Cover Story

Flea-market finds are the gift of thrift in home decor

Elaine Markoutsas / Primary Color

For some, flea market or thrift shopping is a favorite pastime. A 1930s cottage-style buffet, a mid-century modern chair, a 19th-century crystal sconce woven into interiors that marry new and old -- these finds can add instant history, charm and personality to a home. In this troubled economy, shoppers are looking to alternative, less costly sources for home furnishings.

Garage sales, flea markets, consignment stores, Craigslist -- even alleys -- are fair game. And many shoppers are beginning to appreciate what aficionados long have enjoyed: the thrill of the hunt and the opportunity to land one-of-a-kind treasures.

"Without fail, the most interesting and unique spaces belong to people who enjoy mixing up their decor with vintage furniture and accessories," says Tate Gunnerson, a writer and scout for home design magazines who also authors a blog called "Strange Closets."

Many top-tier designers such as New Yorker Vicente Wolf long have embraced vintage pieces from flea market sources and incorporated them into high-end decor. Wolf has an especially good eye for centuries-old chairs, which he often spruces up with simple fabrics like natural linen, and he shows that selective mismatching can be enormously stylish.

Magazine spreads showcase interiors that combine elegance with a smidgen of quirkiness -- the high-low of the precious meeting the mundane -- to the same effect as women who confidently wear Armani with just the right thrift costume brooch or a fabulous vintage scarf.

Some furnishings manufacturers even have tried to capture that sort of eclectic spirit in flea-market themed collections.

Indeed, there's a new cache to thrift decorating.

"It's good to be recessionistas these days," Jane Hamill told the Chicago Tribune. "You may have shopped at Goodwill, but unless you were an art student, you probably didn't tell people that you did. Now if you do, it makes you seem smart and with the times," says Hamill, a Chicago wardrobe consultant.

For the uninitiated, buying vintage can be overwhelming. At flea markets, the sea of object-filled tables can be dizzying. Nor are most thrift stores about visual merchandising, with few offering the neat, cohesive displays essential to smart furniture retailers. So once your eyes stop glazing over, you need to imagine how a piece will look -- as-is or tweaked --in your own space.

But what to buy? If you don't have a prescribed agenda (say, finding a club chair for your TV room, furnishing a bedroom or picking up a storage piece for the bath), most experts advise the obvious: Buy what you like.

Stan Williams, a former fashion director for Maxim magazine and veteran flea market shopper, says: "Look for quality over provenance. I don't care if something is 18th century or made in the '70s. Don't look for brands. Decide if the item fits your needs. See if you can clean it up really easily. Can you afford it? I hate to see people pull out credit cards in thrift stores. Cash gives you great negotiating power and control over your budget."

Williams, who grew up in a suburb of Kansas City, Mo., caught the bug early, when he routinely tagged along with his grandmother when she frequented garage sales. Especially exciting were "take-all" big boxes that often didn't cost more than $5 and sometimes netted surprising extravagances such as 24-karat gold-rimmed china.

In his book "The Find" (Clarkson Potter, $27.95), Williams teamed up with Housing Works, the nation's largest community-based AIDS service organization, which runs a chain of nine upscale thrift shops in New York City, to dish on decorating with secondhand stuff The author assembled a group of style makers who share their finds. Tours of 24 homes, reflecting a variety of design styles, include those of Simon Doonan, vice president/creative director for Barneys New York; John Derian, an artist known for his decoupage glassware, and Kristin van Ogtrop, editor of Real Simple magazine.

One of the most obvious tips is to not be afraid to rejuvenate or repurpose. That's another appealing aspect of vintage or secondhand shopping: It boosts sustainability.

An imaginative example of recycling is a fireplace mantel studded with oyster shells, which lend intriguing texture to a pristine white frame.

Assuming a bit of creative risk can have a big payoff, Alex Bandon, online editor at ThisOldHouse.com, snapped up a set of six 1960s wicker-and-wood chairs -- for $120. "She noticed everything was in good shape," Williams says. "The caning was not cracked." But Bandon did something a bit daring: She painted the frames in lipstick red in a lacquer finish, contrasting the caning with black, which she applied with a small paint brush. "I watched her do that in her backyard on a Sunday afternoon," Williams says.

Paint can be a dramatic quick fix. A pair of ordinary dressers, amazing in a bright green, gets even more impact when the two are placed side by side to suggest a more substantive credenza.

Although bold colors such as lime, coral, mustard, cobalt blue or turquoise are explosive and sure to be focal points in a neutral space, don't underestimate the power of white or black.

The simplicity of a neutral ground allows a bit of dolling up with trims or hardware. Imagine the impact of colorful glass or patterned ceramic pulls on a white cabinet. Anthropologie is an excellent source for elegant as well as artsy pulls ranging from kicky black-and-white check to hand-painted birds on ceramic and mother of pearl clusters of blossoms, for $6 to $16

David Jiminez, vice president of visual merchandising and store design for Hallmark, took a pair of thrift wing chairs and replaced Naugahyde upholstery with white vinyl, punctuated by nailhead trim. The chairs are not identical, but the treatment unifies them, and black cabriole legs play up the crisp white.

Williams also advises not to be stuck with conventional ideas about particular pieces of furniture. "Who says that a dresser has to be placed in a bedroom? Haul it to a living room and see how it looks (as a bureau)."

Most of all, carefully examine your prospective "finds."

"Inspect the drawers," Williams says. "That will tell you a lot. They should glide in and out with ease, without sticking."

Armed for the hunt

Decoupage artist John Derian says he never has a mental image of what he may need when he shops vintage. "I let things come to me," he says.

Stan Williams, author of "The Find" (Random House, $27.50) agrees.

"Go in with an open mind. Don't feel you have to buy anything. Walk around and question. Don't worry if you have no idea what you're doing. If something speaks to your heart, buy it. If you decorate your home with care and attention, and fill it with things you love, it will reflect your personality."

Here's what Williams suggests you take along when you go shopping:

• Design notebook with room measurements

• Paint and fabric swatches

• Tape measure

• Dust wipes, such as Swiffer, to unearth a piece that may look as if it's part of an archaeological dig

• Picture-taking cell phone so you can send images to a decorator, significant other or friend, to weigh in on a potential purchase.

Sources

Strange Closets, www.strangeclosets.com.

Elegant Thrifter, www.elegantthrifter.com.