I’m an eternal, unapologetic optimist, so I’m excited to share the eclectic little haul we brought home from our end-of-winter beach trip to Rehoboth — all bought with a $100 thrifting budget. We stayed for free at John’s parents’ beach house (best in-laws ever), so we decided to spend the travel savings on light fixtures, wall decor, and a few quirky pieces to refresh the house. We spent nearly two hours hunting for unique, affordable items, and came away with a collection that needs paint, framing, rewiring, and a bit of elbow grease — but has a lot of potential. Here’s what we found and how we plan to use each piece.
1. A $5 thrift-store mirror that I already couldn’t stop grinning about. It has great shape and will get a bold splash of color before it’s hung. I’m still deciding which wall will suit its personality best.
2 & 3. Two oddly charming orange horse-head bookends ($2.50 each). They’re playful and sculptural, and I’m leaning toward painting them either crisp white or a saturated hue like navy or mustard. They’ll most likely live on the built-ins among my growing collection of ceramic animals.
4. A $19 hanging light fixture I found displayed in an antique booth, plugged in and glowing — impossible to ignore. I bought it without John seeing it in person (Clara was asleep in the car), and happily he approved when he checked it out later. We’ll paint the brass cap and chain and are considering installing it in the bedroom sink alcove if the scale and style work.
5. A $5 iron bee hook — sentimental, since bees are meaningful in our relationship. I plan to paint it glossy yellow and hang it in the mudroom/laundry area to hold Burger’s leash. It’s small details like this that add character and function.
6. A $7 wall-mounted iron horse that I’ll probably paint white and use in our bright blue hall bathroom. It’ll hold a white hand towel in its ring, a simple, whimsical touch that ties into the room’s planned color palette.
7 & 8. Two wooden plaques at $3 each. John and I liked them as siblings for our bed gallery, possibly framing our ram piece in the middle. We’ll experiment with leaving them natural or giving them a subtle finish to match the bedroom scheme.
9. A tiny gold wall-mount duck (or goose?) about 5″ wide for $3. He’s a neat little accent and might join an existing duck piece or be placed among the framed works in the hallway for a small, unexpected touch.
10. A green luggage rack for the guest room, $10. One strap is missing, so we’ll replace the webbing and might refinish the frame depending on what suits the room’s palette. It’s a practical, inexpensive way to add vintage charm to the guest space.
11. An $18 paper lantern, which we’ll hang in the playroom using a simple $5 light kit from Ikea. The lantern has a sweet heart motif that adds a soft, playful light to the room — perfect for a child-friendly space or a cozy reading corner.
12 (or 12–23 if you count each print). Our favorite find: a vintage map calendar for $20. We plan to take it apart and frame the individual maps to create a grouped gallery wall. These prints could work beautifully in the guest room, the playroom, or a frame-filled hallway we’ve been planning.
Altogether we spent $98 (Delaware has no sales tax, so that was the final total). I like a good numbers breakdown: the average cost per item is roughly $8 when the calendar is counted as one item, or about $4.26 per piece if you count each map separately. For under a hundred dollars we picked up two light fixtures, a mirror, two bookends, a luggage rack, and several decorative accents and wall pieces — not bad for a short, thrifting-focused beach trip.
We’ll share photos and details as we paint, frame, hang, and retrofit each piece. Next on the list: the guest room — cleaning, patching, and testing paint swatches. Small, affordable vintage finds like these are an inexpensive way to personalize a home, and the hunt is half the fun.
Psst — we announced this week’s giveaway winners. Click the giveaway announcement to see if you’re one of them.