Walls with Personality

How Thrifting and a Little Creativity
Can Turn Any Blank Wall into a Statement

By Tiana Molony | September 11, 2025

Find more Fall 2025 Home & Garden stories here.

When I began decorating my current home, the first thing I searched for was art. Instead of waiting until the house was finished to add pieces, I decided to build the space around the art I found. Even more importantly, I made it my mission to thrift every piece.

Incorporating vintage art really made the whole space come to life. And it turns out I’m not alone. A 2023 survey from Slickdeals found that nearly half of homeowners believe that simply hanging art on the walls is one of the most effective minor home improvements for enhancing a home’s appearance — even better if the art is secondhand.

Not only is thrifting vintage art sustainable, but it’s also cost-effective. Usually, you can find some pretty high-quality pieces of art that don’t pale in comparison to some of the more expensive commercial sellers.

The Aesthetic

When thrifting art or any vintage home decor, you want to have a good sense of the style of the space — are you going for a cottagecore look? Maybe you want to achieve the Nancy Meyers aesthetic. If you’re unsure, one of my favorite things to do is browse Pinterest and save photos for inspiration. That way, when I’m pursuing the vintage stores with extensive stock, I’ll already know what I’m looking for.

The Hunt

There are many places to find vintage art, including thrift stores, estate sales, flea markets, consignment shops, and online resale sites such as Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. However, keep in mind that it’s sometimes hard to know the quality of a piece solely from an image.

Some of my favorite vintage stores around town, which have singlehandedly decorated the walls of my living space, are The Vintage Fox (thevintagefoxsb.com) and Summerland Antique Collective (summerlandantiquecollective.com). There’s also Urban Flea Market (sburbanfleamarket.com), if you’re looking for a midcentury-modern vibe.

While I prefer to shop local, I’m also a sucker for a good flea market. My favorite is the Rose Bowl Flea, which takes place in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl stadium on the second Sunday of every month. Here you’ll find no shortage of vintage art, photographs, and everything in between. At large markets like this, make sure you know what you’re looking for before going into it.

The Placement

There are a few ways you can style vintage artwork in your home. One of my favorites is creating a gallery wall on one blank wall in the house. To do this, collect a variety of art pieces in different frame sizes and shapes. Determine the number of pieces you’ll need, based on the size of the wall where you’ll be hanging them.

Another great way to display your art is by adding a statement piece. If you come across a larger work of art but think it’s too big for a gallery wall, consider choosing a large blank wall in the house and centering the piece.

If you find two works of art sold together, buy both and hang them on opposite sides of a wall, which is usually referred to as symmetrical hanging (when the pieces mirror each other across the wall) or balanced hanging (when they’re on opposite sides but not perfectly mirrored). I came across two small horse prints at an estate sale and hung them above my dressers on either side of the bed, so the horses faced each other.

If you want to add art to your space but refuse to use a hammer and a level, you don’t have to. Just lean any work of art against a wall to elevate your space. Maybe there’s a bare dresser in your home — lean a piece of art against it and the wall.

The best part about incorporating art into your home is that it’s entirely up to you.