This picture is in our dining room. To the left is a primitive birdhouse we found at the Salvation Army store, the glass washboard we found at Goodwill, our antique style glass shaded lamp, our vintage radio and on the right, the cabinet Steve made for me to house some of my collections.
List of prices we paid: This list proves you can decorate cheaply if you look hard enough. 1) primitive birdhouse: $2.00 at Salvation Army Store. 2) Glass washboard: $3.00 at the Goodwill Store (asking price in many antique shops is $35. 3) Antique style glass shaded lamp: $2.00 at local secondhand store. 4) This one is the find of the year for us..antique radio: a whopping $20.00 at our local secondhand shop (marked down from $35 because no one wanted to buy it (Fools). In the local antique shops: radio prices range from $125 to $200, whether the radio works or not. I did tell you that decorating with taste, cheaply, is not impossible. We have a shoestring budget, so we frequent the Goodwill Stores, Salvation Army Store, and garage and yard sales and secondhand shops in our area. It takes some looking to find bargains, but we love it, the thrill of the hunt is what makes it so much fun.
I love Coca Cola items, both old and new. As my collection of Coke items, my advertising tins and anything else that catches my eye while shopping for vintage-style items, grows, so does my need for places to display them. Many of my tins are displayed on top of the kitchen cabinets, but when those spaces got filled up, Steve decided to construct display cabinets for me in the primitive style I love. He knew I needed the display cases or risk being on an episode of Hoarders. Bless him. The Coke glasses and matching pitcher cost me $.49 per glass and the pitcher cost $2.00.
I love vinegar cruets, the old ones, because as a kid, I grew up with vinegar cruets on the kitchen table. My Dad loved vinegar on fresh cucumbers, baked beans and many other foods, so Mom always had vinegar handy in cruets. Yeah, it's the nostalgia of it all for me.
Now again, the list of prices for the collection. 1) Teddy bears, $3.00 for the pair. 2) Rocking horse, $3.00. 3) Nesting boxes, I did splurge and paid $6.00 for the set. But in the country magazines I have, they are $50 from country craft stores. Oh, BTW, I also buy my country magazines at Goodwill for 99 cents each. Outdated? They are, a bit, but cost $6 to $8 brand new. I can live with outdated. 4) Vintage cruets, $.99 each. 5) Cool trunk, $6 at Salvation Army Store. 6) Country bench that nesting boxes rest on, $2 at a yard sale, Steve painted it a nice country color for me. 7) Berry swag above doorway, $2 at the Goodwill Store in the Christmas display pile. 8) Advertising tins from $.49 to $.99 each. Advertising trays, $1.00 each.
All of the items we use to decorate our home with, usually cost pennies, the radio, yes we paid $20 for it but we'll splurge a bit for good quality vintage items. This blog is designed to show you that yes, you can decorate your home with beautiful items for a fraction of what you might have thought. We also love flea markets (don't be afraid to haggle on prices) for many items too. I hope you enjoyed this blog and Happy Hunting.
