You Can Find Cheap Decor Using This Brilliant Stager Trick

Staging a home can be very expensive. According to a recent estimate from Home Advisor, a typical home seller can expect to pay somewhere between $832 and nearly $3,000 to stage their home. And it gets pricey for the stager, too. Typically the stager purchases and owns the furniture and decor that they use in projects. It’s not uncommon for stagers to try to save money by shopping at secondhand stores or yard sales.

While I’m not planning on moving anytime soon, I’m always on the hunt for pro-approved deals on where to find the best and cheapest home furniture and decor items. That’s why I asked Molly Marino, a home stager based out of Chicago, Illinois, where she likes to find her best furniture deals — and she let me in on her biggest shopping secret.

Her shopping secret? Amish flea markets. Her reasoning? They’re all over, and they have some major gems, if you’re ready to dig.

“Generally, you can find these rural flea markets and swaps all over the country,” Marino explains. “There is one several hours from Chicago in a town called Shipshewana, Indiana, that I go to about once a year with my sights set on used farm or rural equipment that can double as decor.” 

She went on to explain that anyone who lives close to Amish country — such as parts of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kentucky, or Missouri — can probably find these kinds of flea markets within driving distance. 

“In particular I like to find items that have either a quirky eccentric bent or farming industrial vibe,” Marino adds. “I have picked up items like dough bowls, hand-carved wood dinnerware, tobacco sorters, pieces of weather vanes and windmills, interesting farm baskets, and livestock gear like old yokes and such. Sometimes something unexpected like a farm implement on the wall of a modern home is just the touch that is needed.” 

Marino suggests that if you’re looking to embark on a trip to an Amish flea market, take cash. And be prepared to clean and scrub the items you take home, as many come from farms. Great items to look for might include glassware, interesting plates and pottery, baskets, old tools for decor, and even old quilts and fabric swatches. (Inspect for bugs, mold, and mildew first!) 

“I bought these two low flat baskets years ago and use them endlessly in staging,” she says. “I also have several of these bent pieces of wood which are from some sort of farming implement for cattle or similar. I hang them from the wall as art.”