Good Looking and Inexpensive Artifacts for Your Home

When decorating your home, you want every object on display to tell a story. Utilizing antique store finds or flea market trinkets in your decoration style can add visual interest to an otherwise bland home, but discovering and displaying artifacts can bring even more interest to your shelf of sundries. Artifacts are, by definition, things that are used by people in their daily lives and then abandoned, left to be discovered by someone years, decades, or even centuries hence. Today we want to change the way you shop for antiques, and instead help you discover good looking and inexpensive artifacts for your home.

Found Objects

In short, found objects are always artifacts. If you move into an older home, chances are you’ve already got artifacts stashed away somewhere from previous residents. Examine every nook and cranny, explore the attic, crawl-space, and closets thoroughly. If you’re lucky, you’ll find some items left from previous occupants! These artifacts, however mundane they may seem, are part of your home’s story, and with a little imagination, you can display them proudly and preserve the heritage of the home you now call home.

Usually, a found artifact will be something simple: a bottle, plate, or bowl. Give these items a new life on a shelf or coffee table where they can hold decorative items. Many people find documents or letters, which can be framed and hung for all to enjoy. Even old clothes, wall coverings, or other such scraps of fabric can be properly displayed in a frame, giving the artifact a new life and helping you to preserve the story of your home.

In the Antique Shop

Of course, artifacts for your home don’t always have to be discovered in a disused corner or dug out of a closet. Many antique shops, flea markets, and yard sales will introduce you to interesting artifacts too. To shop for artifacts for your home, you’ll want to change the way you look at antiques. Instead of shopping for the decorative or impressive pieces, train your eye to seek out the mundane. You’re looking for seemingly everyday objects that have a touch of character. A chipped teapot, cracked plate, or worn tool tells its own story of its days of constant use, and one of these items will display nicely as an artifact in your home.

Think With Your Hands

When seeking good looking and inexpensive artifacts for your home, always try to think in terms of what an object was used for. Who sipped tea from this cracked cup? Who used this worn, century-old hammer to repair the border fence? By thinking with your hands, worn mundane objects become more than just disused antiques. They become artifacts in every way – they are part of our legacy as humans, and by displaying them in your home you’re not only making your home look more interesting, you’re honoring and preserving that legacy.

Photo: Pexels