Thrifting home decor was one of the things that has kept me sane during the pandemic.  Styling your home with thrifted decor probably isn’t the first thought that comes to mind, but it can be an inexpensive way to try a new idea.  Once thrift stores started reopening, I decided to feed my soul by taking some trip to get books for my coffee and side tables.  During this time, I also scoured Pinterest for inspiration.

You can get many things from thrift stores and consignment shops from furniture, linens, decor, etc.  In the past, I went through an obsession with baskets, so I thrifted lots of those to hold books, magazines, umbrellas, or whatever.  People often thrift furniture for revamping, but I don’t have that skillset or patience level.  I do enjoy watching thrift flip YouTube videos.

I made several trips to different thrift stores’ book section.  It took even longer with social distancing.  I only wanted to be in an aisle with at most one other person, and she had to be on the opposite end.  I’d exit and come back again to get to the section missed.  Pandemic aside, some people don’t understand the concept of personal space anyway, but I digress.

My book criteria was that it had to be all white (or close to it) with or without its cover.  If the cover was pretty enough, I could leave it on.  I was also searching for African-American themed books which took a few trips to find.  You can’t control the inventory that is available.  Travel books were easier to source, because there seemed to be an abundance of ‘guides to X city’ and such in thrift stores.

For my coffee table, I used a book that I already had, removing its cover.  I got lucky and found Shonda Rhimes ‘Year of Yes’ and bought Michelle Obama’s book online.  It had a small speck on it, so I decided to leave its cover on.  To complete the book stack, I added a candle and wood garland.  I positioned the stack on an angle to make its scale appear to match the tray that’s across from it.  I may swap out the books from time to time, but definitely will read them both.

For the side table, I got lots of cute, smaller books.  The table is small, so I decided to have two small book stacks.  I like tongue-in-cheek books that you’d find at Z Gallerie. I’m not sure if they still carry them.  I found a few of those, as well as plenty of travel books.  Since I discovered several ‘chocolate’ related books, I will use at my future tea/hot chocolate station (thanks to Pinterest again).

I added a candle, wood garland and a reed diffuser.  There was a small print on one stack, but I removed it for use somewhere else.  The travel books will go in another area as well.

Thrifting home decor was a fun, easy, and inexpensive way to spruce up my tables.  I still had to be mindful not to hoard, just because I wouldn’t break the bank.  Have you ever thrifted home decor?  If so, what goodies did you find?