It’s no secret that I am a thrifty shopper and this entryway with its classic console table and its plethora of decorative items proves it all. Over the years, I’ve shared many of the inexpensive treasures I’ve brought home, but I haven’t really shown how I tie them all together ~ this blog post today is just about that! No matter your style, you, too, can decorate your home the way you love while spending less. Garage sales, thrift stores, flea markets, consignment stores, warehouses and bazaars are definitely the places for bargains. If you prefer shopping from large retailers, you can find many of their end-of-season and discontinued items, as well as floor samples at considerably discounted prices.
Keep in mind, though, that there are a few downsides with bargain hunting: you will need to have patience to find the right item at the right price, and more than once you’ll end up buying something that you don’t really need, just because it happened to be very inexpensive {if that can ever be a bad thing!}. I’m speaking from experience ~ our dining room is nowhere near properly furnished because, for over 15 months, I’ve been trying to find THE piece that will have: storage space, a serving surface, specific dimensions AND a low price! To find all that is a process that takes time…
Getting back to this entryway console table and its setup…here is how much each item cost. If you add it all up, it comes to less than $100 including the console table.
The console table was my very first garage sale find when we lived in Westport, CT, and it was truly $10! The owner was actually using it in his garage as a working surface and it was dirty and considerably scratched and damaged. For that price, I happily took it home, cleaned it, polished it and glued back in place the board that connects the two legs. The trestle legs are what I love most about this piece of furniture.
This entryway is the space that connects the whole house and the table lamp is the first to be switched on at dusk and the last one to be switched off at bed time.
I found it at a San Francisco thrift store for only $12 and when I brought it home and turned it upside down to clean every inch of it, I noticed that the original price tag was still there… its previous owner had spent $120 to buy it while the original price was $275!
With its classic pineapple detail, this table lamp somehow reminds me of the ones I’ve seen in the House Of Cards Oval Office.
I have to admit that it was the small pineapple finial that stole my heart! As for the lampshade, it’s a simple Target black lampshade that I lined with gold metallic wrapping paper years ago. You can read about this easy do-it-yourself project, here. The gold lined lampshade was originally made for a glass table lamp that broke during an indoor family soccer match. Luckily, I found this pineapple table lamp soon after!
The books are from my local library [used book sale] and they’re a publication of The Metropolitan Museum Of Art. On this console table I have placed only a few but there are more as they came in a set of twelve! I bought them all for only $3!
The best part is that when I brought them home, I discovered that every portfolio has an inside front cover pocket that each holds 10 art prints related to the book’s theme!
So, apart from the book collection I now have 120 prints that could possible be framed, and some of them are really amazing. 12 books & 120 art prints, all for $3!
The books are placed on the console table only to slightly elevate the plant which would had been too short and too small among the other objects. The fern is from my local nursery ~ it does not need much light so it will do well indoors for a long time while it gives color and life to this darker setup.
Color, here is also added with the blue and white ceramic pot which came free with a plant from Whole Foods, a few years back. The rosewood block was used to make a little statuette (click here for the project) but I also use it sometimes to elevate different objects, like this blue & white pot here [I’ve also used it as a base for the hand soap dispenser in the powder room or to hold a small vase]. I paid $11 for this wood block and that sounds quite expensive compared to the price of the console table!
The large gravure was a gift from a business associate from the time I worked in Greece ~ you can find similar ones for about $10 at most thrift stores and antique shops.
The smaller framed art print and the bronze container with the two lion heads on its sides are both from Goodwill.
The wood box with the honeycomb pattern lid is from Crate and Barrel and it was on clearance ~ I believe that its original price was about 4-5 times higher. It’s a beautiful box, modern and big in size. We use it to store school name tags, area trail maps, and so on.
Last, the small ceramic black tray is from Pottery Barn and I bought it at full price, around $17, if I remember correctly.
We’ve moved three times since I bought this console table and here, in this house’s entryway, it found the best spot ever! Gathering all these objects is not a one day process but I love every single item and their prices, so it’s worth the hunting.
We don’t use the front door very often as the house has a back door, so this space stays clean and clutter-free (and shoe free!) and looks almost perfect whenever someone shows up at our doorstep.
Most of these items are old and used so it’s always good to mix a few new and modern pieces and fresh flowers or a plant to avoid a total “museum look”.
As I share more spaces around the house that I’ve decorated inexpensively, I’ll hopefully inspire you to become a bargain hunter, too!
BRAVO!!!!!!
Lovely items, great prices. I like rooms that are pulled together over a period of time rather than in one fell swoop from a furniture/home decor store!
Thank you!