Creating a Cozy Home With Thrifted Finds – Cozy Living Series

Hello my lovely friends! Things have been interesting around here lately… real life mixed in with projects makes for lighting fast times! Am I ready for the busy season? Ummmm, NOPE – haha but that’s okay, it’ll all happen regardless and it will be fine. (that’s what I keep telling myself)  Can you guess what always lifts my spirits and makes me forget about the time passing so quickly? If you guessed THRIFTING – you win!!! Thrifting never fails to transport me! 😉 I am always so inspired by just being out and about, finding those unique treasures, poking around in thrift stores, flea markets – basically anywhere that I can find vintage and unique items. Today I wanted to share how we create cozy in our home with some of my favourite thrifted and cozy finds. I’m so glad you’re back, I truly hope you find my thrifting “addiction” helpful the next time you make your way to a thrift store.

Cozy Living

But first, it’s the first Saturday of the month and you know what that means, right?! The Cozy Living Team is back and we are sharing how we #hygge. How we create cozy in our homes and in our lives. The #CozyLivingTeam is hosted by the lovely, Jennifer from  Town & Country Living – this is where we all get together on the first Saturday of the month to share our cozy ways, please stick around because I share all of my talented friends at the end of this post. xo

If you’d like to see more of what we do you can also follow our, Cozy Living pin board here –> Cozy Living – Hygge 

November

I fear that I am starting to sound like a broken record – how can it be November already??? It’s my birthday month and usually that’s awesome, but as I write this I am feeling a little (A LOT)  unprepared for the busy season that is about to pounce! Maybe I should put on my big girl pants and go thrifting? 😉 But seriously I do have to get to work, we have some fun stuff coming up AND I’m pretty excited – so bring it November, you couldn’t possibly go as fast as October did, right?

Why do I thrift?

Hmmm, that’s a good question! Basically, and in all honesty, I don’t really like how decor and decor items seem to be the same in all of the stores. I love the thrill of the hunt for trendy and unique items, ones that feel real and not mass-produced – like this clock, cutest ever. I love bringing home things that I don’t pay a fortune for (because I’m cheap and have a real life budget) and I like to have the option of changing all the decor, all of the time – basically what I’ve been doing since I was born – so paying for all the trendy decor in the big box stores, well, that’s just not how I roll. Even if I had an unlimited budget, the thrill of the hunt is way too strong.

The number one thing I am always asked is… “How do you know what to bring home”?  Another good question! Sometimes I have NO idea what I’m looking for when I do get out to thrift – I just know in my gut, take this floral  print above… I just knew,  it was love at first site! It’s hard to explain but your gut will lead you and it knows your “style”, most of the time.  Sometimes though, it’s a practical thing – like these cute little ivory plates elevating that sweet vintage pitcher – I’ve used them over and over and for a dollar, well that’s a no brainer IMO. But I do have some consistent go-tos, items that I always toss into my cart (if the price it right). Linens, they are awesome for softening and brightening a vignette, I adore contrasting them against something dark and draping them – they create instant cozy and are usually so reasonably priced.

Group like things together

You may have seen this one on Instagram already – I LOVE this vignette – can you say over shared?! 😉 Amber bottles are always on my must-have list, since as far back as I can remember… actually all little and affordable bottles are on my must-have list! Seeing that amber is kind of on trend this Fall, score! Grouping things creates such a curated look and feel and by adding twinkle lights… instant cozy! 

Some of my bottle collection on our Fall porch – you can see the whole Fall porch tour here. As you can tell, bottles are always on trend (in my books anyway), with the exception of one bottle (the one with a candle) these are all thrifted. 

Finding just the right things – warm woods

I am always drawn to wood… have no real reason other than I love it, it adds warmth and coziness to our home. Especially the warmer well worn wood (that is a tongue twister), like these vintage/antique wooden change holders. I make a little noise when I come across any of these in thrift stores – if only they could talk, the stories they could tell. 

Combining styles

And finally, how to bring thrift store finds all together? That my friends is the million dollar question. My very simple “technique” (and I use that word loosely) is – I just combine styles (the things that “speak” to me), for example, some of the things that speak to me are rustic, primitive and industrial. Personal style is always an evolution (kind of like trends) so I make sure to buy things that are fairly neutral – wood is always in and if it isn’t you can paint it or modify it. Bottles gathered together can hold twinkle lights, flowers… anything really and they are also always in.  And linens or throw blankets, again always in and simply perfect to cozy up all the vignettes in your home! Go for warm tones that make you feel cozy, let your cozy-meter guide you and once you start to assemble the things in your space you will see that your gathered style will make your home feel cozy – because you picked out all the cozy things. 

And for goodness sakes, don’t worry about not using all the goodies you bring home, use what you can and store the rest away (just don’t tell your hubs I said that – HA), relax and have fun with it. Pick one trendy thing to search for and go from there. 😉

I’d LOVE it if you would tag me in your cozy thrifted vignettes – I’ll definitely see them if you use this hashtag –> #CreativeVintageDarlings on Instagram.

And if thrifted and vintage is your jam (MY PEOPLE), you can join in with myself and my other vintage obsessed friends, we host a vintage lovers Facebook group sharing all of the Vinspiration, here —> Creative Vintage Darlings.

Thank you so much for joining us here, we truly appreciate your kindness and love! I hope you will find all of the cozy inspiration when you visit my friends below, I know I can’t wait to dive in with a hot coffee and pin away! xo

Happy weekend, friends stay cozy! xo

Hymns and Verses  |  Vinyet Etc. |  Saw, Nail and Paint |  Town and Country Living

Creative Cain Cabin  |  Making It in the Mountains  |  Finding Silver Pennies  |  Duke Manor Farm