Roundup: Secondhand Gems for Small Spaces

I flat out don’t like shopping. 
(There. I said it.) 

But I do enjoy rummaging around our home, searching ways to repurpose items we already have to serve new needs. (See my most recent upcycled hack here on the blog, or here via Reels.) If I come up short, I then find myself looking for handmade, secondhand or vintage items online or in our local thrift stores. To avoid wasting time and money, I don't just browse aimlessly or on impulse. When I shop, I’m on a specific mission.

For me, the key is to search for the general function I need an item to serve, rather than search by an item’s dedicated name directly. By searching for pieces via detail and function descriptors, I discover creative and unique homewares that serve the purposes my family needs, in formats I might not have previously considered. This is one of the traits that makes our little home so personal and special to us.

Over the years, countless folks have told me that they don’t know “how” to shop vintage or handmade on sites such as Etsy. So here’s this week’s roundup of beautiful and functional one-of-a-kind vintage or handmade items that I’ve favorited but don’t need. My hope is that this sort of post helps readers find handmade pieces or second-hand homewares offered by small businesses.

When purchasing a piece, you can further cut back on the associated carbon footprint by messaging the vendor to assure them you’re fine with repurposed packaging and don’t need any flair.  I’ve chosen to use Etsy for these roundups, as it was the first major online shopping destination to offset 100% of carbon emissions from shipping.