Everything you see in the above photo is thrifted. EVERYTHING. With one exception. The two peacock feathers. I bought them at the pet food store for 50 cents each. The dried branches came from my yard.
Thrift and
Vintage Decor: Apartment Life!
This last fall, I moved into a great apartment in Grand Haven, Michigan. I enjoy living here so much! It's a wonderfully clean and safe community, and I love thrifting here as well! When I decorated my apartment, I used almost EXCLUSIVELY vintage and thrifted items. You'll notice that vintage screen print Marushkas and owls are a theme in nearly every room of the house!
It would be much easier for me to point out things that AREN'T thrifted...and I'll try to do just that as I take you on this epic picture journey that is...my apartment. :)
Thrifted, gifted, used and vintage. All of it.
Any time you see owls at my house...you know the scoop.
I love weirdo kitsch stuff. And vintage receivers. <3 Tube power kind of turns me on.
Only one new item in this picture: the tv stand. I bought it for ten dollars.
I refuse to pay any more than 5-6 dollars for a used Marushka. I never have paid more. I've passed up many overpriced specimens.
A single new thing in this picture: plug in candle melt warmer. Purchased new for $6.00. (Don't think I didn't LOOK for one thrifted, first!)
Plant containers and tins as well as table were all thrifted. Plants were grown from babies and cuttings (but not by seed).
Thrifted & Gifted (though the rest of the pineapple was, at one point, purchased and eaten.)
Shelf and all items vintage and thrifted--with perhaps the exception of maybe 3-4 records that I've purchased new? The extra shelves of records you can see in the photo below are also thrifted, along with the organ.
Vintage hat box and lamp were thrifted and estate sale purchases totaling $1.75 (yes--I remember!)
The charm in vintage and used items is the story they have to tell. I wonder about who drank that bottle of Grolsch beer. And I adore daydreaming of the jukebox that used to house the stack of Astrud Gilberto 45s. But amongst all of the snazzy jazzy, there must be a balance. Enter the Bunny Skulls record.
Nothing NEW to see here, folks...move along...
I'm always running low on closet storage space. So I like to both utilize AND display my vintage luggage; the smaller teal and green suitcase is packed with slips, and the larger one behind it is full of belts!
Do I need to tell you that all of the clothes pictured are thrifted?
These "shoe racks" are actually salvaged Media (CD and DVD) stands turned on their side and stacked vertically as well (not pictured). The shoes are thrifted, of course, and the purses (also secondhand) below are strung along a garment rack. Before being looped through the garment rack, I grouped like palettes/styles together with shower curtain rings.
Thrifted, gifted, and re-purposed. All of it.
The final stop on our thrifted journey! Only four items in this picture were new: sheets, black and white pillowcases and pillows shown behind throw pillows (which WERE thrifted), the white quilted blanket underneath the zebra throw and the small brown mirror you see to the left of the ginormous beach Marushka. I honestly don't mind all of the crazy print/color mixing going on here; variety is the spice of life, am I right? It makes me feel good to know that, before I buy an item new, I search high and low for a used version of it. I do this because I love vintage and re-purposed items with a story but also because it reduces my carbon footprint and conserves our earth's resources, time, energy and...money, of course!
What can you thrift today?
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