3 Pieces of Home Decor I Regret Thrifting and What I Learned From My Mistakes

A few years ago, my husband and I bought a 17th-century cottage in the English countryside. Our experience, if I’m honest, has been a struggle. To say we’ve been thrown some wild, stressful curveballs along the way is an understatement, but we’re finally coming out the other side and starting to fully furnish.

Given its historic bones and iconic location in the Cotswolds, I knew right away that when it comes to buying decor and furniture, we’d want to scour local vintage markets and look for antiques to fully fit out the space.

Unfortunately, as someone who knows next to nothing about vintage shopping, this was sometimes easier said than done. While we’ve been lucky to nab mostly wonderful finds that I can’t wait to use and display, there are a few things I regret thrifting.

Furniture On a Whim

About a year ago, I saw there would be a massive vintage market held in a church not too far from our home. We weren’t quite ready to buy anything for the cottage, but we were the closest we’d been in this time-consuming and stressful process, so we were excited… maybe a little too much so.

As we trawled the aisles with our two children in tow, we saw only possibility. Every piece looked like something we could make work in our new home, but we were at least smart enough to remind each other it’s a tiny space. At just over a thousand square feet, every item must count.

For some reason, all our sensible reminders went out the window when we saw a beautiful and well-priced dresser that I was sure would work perfectly in the kids’ room. We had a rough idea of the measurements, so we went for it.

We’ve since moved the dresser out to the cottage, and I wholly regret buying it. The drawers are sticky and awkwardly sized, and it’s a little taller than the spot where I imagined placing it. I’m not sure what we’ll do with it yet, but I do know it was the lesson we needed.

No more buying furniture on a whim, especially if it can’t be returned!

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Quirky Wall Decor Without a Home

At that same antiques show, I was on a hunt for wall decor. I wanted vintage paintings, and I found the perfect one—a French still life from the 19th-century of a kitchen table display. But then I made the mistake of telling our kids they could pick out something for their room, as long as they agreed together.

For some reason, the only thing they could agree on was a convex mirror in a shiny gold frame that looks extremely nautical. Our cottage is nowhere near the sea so I already had my doubts, but a deal’s a deal and it wasn’t very expensive.

However, when we got to the cottage, I realized the true problem: There is nowhere logical to hang a mirror that makes your head look like a volleyball, especially when you’re already short on wall space.

I’ve tucked that one away and said we’ll have to wait to hang it until everything else is finished. I’m hoping by then their tastes will have evolved.

Badly Framed Art

Closer to our cottage, I landed a kitschy and fun find. Our area is known for wild pheasants, and we were planning to decorate one wall of our powder room with wallpaper in Mulberry’s Game Birds print.

Naturally, when I found a small, framed piece featuring a pheasant crafted from feathers, I was thrilled. The only thing I really didn’t love was the black and gold frame, but I figured I’d just get it reframed in something warmer. It sounds easy enough, right?

I was wrong. The issue is that the pheasant is incredibly delicate, and possibly not even very secure in its current frame. I’m not sure it’d survive the transfer.

I still haven’t decided if this one will make it up onto the wall or not, but for now, it’s a conundrum I could probably do without.