We recently celebrated our Theodore’s 4th birthday. Per his request, we threw him a Farm themed birthday dinner. Because of his love for the farm, we didn’t need to buy any decorations and just repurposed items we already had. I also borrowed some from my mom, who also has a love for Vintage Farm Decor.
I’m listing out my favorite vintage decorating must haves and what I paid for these items, and then I’ll list out my favorite barn specific items for decorating for a barn theme birthday in hopes you find some inspiration to bring vintage decor into your home.
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Vintage Decorating Must Haves
Treasure hunting for vintage items is my favorite. I love having unique pieces around my house that have a story all of their own.
I have a lot of antique furniture pieces in my house, but today I wanted to highlight the small finds that are practical for home decor.
Here are items I’m always on the look for when I’m out and about at antique shows, garage sales, flea markets, resale shops, and/or estate sales. You can also follow along on Instagram to see more of my everyday vintage finds.
Antique Flower Frog
First up is a flower frog. It’s perfect for holding and displaying photos/paper decor. Here I’ve used it to display a vintage sight word flashcard.
I use these for my everyday decor too. It’s easy to incorporate in every corner of your home.
Flower frogs can be purchased new on Amazon, if treasure hunting is not necessarily your thing. But there is something about a vintage iron flower frog that makes it’s hard for a new one to compare.
All of my flower frogs were bought as part of a $5 fill-a-bag sale. That means I paid a flat $5 to fill my bag with anything at the sale. To give you an idea, I’ve never paid more than $0.25 per item when I participate in this type of sale.
Vintage Pictures to Display
There are a lot of ways to display little pictures via frames or flower frogs to help bring a vintage feel to your decorations. Some of my favorites to tie into decor are antique flashcards and post cards.
Flashcards always bring a vintage feel. Another item that looks cute around the house with everyday decor, but they are nice to pull out for themed events to easily add decoration.
Post Cards are another one of my favorite items to run into. There is something about finding a post card from a place near and dear to your heart. I always look for seasonal post cards when I’m thrifting. Bonus if there is a note and date on the back from the original purchaser.
Again, I love the vintage look, but you can purchase both of these items new to display around your home. I never pay for than $1.00 for an antique post card. It needs to be really special if I’d consider paying more.
Risers & Platforms to Elevate Decor
Last on my list is repurposing items for platforms and risers. There are many creative ways to add height to a display. To get the vintage feel, using old printer trays and desk drawers are an easy and affordable way to add height.
Trying to buy these specific antique items online can be pricey when searching for antiques, but when you find them in the wild for a good price (I paid $1.00-$5.00 per item in the ones shown throughout this post), it’s worth it to add to your collection.
Vintage Farm Decor
Shifting to more of a focus on the Vintage Farm Decor for how we decorated for Teddy’s Birthday Party. The items described below can easily be used for other themes, but I’m narrowing in on the farm for this section and descriptions.
Vintage Books
For our farm theme, we pulled out all of our vintage farm books. I always look for used, old books when I’m out thrifting.
Teddy LOVES farm animals so of course he loves reading these books, so they have a dual purpose. Don’t we all love functional decor?
I’m always picking up vintage books that are on my kid’s favorite topics to display in their rooms. I also like to flip through all the picture books at sales because sometimes there are cute pages you may want to frame and display in your house.
It depends on the topic and how much I fell in love with a book, but I try to not pay more than $1.00 per book at used sales.
Antique Toys for Decor
We used all of our vintage farm toys for decorations. I always look for vintage versions of toys to display in my kid’s rooms on bookshelves, and these also end up being some of their favorite toys to pull down and play with.
Some items I’m always grabbing at sales if they are the right price are listed below.
First, are old wooden blocks. These are used time and time again to bring a vintage theme to our decor.
Next, wood or plastic farm animals. Teddy loves playing farm, so I know these won’t just sit on a shelf. He has over 5 barns, and they are constantly filled and organized with all the barnyard animals.
Third, are metal tractors/trucks/cars. These make great vintage decorations. Teddy loves a trailer tractor hook-up, so it’s hard to pass these up when I find them at sales. I pay anywhere from $0.50 to $5 for the items shown in his birthday decor for these tractors. These can get really pricey, even buying used – but I don’t splurge on these items and wait until I find good deals.
Fresh Flowers in Antique Blue Ball Jars
Last on my vintage farm decor list is fresh flowers in ball jars. I had to borrow these from my mom because I have not come across the large vintage blue ball jars in the wild yet, but it’s something I’m always waiting to get my hands on for my own collection.
These make beautiful vases and centerpieces for parties. I stopped at Walmart the day before the party and picked up fresh flowers to create these centerpieces. I wish I had my own garden to be able to fill this many jars with fresh flowers, but I only had some wildflowers and stems from our yard to help fill my bouquets.
Thanks for following along, and I hope you feel inspired to bring some of these vintage items into your decor.
Follow along for more of my home tour and Schutt Farms’ events.
Madison