I recently tried a new bread recipe and my entire family loves it so much that it’s become a staple in our household. Since I am making it weekly (sometimes twice a week!), I decided to treat myself to a pretty bread baker.
I found a beautiful stoneware bread baker on Etsy and instantly fell in love. When I saw that the potter lives in Indiana, it felt like a bonus to get to support a local-ish small business. He sent updates throughout the process of making it (so fun!) and it felt like a mini Christmas Day when it finally arrived. I’ve been using it ever since!
Etsy is such a fun place to shop and find unique items for my house (and life in general!) I’ve used it for a wide variety of things over the years and today I thought I’d do a little round-up of my favorite finds so far. This post isn’t sponsored or anything like that – I just love creating a collected, character-filled look and feel to my home and genuinely enjoy using Etsy to find items achieving that!
I know I already talked about this, but it just makes me so happy! It was definitely a splurge item but given how often I use it + how much I love it + the value I personally place on a unique, handmade item and supporting small businesses and artisans, to me it was totally worth it.
I saw this on Etsy last year and immediately sent my mom a link for my Christmas list. Ha! It is stunning and so substantial. This small business is great – the cutting boards are handcrafted in small batches in the USA with sustainably sourced American maple. One side is for cutting, the other for displaying and serving food. Again, it’s more of a splurge item, but for the quality and longevity I think it’s worth it!
Vintage Brass Wall Planters
Etsy isn’t just for selling newly created items – there are a ton of people selling vintage pieces! This little collection of vintage brass wall planters was cultivated over time and all started when I needed something to put on this small wall in Ollie’s nursery. I found the smaller two wall planters on Etsy and loved them, but they weren’t enough to fill the whole wall. I kept searching for more, waiting for ones that would feel right for the space, and eventually found two more from different vintage sellers (as well as a fifth one I found locally at a vintage sale). I love the eclectic, yet elevated touch they bring to the nursery and might keep adding to the collection at some point. To find something similar, you can just search “vintage brass wall planter” and lots of options will show up.
Back in August 2021 when I was working on updating our bedroom, I decided to upgrade an Ikea Hemnes dresser to create a dupe of a much more expensive dresser I loved. I turned to Etsy for leather drawer pulls and found these – they were exactly what I was looking for and gave a custom look to this standard dresser. They’re well made and still going strong a year and a half later.
Did you know you can find a lot of great lighting sources on Etsy? I discovered Illuminate Vintage there and ended up buying their raw brass globe sconces for our bedroom renovation. They’re so pretty and I love how they’re gaining a patina over time.
Artwork/Digital Downloads
I have turned to Etsy multiple times over the years for digital downloads. I think the first time was when I needed some art for this wall in our basement – I knew I wanted something large but had a small budget so a digital download was the perfect solution. I bought this download, had it printed off at my local FedEx at 24″ x 36″, built a frame out of scrap wood, and boom: a big, beautiful piece of artwork! (Side note: it looks like the shop I purchased from does not offer this print as a digital download anymore, but you can still purchase it on paper or canvas).
For Christmas, my horse-loving niece asked for artwork to decorate her new room so I found this one and this one, printed them off, and slipped them in thrifted frames that I spray painted. When I needed Valentines for LJ and Vi to take to school, I found a cute template to print and attach suckers to. When I needed a map of Ireland for a DIY Christmas ornament for my sister, when I wanted some seasonal art, when I looked for black and white contrast cards for Ollie as a newborn, when I wanted to incorporate a deer and tractor in LJ’s upgraded gallery wall – Etsy, Etsy, Etsy. I personally have only purchased digital downloads, but you can also find options that will be physically shipped to you, sometimes even framed.
I do think it’s important to note: there is some original artwork on Etsy but there are also a lot of prints from other artists. MANY of these prints can be found through the public domain (meaning you can download and print them free from copyright restrictions). There are literally millions of pieces of art in the public domain – the Etsy shops do not own the print but they charge for the download because they offer the service of a more curated collection. If you want the absolute cheapest option, you can go through the public domain yourself and find free artwork to download. If you want some curation so you’re not sifting through mountains of artwork, it might be work the few dollars that the Etsy shop will charge you to download.
While Etsy is great for finding things for my home, I’ve also used it to find things for my kids.
Baby Girl Bows
There are SO many shops selling adorable bows for little girls. I especially loved finding and supporting shops that were run by mamas! As she got older and stopped wanting the nylon band going around her head, we switched to some cute ribbed clips to keep her hair out of her face.
Without a doubt, my Boppy pillow is one of my most used baby items. It got used SO much with each child that by the time I had Ollie, the original cover was looking pretty dingy. I found this beautiful handmade linen cover on Etsy and it’s given new life to my six-year-old pillow!
I mean – can you even!? LJ was born around Thanksgiving and spent a week in the NICU so by the time we left the hospital and could take newborn pictures, it was December. Perfect for a little Christmas sprinkled in! I’m not keeping many baby items long term, but this is one item I’m going to hold on to. Who knows, maybe I’ll have a grandchild get to wear it someday – it has that kind of heirloom quality.
I could go on and on about the random things I’ve purchased over the years. Gifts for others (like this book ornament and this toddler purse), a new nursing/car seat cover after Ollie was born, constellation decals for our secret nook under the stairs . . . the list goes on! The bottom line is, Etsy is a great place to look for items for your home and life and they’re often handmade by artisans and small business owners, making them unique and special. It feels like a win, win, win!
Now I’m on the hunt for a tissue box cover for the kids’ shared bedroom and I bet you can guess where I’m looking first . . . 🙂
simplify the chaos 