Finding Authentic Farmhouse Decor at Thrift Stores and Garage Sales

With a little patience and persistence, you can find amazing deals on authentic farmhouse decor at thrifts stores and garage sales that will bring instant farmhouse charm to any home.

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It’s All About The Hunt

I admit it, I’m a big time treasure hunter. I love digging for that perfect find whether it’s that beautiful ironstone platter hiding on the shelf at the junk store, a five dollar antique basket at a garage sale, or a bargain like those three pair of like new maternity jeans that I found at the thrift store for five dollars a piece when they’re fifty dollars new from the retailer.

On a side note, an interesting fact about me that goes along with this love of mine – I strongly considered going to school to become an archeologist. The thought of it still gives me a little thrill even now. I get so tickled pink about a good find at a bargain price!

Patience and Persistence

If you know where to look, and don’t absolutely have to have instant satisfaction, you can find some real authentic farmhouse decor that won’t put you in the poor house. There’s no affiliate link that I can give you that’ll have it sitting on your front step in two days. And you won’t find everything you like in one or two trips. No, it’ll take more time, but the things you find will be true pieces of farmhouse life with a history and character that you can’t find at the big box store selling top trends in decorating.

You’ll find the real authentic farmhouse decor in places like thrift stores, garage sales, estate sales and if your budget allows, antique stores.

 

 

Minimalism vs. Collections

Lately, I’ve been working hard to declutter my home and shift to a more minimalist mindset. Clutter is stressful in so many ways. The overabundance of things makes it very hard to clean and you end up with tons of things, “stuff”, that doesn’t even have a place.

That being said, there’s something so charming about a crock of wooden spoons or a little stack of vintage linens. What I’m going for these days in my home is beauty plus function. I’m getting rid of clutter and stress inducing “stuff” but I’ll still have small collections of items that bring me happiness and joy and can add to the warmth and coziness of my farmhouse.

So let’s talk about the items I keep my eye open for when thrifting to add that warmth and coziness of authentic farmhouse decor to my home.

Wooden Rolling Pins

Seeing a little collection of rolling pins just feels so homey to me and gives me all the warm fuzzies. It brings to mind images of a mother and her daughter rolling out a pie crust together or  a batch of shortbread cookies. Nothing to do but enjoy being together and making memories. Ok, so I’m a little sentimental and sappy but someone has to be, right?

Enamelware

I love enamelware and have pitchers and bowls in several colors. The pitchers make wonderful vases for fresh spring flowers and the bowls are great for fresh fruit. I have a red enamel pitcher that I splurged on from an antique store and every year it’s my favorite non-Christmas Christmas decoration.

Ironstone

Ironstone is classic farmhouse no matter whether it’s a pitcher, platter, a stack of plates, or a big bowl. Once known as “poor man’s porcelain”, ironstone is something that you really can’t go wrong with. And call me crazy, but I love the pieces with all of the crackles and imperfections.

Along the same lines of ironstone, plain white dishes are great for a farmhouse kitchen. They can mix and match with anything and look so good stacked up on an open shelf. They don’t even have to match as long as they’re all plain white!

Old Books

Old books are such a cute decoration to sit here or there in a small stack and you can almost always snag a few cheap ones at a thrift store. I’m kind of liking the trend I’ve seen of displaying some old books on a shelf turned around backwards so you only see the creaminess of the pages instead of all the colors of the bindings.

Vintage Linens

 

Little vintage linens are a great addition if you love authentic farmhouse decor. You can easily pick up some pretty little embroidered napkins or a table runner with a crocheted lace edging. Vintage linens add cozy texture and charm to your home.

It’s amazing to me how the women used to sit and take time to make their everyday things beautiful even when they lacked the modern conveniences we have and therefore had more and harder work and less leisure time. I think we should take a lesson from these women of the past and intentionally add joy and beauty into the otherwise mundane aspects of our every day lives.

Wooden Spoons

Now here’s a great authentic farmhouse decor item that has plenty of every day usefulness! I have a pitcher full of wooden utensils on my counter that I use almost daily. It’s a huge plus that they don’t scratch your cookware! They’re a super easy and cheap addition.

Baskets

Baskets are one of those things that can easily get out of hand if you’re not careful. They’re typically a bit bigger than some of the other items we’ve talked about so you definitely want to practice self control and not go overboard as you’ll cross that line we mentioned earlier of stressful clutter.

That being said, I do love a good antique basket! I found a small one that I loved and we use it daily as an egg gathering basket. Being able to combine charming antique decor with everyday functionality is one of my favorite things!

Your Turn!

I hope you enjoyed this look at authentic farmhouse decor items that you can find on a budget by being patient and keeping your eye open in the right places. If you have any favorites that I didn’t mention, please share them with us in the comments and Happy Thrifting!

 

Shop The Look

If you love the look of farmhouse decor but don’t care about the history of the pieces or have the desire to hunt around at different thrift stores and garage sales, you can still incorporate pieces that will add farmhouse charm to your home and shop for them from the comfort of your own couch. Here are some good new options for adding rustic charm to your home.

Rolling Pins – Click Each Picture to Follow Link

 

Enamelware

Ironstone/White Dishes

Antique Books

You can look for antique books on places like Etsy, eBay, and Abe Books.

Linens

Wooden Spoons

Baskets

 

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