created the look of antique brass. I’ve had both of the planters in use since then. This is definitely one of my favorite thrifting projects of the year for sure!

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April- DIY Vase

Here is an idea to transform a plain glass thrift store vase. It’s easy to find vases like this at thrift stores and they are usually just a couple of dollars.

For this DIY vase, I hot glued seagrass rush around the vase but this technique could be done with jute twine or even nautical rope to achieve the same look. This is a great look for Spring and Summer!!

Take a look at how I styled this Spring Entryway with Vintage & Thrifted Pieces.

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May- Vintage Croquet Wickets

In May I stopped by a local shop Sage Farm Antiques for their monthly show. The shop is located in an old barn and is so much fun to pick through! Outside there are always lots of goodies stacked up. The first thing I spotted was a couple of stacks of vintage croquet metal wickets that were only $2 each!!

There were so many so I didn’t grab them right away and went inside to look…then I got the feeling that I better go back out and grab them! I’m so glad I did because most of them were gone. I did manage to grab this stack of them to use in my garden.

I crisscrossed two of the wickets in big planters and added some bright annuals to them.

See more Easy Ways to Add Cottage Style to Your Garden for a few more tips & ideas to try in your garden.

June- More Finds for The Garden

Another favorite spot that I love to shop at is The Collector’s Eye in Stratham, NH. In June they had a Summer show and I found a bunch of goodies to use in my cottage cutting garden this year.

I had been looking for a pair of children’s shoes for a project that I had on my to-do list. New shoes were pretty expensive but I found an old pair of baby shoes that I knew I could use.

I’ve never seen a metal children’s beach shovel in all my years of thrifting and shopping at antique shops. This red one was just a few dollars and I loved the red color.

Another project that I had swirling around my brain was to make a new wreath to hang on my garden gate so I grabbed a few items that I thought would make an interesting wreath too.

The shoes completed my Peter Rabbit-inspired scarecrow at the front of my cutting garden.

Here is how it looked late in the Summer once all the plants filled in. This was my favorite addition to the garden this year I think!! Definitely the cutest! You can see more about how I added Whimsy to a Cottage Garden to get the details on how I made the scarecrow.

With vintage tools, terra cotta pots, and plant markers I put together this Vintage Garden Tool Wreath.

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July- $5 Flea Market Find

What’s better than a good Summer flea market in New England?? On Sunday mornings in Rowley, Mass you can find the Todd Farm Flea Market where hundreds of sellers set up tables before dawn for this weekly market. You really never know what you are going to find but it’s a pretty drive regardless through a lovely area of the North Shore with lots of historical homes.

I happened to see this vase under the table at one of the booths and the shape of it caught my eye…the paint was horrible though! Much worse than my camera picked up but believe me it was ug-ly!!!

To start the transformation of the vase I used one of my favorite techniques: joint compound! I’ve used this to create a pottery or plaster look numerous times over the past few years.

After adding the texture to the vase I added paint and a limewash to make it look like a piece of ancient pottery. You can see the complete tutorial for this vase transformation here. So definitely keep your eye out for an old vase next time you are thrifting!

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August- Fall Thrift Store Haul

This was an epic thrift store haul for me this year!! I grabbed so many great pieces that I used for the Fall and also at Christmas.

The most popular project of the year on Cottage on Bunker Hill was my Pottery Barn Viral Terra Cotta Pumpkin Dupe. I used this thrift store jack o lantern along with two other ceramic pumpkins to make my own take on the popular Halloween decoration.

On my entryway table, I created a Fall look with a few of my thrift store finds and a collection of some of my stash of vintage pieces.

The lidded ceramic containers made perfect vases for flower arrangements in my kitchen when I decorated for Fall.

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September- Thrift Store Find Into Fake Pottery

Another vase upcycle that I did this year was with this handled vessel. It was inspired by a jug that I saw in the Fall Pottery Barn catalog.

Using the image of the jug on my iPad I tried to copycat the expensive PB version. If I can look at a picture while I’m trying to paint or draw I can usually do a decent job of making a copy.

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October- Vintage Garden Hod

On my visit to the Todd Farm Flea Market over the Summer, I bought this vintage garden hod basket from the sweetest guy! He was packing up his trailer and we were heading back to our Jeep when I saw this basket and had to have it!! It was only $15 and he threw in a stack of vintage books for free.

This Pumpkin Filled Fall Porch was perhaps my favorite one that I have ever decorated!! All the pumpkins and gourds were from a farm down the street from me…I wish I had the garden space to grow my own!!!

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November- Christmas Music Book

At the November show at Sage Farm Antiques in N. Hampton, NH the only thing I bought was a vintage music book from Boston for $3. I thought that I might use the pages to frame but ended up just using it on my coffee table this year.

You can see the rest of how I decorated for Christmas this year here.

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December- DIY Winter Arrangement

This thrift store find has been out in my garage since I found it on my Fall thrift store haul. It’s quite large so I had a good idea of how I could use it for Christmas and winter.

To create the look of snow I poured Epsom salt into the bottom of the glass container. Then added a bunch of medium-sized pinecones and finished it off with long branches and artificial greenery and snowy stems.

The winter arrangement is on the narrow console table behind my sectional. You can see more about how I created my Winter Gallery Wall for ideas on reusing out-of-date wall art.

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It was quite a year and man, I guess I did a lot of projects??!!! Honestly, sometimes I am surprised by how many things I’ve DIY’d!!!!

I can’t wait to find some more gems this year and bring you fresh ideas and projects for your own homes.

Pinterest is even predicting that in 2023 that mixing vintage with new, modern pieces is going to be a huge trend in decorating. Here are the stats from Pinterest on the increasing percentages of searches relating to what they are dubbing “Hipstoric Home“

• Eclectic interior design vintage+850%
• Mixing modern and antique furniture+530%
• Antique windows repurposed+50%
• Maximalist decor vintage+350%
• Antique room aesthetic+325%

– SOURCE: PINTEREST PREDICTS: 2023 TREND FORECAST

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what tops the list this year!!

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