Growing up, I learned to shop secondhand from the best teachers: my mother and grandmother. Hitting yard sales in our town was a great way to find treasures and bond. Fast-forward to when I was leaving for college and told my parents that I would need a bed and maybe a dresser for my new apartment. My dad said my budget for everything was $100, and all of a sudden, I realized that buying new wasn’t really an option. As I got older, I learned that shopping secondhand, thrifting, and rummaging through my grandma’s house was also more sustainable for our environment—so why wouldn’t I do it? In my own home, I try to creatively mix modern pieces with vintage finds that add a unique flair to a room and give it character all its own. Sometimes, I even design a room around a specific piece, using more modern elements to tie everything together. Transitioning my home into a space that’s decorated 95% secondhand, largely for the sake of my budget, has been no small feat. My family and I started with a few thrift store finds and then branched out to online resale sites to source secondhand treasures. Over the years, I’ve gradually added antique and resale pieces into each room. We’ve had such success decorating our home secondhand that we started going directly to resale sites first before looking into buying new. Buying secondhand is also an opportunity to get creative. For example, in our master bathroom, I didn’t want to put holes in our new wall for a towel rod, so I brainstormed and ran across these storage lockers. They add so much storage to our bathroom, and they are special to me because they came from a local school. In my back deck area, I created curtains out of dropcloths, made the coffee table out of pallets, popped in an outdoor rug, added a little bench, hung a pendant light, and voilà! I will say that finding a resale item that fits your design aesthetic can take some extra time, but the money it saves definitely makes it worthwhile. I hope I’ve inspired you to consider shopping secondhand first. Your wallet and our environment will thank you!
