$5 Decorating: Accessorizing with Thrift Store Finds

Sometimes a few thrift store accessories can help spruce up a space for very little moolah!  Here are a few pieces I have bought at the local thrift store for no more than $3 each!



One of my most beloved accessories is this brass swan I grabbed from the thrift store for $2.50.  It was a bit of a splurge, but she has already moved around the house a few times & looks good just about anywhere!



I grabbed the white vase above for just a few dollars too.  Thrift stores seem to be full of glass & ceramic vases that once held live floral arrangements.



This little urn was less than two dollars.  All it needed was a quick wash & it was ready for it’s new home.  (By the way, that flamingo picture was a free printable in a document frame from Dollar Tree!  You've got to love $1 art!)



I also love this pretty bowl that was only fifty cents!  I really wish I would have bought the other ones, since the colors would look good in pretty much every room in our house!

What are some of your favorite items to buy from thrift stores?

$5 Decorating: Adding Art

Since most of us don’t get paid to decorate, it’s always great to have some inexpensive ideas we can use to update our homes & fill our creative outlets!  For the past week, I have been sharing small updates I have made to our home, using only $5 or less.  I decided to look back over my archives & share a few cheap & easy ways we can add art to our homes.



Believe it or not, I printed these pretty botanical prints (above) for free from Vintage Printable.  The 11x14 frames were only about $10 for a set of two, but a lot of times you can find them on sale or use a 40% off coupon!  I grabbed some mats while I was there.  Of course, to stay under $5 for a picture like this, you could use an existing frame or buy a cheap frame from a thrift store & make your own mats out of poster board.  You can find the original post about these prints here.



I used Vintage Printable again, to print this bird picture for the mantel.  I stuck it in a frame I already had on hand & it helped brighten up the look of our mantel.



I used more of those inexpensive frames & mats from Michaels to frame pictures from a children’s book for the kids’ shared bathroom.  I just checked out the book from the library, made some colored copies, & stuck them in the frames, for free art!



A cheap Ikea frame + a free printable from Paper Coterie = a happy reminder to be happy & an adorable little spot on my desk!

There are a vast amount of resources for free & affordable “art” for your homes!  Not only can you frame free images from the Internet (please, make sure they are really meant to be free…) & pages from books & magazines, but you can also frame postcards, greeting cards, notes, kiddy artwork, calendar pages, shopping bags, scrapbook or wrapping paper, fabric…  (I could go on & on!)  I do have some other sources of affordable art on my pinterest board if you’d like to take a look!

So, do you have any sources for affordable art?  I’d love to hear them!