How to Brighten Up Your Space with Thrift Store Furniture

I’ve always told my Los Angeles clients that vintage furniture is a great way to add unique character to your space without spending a ton of money. Furnishings with a history behind them allow you the opportunity to customize home decor, making a room “you” as opposed to a copy of the Pottery Barn catalogue. (Yes, we’re taking a page out of Phoebe Buffay’s book.)

That said, when you find that perfect armchair or sideboard, sometimes it needs a little updating. The following examples are some of my favorite vintage finds, reimagined in vibrant colors that added much needed zest to spaces that might’ve felt lackluster otherwise.

For the bright, airy living room space in Kelly Oxford’s Palm Springs–inspired home, I wanted to keep the palette pretty light and minimal. But for some added color, I reupholstered this adorable pouf (which was originally brown) in a vibrant teal velvet. It’s an immediate standout in the space (as you can tell from this picture), and it’s still something I covet every time I go over to her house.

I was on a tight budget to furnish a large two-bedroom apartment in a fancy Hollywood building. Naturally, I turned to vintage to score some deals for my client. I found these lovely chairs at a local vintage shop. What wasn’t so lovely was the disgusting orange fabric that they came in.

It wasn’t easy to convince my client to buy them, considering the weird ’70s color of the original pieces, but once he saw them reupholstered he was way into it. Let this be a lesson to everyone to always listen to their designers!

One of my first large projects involved decorating an enormous Spanish Revival home in the La Habra Heights suburb of LA. We wanted to keep all the walls gallery white, but my clients also loved color. So I found them a totally crazy and amazing 1960s sofa and had it covered in glamorous navy velvet.

I had these lovely chairs in my dining room before utter boredom started weighing on me. For an added bump of color, I repainted the formerly white dining chairs bright yellow. It added so much vibrancy to the space and made me excited to go in there again!

For a sophisticated living room I designed, I wanted to ensure things didn’t get too stuffy. So I bought an inexpensive white dresser at a vintage store and painted it green by hand. The result created a happy, playful living room that was equally lighthearted and refined.

Text by Orlando Soria.

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