Decorating Our Home Using Secondhand Items

When we moved to Fukuoka, we wanted to make our new place more cosy. Hence, my husband and I bought new furniture and decorations that define our personality. But, of course, it comes with a price. That is why we decided to buy secondhand items to cut costs.

My husband and I made this at Takumi no Sato, Gunma

Where to buy it?

Japan has a lot of secondhand shops, but the most popular one is the series of "OFF" shops (Hobby-Off, Hard-Off, Book-Off, Off-House, etc.) However, my husband and I just went to Off-House and Hard-Off because they are the ones that have a lot of household stuff to offer.

I’m no stranger to buying items in those shops because I used to buy some appliances, clothes, and shoes there.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure

My husband and I were quite surprised that the Hard-Off near us had a lot of interesting stuff that we’ve never seen in other secondhand shops! It has a lot of kimono, yukata, board games, baskets, vases, etc. Plus, they were so cheap!

I wanted to purchase some affordable vases for my dry flowers, but I didn’t want to buy them at 100-yen shop again. I wanted something with texture, but those kinds of designs are kind of pricey. Thank goodness I found some in Hard-Off and Off-House, which only cost about 50-200 yen.

Moreover, I also wanted to buy a kimono with a beautiful pattern and a fashionable-looking camera as a decoration.

Regarding the camera, they are a little expensive in the Hard-Off that we went to in Fukuoka. Luckily, when we visited Oita, we went to a small Hard-Off by the road and found a nice Konika camera that was about 1,000 yen. Finding it made me feel like I just discovered a hidden treasure.

Then when it comes to the kimono, it was easy because I got the idea when we went to Hard-Off. The difficult part was finding the design that would be perfect for our dining / living room. After a couple of minutes of hunting and deliberation, my husband and I decided to get this brown kimono with tree prints. It fits our theme--- which is wood and green color. We only paid 800 yen for it and we used hooks and a fishing pole from Daiso to hang it.

More than just decorations

Aside from buying decorative stuff, I also wanted something that would reduce the clutter in our home hence, I bought some baskets and trays to reduce visual clutter. They not only help me organize some of our things, but they also look good.

They cost around 10-500 yen.

NOTE: Since these are secondhand items, we disinfect them by using Family Guard, which we bought from Costco. However, I’ve seen them also in different drug stores.

Conclusion

All in all, my husband and I are really happy with our new home. It’s more our style and we didn’t spend that much money when it comes to decorations.

How about you? How did you furnish your home? Comment it down below.

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