I’m not somebody who normally updates home decor. Actually, I kind of hate the idea and think that it’s wasteful, especially seasonal decor. Save for some very old Christmas decorations and a few homemade Halloween decorations, you will never see autumnal decorations, or Easter decorations, or Valentines Day decorations gracing my porch or taking up residence in my house. But if that’s something that floats your boat, you should totally do you. Just, please, don’t buy new stuff all the time! I’m pretty sure that nobody else notices if you had the same autumn decor last year!

I guess that wasn’t the best way to start a post about refreshing home decor, but sometimes you just have to roll with it. What I am trying to say is that I don’t normally refresh our home decor…and since that’s the second time that I’ve made that statement, it must be true ;). It was actually home decor that frustrated me to no end a few years back and it was home decor that was the catalyst for my minimalist journey.

So, when I came home with a few new things for the house one day last week, my husband actually said, and I quote:

“I’m pretty sure this is the kind of stuff that you have already gotten rid of.”

Husband

And you know what, he’s not wrong. I can’t explain the sudden urge to pick up a few new things after years of living with the same (minimal) decor, but life is all about changing, so here we are.

I did know that if I was going to bring some new home decor in, I wanted it to be as sustainable as possible. Cue the local consignment shop. I usually only get clothing at the consignment shop, but occasionally. I like to venture into the housewares and furniture sections, just to have a look. I am usually on the lookout for a piece of furniture that we need (currently, a desk) but I was feeling inspired to add a little color…shocking I’m sure to those who have been to my house ;).

Ok, now that I’ve gotten off my apparently hypocritical soapbox about home decor and justified my purchases, I’ll show you what I got and how much I spent!

………………………………….

Home Decor for a Sofa // Coffee Table Refresh

I had picked up this wool cream throw a while back. There used to be a blue throw here (which was my previous “accent color”) but it had a tear in it so it was replaced and went to live it’s new life on the basement sofa.

The orange and white lumbar pillow was actually the first thing that I picked up during this particular shopping trip and indirectly fueled this little refresh. I have been on a sort of rust/orange/caramel/tan kick for a little while with my clothing, and like most things, that interest eventually filtered into other areas of my life, seemingly home decor. I physically balked at paying $9.99 for a secondhand throw pillow and actually put it back, but eventually circled back around to get it since I really liked this size for our sofa and I honestly couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Then I picked up the orange vase and wicker tray in the homewares section. I was interested in making a small vignette on our antique coffee table and the wicker tray seemed like the perfect containment for them (containing them seemed like the best idea with 2 exploratory kitties and kids). The paperweight and koala are sweet little antiques that I had acquired a while back.

………………………………….

New Home Decor Leads to Additional Seating

I had seen this stand on the same shopping trip as the above purchases, but I didn’t get it during that trip. The reason? A lot of our furniture leans mid-century modern and this piece almost seemed a little too bohemian. But, I couldn’t stop thinking about it…I’m sensing a pattern here…you? I finally convinced myself that it would work in our living room and if not, I could find some other place for it.

So, I dragged my husband and kids back to the consignment shop with me. He wasn’t the biggest fan of the piece, but I bought it anyways. And I think it fits in perfectly! Goes to show that even though you might not think something will work, it just might! It was labeled as a stand, but I think the surface is a little uneven to place anything on so I am using it as extra seating in our living room where the only other seating we have is a sofa and a chair.

………………………………….

A Little Something for the Mantle

Our fireplace is one of my favorite features in our living room. We did a little remodel of the space a few years back and we tore out the old fireplace surround and replaced it with floor to ceiling tile and a floating walnut mantle that my husband cut and installed (he did the tile work as well). The mantle previously housed our beta fish, but after he was no longer with us, it sat fairly empty, save for the antique candle holders that I had gotten a while back and a plant. The mirror is something that I had bought from Target years ago and was relocated from another part of the house.

When I came across these brass bookends, I knew immediately that I wanted it for the mantle to house some of my favorite books. These books were previously sitting on the coffee table and I was planning to find a new home for them anyways. I think that this is an even better place to display them. For interest sake, some of my favorite mindful living books are:

• The Millionaire Next Door – perhaps my favorite book that I own. It’s a great look into who the “real” millionaires are vs. who we think they are!
• Goodbye, things – a great book about minimalism. Some of the examples are pretty extreme but the takeaways are great!
• The year of less – a great book to read if you are looking for motivation to consume less.
• Simple Matters – I love this book for its useful tips and beautiful photography.
• Remodelista – as with Simple Matters, I love this book for its great organizational tips and beautiful images.

………………………………….

New Home Decor for a Front Entry Refresh

Around the same time that we were doing this refresh, I decided that I would like to repaint our master bedroom. We took the color from a dark grey to a creamy white. I had picked up these rust colored curtains in the hopes that they would work in our bedroom. However, they were not wide enough to cover the windows nicely when they were closed.

Since I’ve always had curtains over these front door sidelights (I have a curtain rod along the top of the door and then I use curtain clips (probably not the official name…actually, definitely not the official name), and since I’ve had the same white ones for years, I decided to put these up for a change.

The only problem with this was that the entry looked too dark since the door was previously painted dark grey. So, since we had some paint lying around from the bedroom, I just ended up painting the front door white too (actual color is Sherwin Williams “Alabaster”).

I also picked up a couple of new pillows and some pillow cases for the front room bench. The yellow cases were used on pillows that I already owned and replaced covers that I had for quite a few years. And since we like to sit on this bench to read, or just hang out, I thought that the extra cushioning from the second set of pillows would be a nice addition.

I think Kaya agrees.

………………………………….

I really hope you enjoyed seeing how I refreshed our home decor in a sustainable and budget-friendly way. For $70.89 (plus tax), I was able to refresh our main living spaces, which is considerably less than the cost of this cream wool throw at Target, and much more sustainable.

The next time that you’re in the mood for a decor refresh, please consider hitting up your local secondhand and antique shops. There are so many wonderful things there for a fraction of the price of something new. And you’ll be doing the planet a favor too by reducing the demand for new products and by keeping things in circulation!

You can read more about some of our secondhand and antique furniture in this post.

………………………………….

Tell me, do you use secondhand items to freshen up your decor? What has been your favorite home decor addition lately?