The Key to Thrifting True Treasures
In this edition of The Recommendation, we’re covering expert tips for secondhand shopping. Plus: an iPhone sticker hack, where to find vintage flatware, and how an eBay yearbook became a perfect birthday gift.
In my twenties, I dated someone who made furniture. When we moved in together, they told me they’d build us a coffee table. We were young designers who often made unrealistic promises, and, of course, it did not happen. For years — years! — we made do with a pine plank laid across two milk crates.
Temporary was fine until it became unbearable. Suddenly I was fixating on finding a coffee table like it was a metaphor for something else. (It was.) I scanned online shops, Craigslist, and ducked into secondhand stores when I was supposed to be buying groceries. I knew I didn’t want something I’d end up putting on the curb; I wanted something more durable, less wasteful than fast furniture could offer, that felt like mine. But my frantic search yielded nothing I could actually afford.
I wish I’d been able to turn to Wirecutter back then. This week, we published an ambitious series of pieces about how to shop secondhand. Journalists across beats — from style, to home decor, to kitchen — went on missions to unearth the absolute best secondhand finds, all within a tight budget.
