Antiquing & Thrifting for Doll Loot

Bruni visiting grandma Marjorie to chat about antiquing and thrifting.

I think everyone loves a good Doll Thrift Haul! I honestly could watch them for hours on YouTube while doing crafts or doing chores around the house. Of course, I am always looking for great deals on dolls and their accessories, but I also always have my eye out for items that can be re-purposed for doll dioramas. It’s really amazing how many miniature items are out there, you just have to keep your eyes open wide!

The Goodwill

The Goodwill is always great, especially if you stop by on a regular basis! My favorite sections for items that can be used for furniture or decor in your dioramas are the knick-knack or bric-a-brac & wood sections.

Bric-a-brac

In the bric-a-brac section look for small ceramic items that can be used as decor. I’ve found items that work great for vases, platters, statues and figurines, and even pets!

Wood goods

In this section look for items that can be used for furniture, armoires, dressers, table tops, and shelving. In this photo you can see a couple of items that might be great scale for these purposes. Remember you can always paint these items.

Here are a few items I found recently at my local Goodwill:

Look for weird things and think outside the box. A great example of this is that odd black chair/ottoman on the right. This appears to have been a gift box for a man’s watch or jewelry piece. I figured I could create a backing for it and make a full chair! The cement sculpture will be great for a park scene, I might even create a fountain to flow into the tub. The gold candle holder (?) will be a great table base and the little cage seemed like a great crab trap. The cute basset hound is self explanatory and has already found a good home!

Here are a couple of great wood finds from the Goodwill:

The vintage style sewing machine is actually a music box, but it was the perfect scale! It went straight into Bruni’s design studio! The cupboard was extreme country style (not in a good way), so I knew a makeover was in store. See the before and after below. I painted it black and added some gold details and I painted out the inside in a deep red

Flea Markets

I try to visit my local flea market that is held at an old Drive-in theater about once a month. It’s a fun early Sunday morning excursion with a hot cup of coffee. I generally bring a set amount of cash and don’t allow myself to spend more than that. As most of you know I have had a lot of luck finding great dolls in and out of box. The toy stalls are so fun!

I am always on the look out for dolls with articulation, good clothes, Ken’s and unique dolls in box.

You never know what you might find at these markets either, so be on the look out for anything you might find useful for your dolls and/or crafts.

Here are some goodies I found a few months ago:

I’ve also found new items such as the popular kitchen set everyone has gone mad over.

Antique Collectives

If you didn’t know, most towns have antique shops called collectives that have anywhere from 10-40 different dealers who each rent their own space. Each booth can have totally different things and I can bet you that there are treasures to find in miniature form! These may also be known as Peddler’s Mall’s in other parts of the country.

Look for fashions too, you can find great vintage styles and beautifully hand made items.

Don’t forget to dig in these bins! While most of the stuff is 1/12 scale, I recently found a bunch of 1/6 scale Barbie goodies! I found all of this vintage Barbie sized Depression Glass style dinnerware. I later found that these come from one of the Barbie Designer Collection furniture sets.

There are even dealers who might specialize only in miniatures!

There are countless styles of miniatures produced, so you are bound to find items that suit your style. If you like Asian styles, like I do, you will probably score!

Tip: You can ask for a discount unless the items are marked “Net” after the price on the tag. Generally 10% is a standard discount, but if you are buying a lot of items from one dealer you might get a better deal. It’s okay to ask the cashier’s to call the dealer if they aren’t currently in the shop.

Here are some items I have been stocking away in recent months:

Watch for these items in future dioramas and for future fun hauls on Instagram!

Thank you as always for stopping by! I hope you are inspired to go on your own hunts for tiny treasures! Don’t forget to Follow us here if you want to get email notifications when we post. Until next time…