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In an age when we should be reducing, reusing and recycling, the retro look is more relevant than ever. How can you fill your home with timeless treasures and your wardrobe with “pre-loved” clothes? Here, secondhand specialists share the secrets to sourcing vintage, bartering for a bargain – and avoiding overshopping.
Embrace a sense of nostalgia
Vintage interiors offer “an invisible link to your history”, says Estelle Bilson, a broadcaster, designer and author whose book 70s House was inspired by her time-capsule terrace in Manchester. “There are pieces here that remind me of my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles,” she says, referencing the Mad Men line: “Nostalgia is a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone.” Bilson’s father was an antiques dealer, “so a lot of my early memories are of my dad restoring furniture. I started going to auctions when I was four and I was told to sit on my hands in case I bid on anything. I don’t remember my parents ever buying new furniture.”
Help the planet by buying pre-loved
“By choosing secondhand, you are saving something from landfill,” says Bilson. When she goes to car boot sales, she is reminded that, most of the time, “we don’t actually need to make anything new. There are enough plates, drinking glasses and cutlery to go around.”
Find your era
Most people are looking for mid‑century modern furniture, says Laura Budds, who owns Norfolk Retro, a vintage furniture shop in Norwich, and NR Closet, the secondhand clothing shop next door. “Unfortunately, the supply has dwindled over the last few years. A lot of it has been shipped off to Japan and elsewhere, so it is less accessible price-wise now.” Try not to fixate on unaffordable trends, she says. “The definition of vintage is only 20 years, so we’ve started to creep into the 80s and 90s, or even beyond. Ikea from the early 2000s can be really sought-after.” Budds describes her interior style as “vintage meets modern” and recommends looking for “anything that will work in a modern interior, from any era. Not heavy Victorian pieces, but light, small pieces.”
Know your budget – and stick to it
Always do research into how much something should cost, advises Danny Sebastian, the market trader turned antique dealer and Bargain Hunt presenter. Whether you are attending an auction or a fair, or buying on eBay, know your upper limit and don’t go above it, “or else it can soon run away with you. You can fall in love with something and buy it for £180 and go down the road and see one for £90.” He also warns that using last-second bidding apps on eBay can lead you to go over budget.
Shop from sources you can afford
If money is no object, “places like Vinterior and Pamono are good for finding what you want quickly”, says Bilson. “Items have been restored and they have couriers in place, so you don’t have to pick things up – you may pay a premium for that.” For mid-price purchases, “there are dedicated vintage shops or centres, such as Pear Mill in Stockport and Bygone Times in Eccleston, where things are sold by independent dealers who have done the leg work: they’ve sourced it, cleaned it and often restored it,” says Bilson.
Sebastian says: “The best place to get a bargain has got to be at the big antiques fairs up and down the country.” He recommends Newark, Swinderby, Ardingly, Kempton Park and Shepton Mallet.
Finding a bargain can offer the biggest thrill
“I will dredge the likes of Facebook Marketplace, eBay and car boot sales,” says Bilson. “For me, it’s not the styling or the owning it; it is finding it that I get a buzz from. If I can find something that is worth £200 for £1 at a car boot sale, I get a bigger thrill from that than paying £150 at a vintage centre.”
What is her best recent bargain? “A pair of Anglo American sunglasses. I picked them up, thinking they were unusual, but didn’t know anything about them; I often buy on gut instinct. The seller wanted £5. I offered £3 and she said no, so I paid £5. I walked away, looked them up and they are really rare – from the 1970s and worth about £1,000. That is when I get really excited.”
Budds advises caution when using Facebook Marketplace: “Anything that is good is gone within minutes and you need to be on the seller’s doorstep ready to pick it up straight away. When you get there, it is often not quite in the condition that you thought it was going to be, which is fine if you’re just buying it for yourself and you’ve got the time to do it up, but it’s not always cost-effective if you are selling it on.”
(Almost) always haggle – but do it politely
“I haggle for everything,” says Bilson. “You’ve got to be very polite and strong: you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. So if you go in with: ‘I really love this,’ it becomes a game. Never say: ‘What’s your best offer?’ Start instead with: ‘Can I make you an offer?’” Only pretend to walk away, which Bilson frequently does, if you can bear to live without it. “If I really want it, I will stump up the cash.”
Sebastian says: “Don’t feel too shy to barter. It is expected, but always with a smile on your face and always courteously. Eight times out of 10, they will come down. Unless, of course, it’s exceedingly cheap. If it’s cheap, snap it up, because somebody else might come along. I play every trick in the book. Some people give me the deal to get rid of me.”
Charity shops can be pricey, but it is all for a good cause
“Charity shops aren’t the place to barter,” says Jen Graham, AKA @charityshopgirlcsg, who lives in Sandbach, Cheshire, and is renowned for trawling the country’s “chazzers”. “Lots of charity shops have their prices for reasons: they have rent and bills to pay, like any high-street shop. I have been there when people have tried to haggle and it makes the volunteers working there uncomfortable,” she says. Graham is an ambassador for Air Ambulance and explains that £5 spent in one of their shops puts cannulas on an aircraft.
Bilson says: “The smaller independents, like a local cat charity, tend to be quite good for bargains, rather than branches of big-name charities.”
View items in person before you commit
“Auction descriptions are very brief, so you do need to go there and view it yourself, pull the drawers out and make sure it is what you want,” says Budds. If you can’t see an item in person, you can request a report in advance, says Sebastian. “Then you are buying on the auctioneer’s word. If you get it home and they didn’t say it was full of scratches and whatnot, it can go back.” With Facebook Marketplace, don’t be afraid to walk away if the quality isn’t good enough, says Bilson: “Don’t feel you have to buy something.”
Attend auctions in person
“Try to be there bidding on the day and not do it remotely,” says Budds. “That is all part of the fun – and you are likely to be able to get a better price. You can judge the room and how things are going.”
Sebastian says: “Get there early, look at the items, check the merchandise. Find a nice spot to sit, relax and enjoy it. There’s nothing to be fearful of.” One thing to bear in mind, he adds, is that there are buyers’ fees on top of the winning bid: “Very rarely do you pay the hammer price. There is always commission, which can range from 20% to 30%, and VAT.”
Go armed with measurements
“Always know your dimensions,” says Budds. “If you’ve found something for a decent price, you need to be able to snap it up there and then.” If you go home to measure, she says, chances are it won’t be there when you return. The same goes for clothing measurements, as you can’t always try on vintage garments – and sizes vary wildly through the eras, as Graham points out.
Be wise to reproductions
In the past five years, “fast interiors has grown as quickly as fast fashion”, says Budds. “You can pick up things that are pretty much exact replicas for a fraction of the price, which takes the value out of those vintage things.”
Some reproductions that were made in the 90s are now considered vintage, says Bilson: “I’ve got some Harry Bertoia bar stools in my kitchen and they are not the original 60s ones, but they are functional and the aesthetic I want. If you want the look, you can pick up a vintage one that’s been made 30 years ago, as opposed to 60 years ago, more affordably.
“What I don’t like is when people try to pass off something as older than it actually is.”
Check for pests and flaws
“Look out for woodworm holes and dust on wooden furniture, because it could infest your entire house,” says Bilson. “Same for clothing and rugs: once you’ve got moths in your home, it is a nightmare. I would avoid buying mattresses, because there are a lot of issues with bedbugs now. Do your due diligence and if you’re at all worried, get it fumigated. Vintage plastics can get a bit brittle, so give it a good look over.” If you are not sure about the item’s condition, says Bilson, “don’t risk it”.
Know your restoration limits
“Think about the level of work that you are willing to put in,” says Budds. “You can make a lot of things look so much better by yourself, but you need to consider the material it is made of.
“If it is a 70s sideboard, chances are it probably has a thin veneer on the top; you’re not going to be able to bring that back to perfect condition if it has water marks and lots of scratches. If it is a bit older and it is solid wood, you will be able to give it a good sand and oil to bring it back to its former glory.”
Budds does all her own restorations: “But I’ve learned over time that some things definitely need a professional, so be aware of your own limitations.” Re-upholstery is one such skill – and it can carry a significant cost, says Bilson: “Get a good, trusted upholsterer, and you’re winning. Vintage frames are really good with new seating, because they were built to last; modern furniture, not so much.”
Think about how you will get purchases home
“If you buy something from an antiques centre that doesn’t deliver, it is going to be quite a hassle to get it home,” says Budds. “Always work out your delivery options.”
Choose timeless pieces
Whether it’s furniture or fashion, buy items that will stand the test of time. “Invest in solid pieces that will take you through all the seasons, whether that is a really good trenchcoat or a 100% wool blazer that you know is going to last,” says Graham. “Brands like Windsmoor, Viyella and Eastex have made beautiful coats that in 20 years will still be exactly the same.” If you are choosing a sideboard for your living room, think about where else it could go when you feel like a change, says Budds. “Don’t buy something that is only going to have one use or position in your house.”
Don’t buy something just because it is a bargain
“I am a hoarder by nature,” says Bilson. “Once you get the bug, there is a huge danger to overbuy, especially at car boot sales. I’ll buy loads of one thing and then realise I’ve got 50 of them. You get caught up in the dopamine hit and euphoria of buying things cheaply.” When you are tempted, she advises considering a purchase carefully: “Do I want it in my house? No. Do I have time to restore it and sell it? No. Then you have to leave it for somebody else to find, which takes great restraint.” Budds avoids buying clothes on Vinted for this reason: “Secondhand is only good if you’re still buying consciously. If you’re only buying it because it’s cheap, then we’re not really solving much.”
Have a ‘one in, one out’ rule
“If you buy a really nice jumper, sell or donate one from your wardrobe that you haven’t worn for a couple of months, or that doesn’t make you feel great,” says Graham. If you are donating to a charity shop, consider whether you would buy it, says Graham: “Make sure it is clean and fold your stuff up into bags; even sort it out into categories like ladieswear, menswear, bric-a-brac. Remember that charity shops are not places for you to get rid of your rubbish.”
Look for spelling mistakes when searching online
“You can sometimes find good stuff by searching for spelling mistakes,” says Graham. “Gucci where someone accidentally put an extra ‘C’ or one less ‘C’. I once found Louis Vuitton where the seller had put ‘Lewis’.” Bilson has been known to just search “shelves” on Facebook Marketplace and sift through every Ikea Kallax in her quest for treasure. “I’ve got a Guzzini 1970s lamp and that was just listed as ‘lamp’. It takes longer, but the rewards are greater.”
Hang on to anything that might be fashionable again one day
It is always worth keeping things if you have space, says Bilson. “For the kitchen I fitted recently, I used some amazing 60s track lighting made by Nokia that I bought eight years ago. It had been living in my loft, waiting for its moment to shine.”
Remember: the early bird catches the worm
If you are going to a car boot sale or a fair, set your alarm to beat other bargain hunters. “I love a car boot sale, but I don’t love how early they are,” says Graham. “You have to get there early to get the good stuff.” Likewise, look out for eBay auctions that end in the middle of the night, she says. Vintage may be timeless but if you snooze, you definitely lose.
