Vintage, Pre-loved and Thrifty Decor in the Home

This week we look at vintage home decor in and around the home… but first, I’m very aware my blog’s tagline is …the story of a stylish renovation. And it occurs to me, one or two of you may be thinking where is this renovation then?  I have some exciting news to share with you.  Our submitted plans for the renovation have been acknowledged by the local council and a sign sits proudly out the front of our home telling anyone who cares to read it what we are up to. This feels a huge step in the right direction and our architect has worked very hard to put on paper that which was in two heads.  This includes from myself yet another dream I have had for a very long time… a log burning stove in our master en-suite bathroom. Cue much eye rolling.

I’ve possibly launched this blog a little early for the renovation. However I could use the time wisely before the first bricks are laid, to share with you much of what we will do to make our humble home and garden look lovely for now. In last week’s blog post, I showed you how we took a very tired and dated kitchen and gave it a much-needed makeover. There will be more room makeovers and plenty of upcycles to share with you in the coming weeks.

Vintage home decor is one of my favourite parts of interior design…And so to my next piece of news. A new and exciting mini series is to start here on this blog entitled….Vintage and Thrifty Styling for the Home.  It will be a five-part series where I will aim to show you how I use vintage, pre-loved and thrifty finds (or old, second-hand and charity shop, depending on how you look at it) to create unique vintage home decor. My hope for the series is that you will be inspired to try some of these ideas yourself.  The five posts will be sprinkled among other posts over the next few months and will feature my personal collection of vintage, pre-loved and thrifty finds. To give you a flavour of what is to come, this photo highlights a charity shop treasure of mine.

This beautiful jug cost me £5 in a charity shop. As the volunteer in the shop put it on the shelf, I took it off. And this is one of the more expensive charity shop buys I’ll show you. It’s filled here with my favourite cow parsley,  which I picked whilst out with The Spotty One and I’ve teamed it up with some more expensive candlesticks in my collection. The ‘flowers’ cost nothing and when they had finished I simply picked some more. I use this jug often with all different flowers in all different rooms. You may have noticed in this post here, I have a mild jug obsession. It needs addressing really.

What I always hope for when I put together a scheme, is that the result makes a space inviting no matter how small the touch. Of course I’ve made a few mistakes along the way but as we know, that is the way to learn. A pre-loved mistake which comes to mind was the time I made bunting out of Mr M’s old shirts…it wasn’t very pretty. Just very blue and grey and dull. And then there was the time I made a skirt from a beautiful old flowered shirt he had and the skirt didn’t fit because a) I do not have any dressmaking skills and b) I cut the material without a seam allowance so when it was stitched, I could barely get my legs in it. Mr M wasn’t best pleased. Largely because he’d put the shirt on a pile to have a button stitched on and I thought it was on the pile destined for the charity shop. We’re a lot clearer about which pile is which these days. The next pre-loved example was thankfully a little more successful than the shirts episodes.

Originally these were tea, coffee and sugar canisters and I broke a lid on one. As they were wedding presents from many years ago, I spent a while wondering how they could be recycled. Now they serve as storage with each pot having a favourite magazine photo secured with Mod Podge over its original wording. And I have used them in so many ways in my home. Storage for clean paintbrushes for my many upcycle projects.  They’ve housed dog treats, stationery, countless arts and crafts paraphernalia and now through summer, they store outdoor cutlery ready for barbecues in the garden when the weather dictates. Importantly for me, they decoratively serve a purpose and make me smile. My pinterest boards and hundreds of others show more ways to recycle pre-loved items decoratively and inexpensively in the home. Vintage home decor doesn’t and shouldn’t cost the earth!

Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy spending money and can do so as well as the next person. I tend to spend money in the home on things I can’t make myself or re-purpose from what we already have. Or big expenses like furniture, beds, kitchen appliances, you understand. Oh yes and from time to time on things I simply couldn’t live without. The next photo features an I couldn’t live without purchase.

I bought these beautiful French doors at a Country Brocante recently. I walked the perimeter of the event twice to make sure I really couldn’t live without them. On my way back to buy them, I saw another lady point and ask the price and quick as you like I was back at that stall, handing over the cash and claiming the spoils for myself. If you’ve read all my posts so far and you don’t know me personally, I’m sure you’ve got my measure. I bubble with excitement for a dream purchase. And that’s what these beautiful doors were. By the time I got home and showed Mr M them in situ I was fit to burst. Not for the first time he smiled sweetly at his slightly batty wife and went off shaking his head.

So over the coming weeks I hope you’ll feel inspired by some of my ideas for vintage home decor. Perhaps you may even try something similar yourself. In the meantime If you have any questions or comments about the new series or anything else in my posts, please leave them below and I’ll reply as soon as I can. Seeing lovely readers comments makes my tummy flip…and as I’ve already explained, I am quite an excitable person. Have a lovely week.