If you've ever tried thrift hunting, the chances are you’re hooked. And as the coronavirus restrictions ease and the world is now returning to the quasi-normal modus operandi, secondhand aficionados are uniting for a long-awaited rummage into the post-pandemic finds.
In order to see how the fellow thrift hunters with an immaculate eye for weirdly wonderful details of the pre-owned treasure trove are doing, we have to turn our heads to the best ones. We’re talking the internet’s favorite corner “Weird (and Wonderful) Secondhand Finds That Just Need To Be Shared,” a Facebook group that has people posting their proudest secondhand trophies, making everyone sigh and applaud in response.
So roll up your sleeves, it’s about to get thrifty! Psst! More miscellaneous compilations that showcase people’s luck (and skill!) in thrift stores can be found in our previous articles here, here, and here.
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#1 I'm An Electrician And I'm Constantly Saving Old Fixtures From The Dumpster, I Have A Whole Collection In My Basement
Today I brought home my greatest find to date. I noticed this beauty as soon as I walked through the door. One of the tentacles is slightly damaged (but easily fixed) so the homeowner didn't want it. It will someday hang in our future tiki bar.
Image credits: Jess Connolly MacLeod
#2 I Found This Fantastic Antique Salesman’s Sample Chair Off Of Facebook Marketplace A Few Months Back. I Knew What I Needed To Do
August, my Himalayan, also knew what he needed to do.
Image credits: Michael James
#3 Here’s My Vintage Thrifted Wedding Dress
Got at my local Goodwill in Worcester, MA last year for only $6.99!!!! I don’t even plan to have a big wedding but I could not leave this Edwardian beauty behind
Image credits: Jane Vargas
#4 This May Be The Coolest Thing I Have Ever Found In A Second Hand Store!
Image credits: Jenna Arcidiacono
#5 Filled My Mantle As Much As I Can With Found Colored Glass! Some Thrifted, Some From My Grandparents, Some From Family. I’ve Loved Making This Collection!
Thinking about putting a strip of light underneath or behind them.
Image credits: Sam Matthews
#6 Lamp I Found At An Antique Store, Loved It So Much I Had It Repurposed And Hung It From The Ceiling In My Bathroom. $120 Well Spent!
Image credits: Sylvia Colbert
#7 If Any Of You Are Of A Fragile Constitution, Look Away Now
STEP RIGHT UP AND WITNESS THE MOST FEARSOME AND FEROCIOUS FELINE THIS SIDE OF THE MISSISSIP. HAILING FROM THE WILDS OF A WEST MILWAUKEE USED BOOKSTORE BASEMENT, THE WOVEN WICKER WONDER WILL SHOCK AND AWE YOU. WATCH AS ESTHER JELLYBEAN AND HER LOVELY ASSISTANT EUNICE MARSHMALLOW BRAVE THE JAWS OF THE THE RATTAN RASCAL, BARELY ESCAPING WITH THEIR LIVES AND A FANCY FEAST CRAB AND BEEF TREAT SQUARE. DARE YOU TANGLE WITH THE MILWAUKEE MANED MANIAC? THE TOOTHY TYRANT? THE PLANT PANNIERED BLOODTHIRSTY BOOKSTORE BEAST?
Image credits: Erin P Jadin Christie
#8 This Is My Little Thrifted Garden Room
Someone was throwing these windows away on a house demolition so we created this little room with them. Most of the decor came from my thrifted treasures or items I made.
Image credits: Carrie Ann Nau
#9 I've Wanted To Share The Story Of My Special Lamp For Some Time
A little back story: my Dad left the poor family farm during the Depression to pursue his education at Appalachian State deep in the NC mountains. He earned his tuition by living in a basement boiler room and keeping the boilers fired for that building. He frequently ate on 10 cents a day: a nickel for a Coke, a nickel for a can of sardines, and the soda crackers that were free with the sardines. He picked up a bit of pocket money by playing his guitar for the little mountain churches on Sundays, and playing saxophone with a local dance band on Saturday nights. 75 years later, with my Daddy long gone, we were cleaning out the house I grew up in, preparing to sell it. Among the artifacts that turned up - Daddy's saxophone. It was never a high quality instrument, and 75+ years in basement storage had not been kind to it. It didn't make sense to try to restore it, but I couldn't bear to throw it out. It came home with me and collected dust for a couple of years, until I came home from school one day to find that my brilliant husband had transformed it into this awesome lamp
Image credits: Christian Beeker Rothwell
#10 Found This Sitting By My Neighbors Trash Can, She Thought I Had Lost My Mind Over How Excited I Was And Was More Than Happy To Let Me Dig It Out Of Her Trash. I’ve Named Her Peggy
Image credits: Cynthia Craig
#11 This Beut Is Mine!
A hydraulics shop was selling it and a coworker spotted it on her way in. I RAN to go get it. P.S. we are librarians
Image credits: Odessa Cooley
#12 Happy Hippo Day! Here’s Mine. Found At An Estate Sale
Image credits: Jin Cho
#13 I Found My Dream Dining Table On Marketplace In Minneapolis
5 extremely strong individuals, a truck, and days of haggling later, I finally was able to bring this beauty home.
The table is all single solid wood, and is EXTREMELY heavy. Just a chair takes 2 people to lift up (or I guess one if you’re really really strong). No clue what type of wood it is or how old it is. It was supposedly purchased at an auction a decade or so ago and given as a gift to the last owners who decided to sell because and I quote “when you have kids, you just can’t have nice things.”.
Image credits: Sarala Sameera Morusupalli
#14 Here's My Vintage Dress Find For $15 Bucks From The Salvation Army. I Bought It To Dye Black For Halloween But Decided Against It When I Realized What A Beautiful Dress It Is. I'm In Love With It
Image credits: Veronica Silva
#15 What Do You Do When You Find A Mini Coleman Tent Meant For An 18" Doll At Goodwill And You Don't Have Any Kids Or Dolls? You Get It For Your Dog, Of Course
Image credits: Kayla Smith
#16 This Quilt Was Is Not A Second Hand Find But Rather Has A Long Family History And A Unique Story
My great grandmother started making this quilt when my mom was pregnant with me for a baby gift. She cut out all of the pieces but passed away before it was completed. Years after her death my grandmother decided she should complete the quilt for me. She worked on putting the small pieces together to form the large diamonds that would make up the star. At this time she realized that her mother had cut the pieces wrong and instead of being a 8 pointed star it was going to be a 7 pointed star. She became frustrated trying to figure it out and packed it back up in it's bag. Some time after that she passed the pieces to my Mom, who had limited experience and didn't attempt to work on it. Once I hit adulthood the bag was passed to me. I put the large diamonds together to form the 7 pointed star, but did not know how to complete the quilt. A few years later I got married, and my mother in law is a master quilt maker, so she took the 7 pointed star and put it on a beautiful white background and completed the quilt (she used the 8th large diamond to do the edging of the quilt. I think by the time I received the finished project I was around 40. I think that all of the hands and minds that worked together to make this beautiful piece, only make it more valuable. It fits a king size bed, which is a funny thing to make for a baby gift and has never been used on a bed (due to the color and nostalgia connected, and since I have 3 dogs) but I have had it hung up at different times over the years to enjoy. Sorry for such a long winded story, but I hope you enjoyed it. I took some of your advice and decided to use it for the first time ever, I put it on our bed and slept like a baby last night.
Image credits: Chrystal Ollenberger Armstrong
#17 Got This Piano From A Friends Barn For Free When I Was In Middle School, It Was Built In 1920 And It Was Full Of Mice And Falling Apart
It was my first antique I ever aquired and I spent 2 years restoring it. We later moved and I moved it all over wherever I moved to, it went with me.
Now its in my parlor, in my house back in my hometown in Michigan, only about 8 mins from where I first found it over 10 years ago.
Image credits: Vinny DiPonio
#18 Every Single One Thrifted (It Took 2 Years Of Gathering While We Built)! Even The Pics In Them Were Thrifted
Image credits: Meredith Schramm Mannebach
#19 My $5 Swag Lamp. Found Her At A Yard Sale A Few Summers Ago And Rediscovered It In The Back Of My Barn This Winter!
Image credits: Wendee Heikkila
#20 This Is In The Game Room At My Boyfriends House. It Came With The House And Looks Incredible When The Light Comes Through
Image credits: Amy Eisenschenk Kern
#21 I Just Picked Up This Life Size Sheep From An Auction House. It Will Be My Ice Bucket To Keep Drinks Cold
Image credits: Colin Hutson
#22 I Found This Card Catalog Gem Years Ago At An Antique Show Here In Tx And It's By Far My Favorite Piece! I Call It My "Cdf" (Cold Dead Fingers) Because I'll Have It Til I Die. It Needed A Lot Of Love But I Think It Was Worth It
Image credits: Dana Denise
#23 We Came Home From Vacation To Find This Dinosaur "Planted" In My Garden
My father works at a school and I've got an unhealthy dinosaur obsession (yes, I'm an adult). They were removing this dino ride from the playground there and he convinced them to let him take it instead of destroying it. As my boyfriend and I were pulling up to our house, he was less enthusiastic about the new addition than I was . My parents thought it was a HYSTERICAL belated birthday present. After some back and forth about where he belongs, the agreement was that I'm *supposed* to be moving him to the back yard... (so no one can see it? or so no one can steal it? who knows!!) but currently I kind of shuffle him around for dramatic effect and majestic photo ops. PS - I've started calling him Stuart.
Image credits: Melinda Messineo
#24 Saw This At Treasures And Junk In Ontario, California. It Was Sold Already, For 500$. What An Amazing Chair And It’s Purple & Black!
Image credits: Crystal Scott
#25 I Found This Peach Tea Kettle At A Local Antique Store And I Have Never Seen Anything Like It, Cutest Tea Kettle I've Come Across
Image credits: Jonique Perzentka
#26 Got This Finely Crafted Ladies’ Handbag From An Estate Auction A Few Months Back
Image credits: Liz Holt
#27 I Found This Beautiful Lantern At A Goodwill In Minnesota. I Still Don’t Know Where It’s Permanent Spot Will Be, But I Absolutely Love It! I Paid $15 For This One
Image credits: Kaytie Rouse
#28 My Late Grandma Got Me Into Collecting Skeleton Keys As A Kid
My late Grandma got me into collecting skeleton keys as a kid. My first memory of skeleton keys was her giving me 3 keys and telling me that one was my key to college, another one was the key to the Disney castle, and the third was a key to her heart. Whenever I would get good grades we'd go to antique stores and I would get to pick out a few of my favorite. Anytime I go someplace new I try to pick one up. I have also received a few as gifts. I think they're just so neat...the stories they could tell. About 5 years ago I moved back home from living in California and was lucky enough to be able to buy my grandmother's home. A few days ago I FINALLY found a way and place to showcase the keys! I am overjoyed with how cool it looks. Now instead of them being stored away in a box, I can look at them everyday and think about my Grandma.
Image credits: Dani Maus
#29 Forgot To Make The Bed Before Snapping A Pic, But I Got It From My Friend For $100 And He Told Me It Came Out Of A House In Detroit Michigan
Image credits: Vinny DiPonio
#30 My Home Is A Renovated Episcopal Church That Was Built In 1871
The 9 remaining stained glass windows are original to the structure. As it turns out, the windows are secondhand from a church from the east coast. They were saved when that church was torn down, and got repurposed when this one was built. They were created with small sections of stained glass and larger areas made with a screen printing technique. To the best of my knowledge, based on a historical society document, they date back to the revolutionary war era.
Image credits: Shelby Helmbrecht
#31 I Have Wanted A Funky Pair Of Bowling Shoes To Wear As Everyday Shoes Since I Was A Teenager
Found these for $3 at a small thrift store in Gilchrist County, FL. These are definitely a vintage pair, made by Brunswick with leather outsoles. I’m crazy about them. And I am loving the strange looks I get when I wear them.
Image credits: Beth Arnold
#32 I Already Had The Moon Already But I Got The Print( No Frame) From My Buy Nothing Group And Did A Contactless Pickup
Image credits: Tessa Wartooth
#33 Some Vintage Spoon Holders I Found At A Goodwill. Repurposed To Hold My Paints!
Image credits: Maegan Schmitz
#34 I Am Also Jumping On The Vintage TV Trend!
I gutted this fb marketplace find this year, the screen was unsalvageable so I turned it into a record stand/storage. The speaker facade opens to reveal hidden storage and the added interior lights are controlled by the original knobs! For those that are curious, it is a 1961 Setchell Carlson. This was my first vintage tv restoration and have since done 2 more!
Image credits: Hayleyann Evers
#35 I Was Scrolling Through Marketplace Looking For A Cookie Jar And Literally Gasped When I Saw This Masterpiece
Image credits: Hayley Buss
#36 Our Fireplace Featuring My Thrifted Hand Collection And Other Vintage Tchotchkes
Image credits: Erika Kikola
#37 Oh My! So Happy To See The Beautiful Wedding Dress Finds And Now Engagement Rings Too Because I've Just Realized I Have A Story To Share
My paternal great-grandfather Harry proposed to my great-grandmother Edith with this five stone, full of fire, opal engagement ring. I inherited it after my grandmother (their daughter-in-law), died in 1990. A few really great things about this ring: 1. It actually fits my very skinny finger, size 4 or 4.5! (Now I know where I get them!) 2. The box is as fascinating as the ring. It is leather, velvet lined, and hinged with a latch hook. 3. Not sure the year they married but my grandfather was born (in wedlock) in 1908 so the ring and box are 113+ years old! 4. I looked up the jeweller and learned that Harris Leon Brown founded the store in England in 1861. In 1917, upon his death, his son succeeded him. The business has remained in the family down the line to his great, great grandson today! (The website has pandemic protocols listed for the stores.) 5. Most importantly to me: Inside the ring, alongside the Maker's Marks, is the inscription "With Harry's Love". I wear it often and with gratitude
Image credits: Heather Godden
#38 Here Is My Mostly Thrifted Reading Nook. It’s So Pretty And I Love To Have My Coffee Here
Image credits: Diddle Knabb
#39 I Know It's Not A Thrifted Thing, But, These Were My Great Grandmother's Glasses. I Have No Idea How Old They Are, But Have Always Loved Them. Enjoy!
Image credits: Jennifer Cypert
#40 Could Not Be Happier With This Facebook Marketplace Find That I Got Yesterday!
Image credits: Melissa Green
#41 I Found This Quirky And Amazing Flamingo Umbrella With A Built In Stand Shaped Like A Flamingo Foot
Image credits: Christiana Dowdy
#42 Got These Awesome Macramé Squirrel Lawn Chairs On Facebook Marketplace. I Couldn’t Resist!
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Image credits: Desaya Thorn
