House Tours: Decorate with Vintage Finds
A low budget doesn't have to be a roadblock to high style. See how this passionate homeowner created artful vignettes of quirky and personal objects collected over time.
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This homeowner used birds as a recurring decorating theme throughout the home. Scavenging at a scrap-metal yard yielded the "nest" letters, which cost a few dollars each.
Fun family collections and flea market finds give this bookcase a distinct look. Bowls, vintage book ends, and a camera keep books in place and add visual interest to the display.
Coordinate collections of complementary colors. This wood cabinet and large art piece balance the room with a fresh palette of blues and browns while the floor lamp with a pea-green shade adds unexpected visual interest.
These narrow weathered planks take up little space in the small living room and act as display ledges for the thoughtfully edited arrangement of figurines, artwork, and found objects.
Vintage pieces are a unique addition to any room and are usually very reasonably priced, but reproductions can work just as well when the price is right. In the dining room, the Saarinen-style table ($150) is surrounded by $30 chairs from a discount store.
To mimic trendy chandeliers you find in design magazines, this gold chandelier in the dining room was painted a bold blue hue for a quirky surprise.
This vintage hutch doubles as a hiding space for spices and a display unit for eye-catching terrariums. For cheap terrariums, fill discount-store jars with soil, rocks, and small ferns, then add vintage toys, dollhouse pieces, and miniature bottlebrush trees.
An old roll of coupons is a fun pedestal for a flowerpot rescued from a garbage pile and for salt and pepper shakers purchased on eBay.
Once a built-in phone niche, this shadow box frames a beautiful display. Small pieces hand-picked from antiques stores come together for a subtle but striking presentation. To keep with the home's theme, a bird soars above the box.
An old hospital bed salvaged from a rusty heap behind an antique shop provides unlikely style in the guest room. Next to the bed, a distressed side table provides a place for accessories to be displayed and extra storage.
A unique stainless-steel fixture beside the vintage mirror provides for ample storage for bathroom necessities.
A collection of family mementoes and memorabilia is beautifully arranged, creating a personal work space.
A fresh green and white comforter is offset with a vintage daisy afghan, while birds on the pillows introduce the home's running theme. In place of artwork, vintage mirrors are suspended with yarn above the bed.
A scavenged metal dresser and chair join with the bed frame to bring an industrial edge to the bedroom. The rusty potato chip rack is an ever-changing display of photos, postcards, and other small mementos.
