Flea Market Chic: The Thrifty Way to Create a Stylish Home

Fleamarket Chic is the smart way to decorate now, adding texture, color, and depth to contemporary interiors.

In modern rooms, a distressed chair or a vintage mirror adds a perfect finishing touch. And in traditional decorating schemes, fleamarket chic is a key part of the mix: faded textiles, weathered furniture, mis-matched china, and the occasional flamboyant lamp or work of art are all part of the charm. Of course, Fleamarket Chic is about saving you money, along with recycling, upcycling, and repurposing. But it’s also about a sense of history and place, about individuality, and creating a home that reflects your life and personality. Every piece in a Fleamarket Chic interior has a story: the colorful pitcher you found at a garage sale, the vintage telephone you reclaimed when a favorite aunt finally bought a modern handset, the little chair you found in a county junk store, or the old trash cans that have been converted into fashionable zinc planters. In Fleamarket Chic, we’ll show you how to spot the clever find in a pile of junk, where to look and how to negotiate, how to smarten up (and when not to smarten up) second-hand items, and how to re-discover and re-use things you or your family already have.

Liz Bauwens is a freelance stylist who has worked for House and Garden, Good Housekeeping and Country Homes and Interiors. Alexandra Campbell is a writer whose work has appeared in many national newspapers and magazines including The Times Magazine, The Independent and Financial Times: How to Spend It. Together they are the authors of Simply Country and Thrifty Chic, both available from CICO Books.

Liz Bauwens is based in Chelsea, London and Alexandra Campbell is based in Faversham, Kent.