The vintage "feel"....

During my thrifting trips I often have to remind myself that I need to look at things in a different light.I walk around and try to envision things used in a manner that maybe they weren't originally intended, or altered some way to fit in the scheme of my home.

Maybe its an ugly color....I can paint it (you can seriously paint almost ANYTHING! And I have. LOL).

Maybe its chipped on one side.....I can turn it so no one will know but me.

Maybe its a trivet, but I like it and want to hang it on my wall (true story).

Here's another perfect example....

A few weeks ago I decided that my house was decorated way too neutral and needed to be infused with splashes of color here and there. I'm not going all out crazy with it and painting the walls in rainbow stripes....but I need to make an effort when shopping for decorative items to stop leaning towards buying accents in white and black and start reaching for other colors.

So while at my local thrift store the other day I came across this:

 
I'm pretty sure its not vintage, but it was colorful and had a vintage "feel" that I like. That was a plus. Another plus, it was only $1.50. The negative? It was a tote bag.The last thing I need in this house is another tote bag and I wasn't about to just hang it on the wall as-is. So I bought it, brought it home, cut the picture out, and dug around in my "closet of fun" (aka the closet where I keep all of my unused decorating supplies). I found a frame and popped it in. WA-LAAAA!!! The vintage "feel", a pop of color, and all for $1.50.

Go me!!!!

Do you have any other ideas or suggestions on how to achieve the vintage feel while not breaking the bank? Please feel free to share in the comments section! Thanks!!!