Thrifty Tips with Emily and Briley

Decorating a house on a budget can be tough, but you can still design a beautiful space by mixing and matching thrifted items with boutique and vintage pieces. This is also a great way to create character in a space.  We went shopping with one of our favorite Murfreesboro thrifters, Emily, and our shop manager, Briley, to look for some thrift store finds that would style perfectly with some of our favorite spring pieces at Quinn’s Mercantile.

Emily and Briley, who is also an avid thrifter, offered some advice before we took a trip to the Murfreesboro Goodwill store on Memorial Boulevard. 

1. Don’t go expecting. Go with a purpose, but don’t be discouraged if you can’t find exactly what you came for.
2. Think outside the box. As Emily says, “everything can be painted!”
3. Look for classic pieces like books or milk glass vases. You may not have the perfect place for it, but classic pieces can be used in lots of different ways to add visual interest and character to your home.
4. You have to be ready to dig. Briley says, “you have to be ready to look in unexpected places. What you’re looking for probably won’t be in the spot you think it should be, and you have to know what’s hiding in unexpected places in a thrift store.”

And finally, Emily and Briley both pointed out the difference between thrifting and antiquing. While thrifting is a great way to find cost-effective pieces, antiquing is more about finding unique treasures that have history. Antiques are often an investment and are pieces that you will want to keep for a lifetime.

Once we started our adventure in Goodwill, Emily and Briley quickly found some great pieces that would be great to use in styling with our Quinn’s décor.  Emily honed in on some inexpensive milk glass vases and Briley found a beautiful pink glass dish.  Briley also said, “one tip when looking for antique books is if you can’t find them, use thrifted books and remove the book jackets. It’s a similar look for a fraction of the cost!”

After we had several items, we headed back to Emily’s house to style our thrifted finds with Quinn’s Mercantile pieces.

The white milk class we found at the thrift store worked perfectly with the adorable lady bug pitcher from Quinn’s, and the pink dish was a fun feminine addition to Emily’s desk with an antique fan from Quinn’s.

We also had a blast styling some of our new arrivals in Emily’s colorful and eclectic home.

Hopefully we’ve given you some ideas to get started with thrifting. If you find the right items, they can be the perfect complement to your new home décor from Quinn’s Mercantile.

And remember, like Briley says, thrifting is a way of life!