Fall decorating does not have to drain the checkbook. Home decor creator Ali Macaluso proved it with a day of treasure hunting through antique stores and thrift shops, where a $3 ceramic cornucopia turned out to look a lot like pieces she has seen listed on Etsy for $30 to $40. She also grabbed bundled bags of pumpkins and gourds for just $2 each, and the whole trip is a handy lesson in how to shop the season on a budget.

Ali says she loves this time of year, when the stores are packed with fall decor, Halloween decor and even the first Christmas items. She jokes that many people call it “fall-o-ween,” though to her it feels more like “fall-o-wismus,” since everywhere she looks something seasonal is coming out. Her goal was simple: find pieces with character that would warm up her home for the season.

She starts each trip at the antique store, even though prices there tend to run higher than at the thrift shop. The reason is inspiration. The shapes, the finishes and the way the booths are styled give her ideas she carries in the back of her mind when she moves on to cheaper stores and keeps an eye out for something with a similar feel.

What She Looks For

Ali says she is drawn to warm wood, aged pottery and anything with an interesting texture. A piece does not have to be made for fall to work in fall decorating, she explains, because a beautiful brown glaze or a worn wood finish can pull a whole arrangement together. She also pays attention to how things are grouped, so even when she leaves a piece behind she may go home with an idea for styling something she already owns.

At her local Habitat for Humanity ReStore she checks the wooden bowls and plates, the glassware and the artwork. With wood pieces she looks at the shape first, and with artwork she checks the frame as much as the picture, since a lovely frame can be reused with something else. A full set of small glasses caught her eye there, and she says they can serve after dinner drinks, soup shooters for Thanksgiving, or hold a candle for decoration.

The ReStore also had a big shipment of Halloween overflow from Lowe’s, with tags still on the items. Ali says it is a good reminder that thrift stores carry more than donated vintage pieces, and that a drive past your local shop is worth it if you want to round out your Halloween decor.

The $3 Cornucopia

Back home, Ali shared her finds, starting with a vintage ceramic cornucopia. She loves the earthy colors, the shape and the twisted detail on the handle. She says she looked it up and has seen similar pieces on sites like Etsy for anywhere between $30 and $40, while she paid $3 at her local thrift shop.

She is not sure whether it is food safe, so she plans to use it purely for display. In her styling, she tucked in thrifted gourds, filled gaps with dried florals from her floral bin and added taper candles. The rich amber glaze sits nicely next to her aged pottery and warm fall leaves, and she says it adds another layer without changing the whole arrangement.

Bags Of Pumpkins And Gourds For $2

Her second find pairs well with the cornucopia: bags of small pumpkins and gourds, bundled together by the shop. Ali says she loves when stores bag items in little bundles like this, and these were $2 a bag. She calls it a no-brainer, because she can use them year after year.

She says the bundles add texture and an organic element that can ground an arrangement. If an area feels like it is missing something, a handful can fill it out. She suggests placing them around candles on a console table to give them depth, or setting them casually on top of books on a coffee table for an easy seasonal touch.

Wreaths, A Planter And A Christmas Village Prize

Ali also found two rustic wreaths for $18 each. The leaves are aged metal, with some made of tree bark, and the bare, sparse look with plenty of sticks showing feels autumnal to her. She points out that a good wreath can cost anywhere from $50 to $150, and these still had their tags on. She plans to hang them on the double doors that lead out to her screened-in porch, although her cat Olive was sitting in the second one when she tried to show it off.

At an antique shop she picked up a heavy, vintage looking planter for $18, with a crackled finish in cream and sage green. She says similar planters would run $50, $60 or even $70 at retail. She used it as the base for a Halloween display, adding an arm and lantern from Grandin Road, moss to hide the support and a few small thrifted pumpkins. After Halloween she can remove the arm and lantern and use the planter for a different arrangement.

She also collects Department 56 pieces for her Christmas village, which she displays on the bookshelves behind her. This time she found the Craggy Cliff platform for $30, when pieces from that brand tend to run from $50 for something small to $100 for one this size. Ali says she and her brother put out a village under the family tree every year when she was a girl, and now her kids help her set it up.

One more fun find was an animated stack of Halloween books from the Lowe’s overflow, priced at $11.55. It lists spots near where she used to live in New York, like Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown, and it has a sensor that makes the books move when someone walks by. It is cute without being creepy, and her kids love it.

Tips You Can Borrow

Ali’s approach boils down to a few easy habits. Visit an antique store first for ideas, then hunt for similar shapes and finishes at the thrift shop. Check the glassware, wooden bowls and frames, and look for bagged bundles of small items that are cheap and easy to mix into arrangements.

She also has a rule about upholstered furniture: she usually passes, preferring pieces she can wipe down and clean thoroughly. She saw a table with turned legs and damage on top that had already sold for $70, and she notes that anyone a little bit handy can save a lot of money on furniture like that. Even the practical buys count, she adds, like a pack of Command strips she knew she would actually use.

The bigger message is that one unexpected thrift find can freshen a space using mostly what you already have. Ali says the best part is going out, getting inspired and bringing home pieces for a fraction of what designer stores charge, then making them your own. That, she says, is what brings soul to a home.

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