Our mantra at Divine Savages is to decorate with what brings you joy, to weave a tapestry of happiness throughout your home, and one of the easiest ways to achieve this is through curating a cherished mix of old and new within your décor and styling. There’s nothing we love more than rummaging around flea markets and charity shops on the hunt for some vintage treasure!

We curate some of our favourite pieces on this shelving unit, mixing the old and the new. We found this vintage nun statue recently, one of our most cherished pieces. We named her Emmanuelle as she was from a French church.

Vintage pieces not only add a sense of story to your home (we love hearing the tales behind various pieces we’ve bought, and if we don’t know then we have some fun making them up!), they also add the all-important personality factor! Pieces you choose to collect, big or small, help to add your individual stamp on your home, which for us is such a crucial element and helps you tell your interior story.

We all love the thrill of a bargain, and that’s all part of the fun when shopping for vintage treasures. We’ve managed to grab some amazing pieces online for a steal, like our most recent purchase, a beautiful antique dining table for our garden studio. It’s in near perfect condition and cost us just £50, there’s no way we could have found the equivalent new for this price. True, some pieces are more expensive, but it’s a worthwhile investment – classic vintage pieces often hold their value, so unlike that new sofa you may have bought, if you decide you want to sell something on you’ll be surprised at what you can get for it, rather than having to pay for someone to take it away!

We love this unexpected pairing of a Georgian antique parlour table we found at Sunbury Market with these modernist, sculptural blue velvet armchairs and vibrant colourful rug. 

Buying antique or vintage pieces is also a great way in helping to do your bit for the planet. New furniture is often made abroad and has a much higher carbon footprint compared to something you find at your local charity shop or flea market. So instead of buying new consider finding a retro gem - be that a stately Georgian number, a classic Mid-Century piece or a delicious Art Deco item – not only will you be saving money and the environment, we guarantee they’ll bring a little bit of magic to your home.

We replaced a pair of boring chest of drawers with this Mid Century sideboard, perfect for displaying other pieces from our collection, and these bedside G Plan cabinets, fabulously revamped by the wonderful @designretrobrighton, are still some of our favourite pieces.

You may wonder where our love for all of this comes from? Myself and Tom have childhood memories of being dragged round car boot sales and antiques fairs, Tom’s parents actually ran a local one in Hampshire, and whilst at the time we may not have appreciated it, it clearly made an impression as it’s now our idea of a great day out! Together we have a pretty eclectic taste so it’s a good job we love mixing different styles - we’re always drawn to quirky things – vintage pulp fiction novels with risqué covers, Staffordshire dogs, religious artifacts, Victorian illustrations. The list goes on and on!

We have a slight obsession with collecting Karl Ens ceramic birds, and I think we’re becoming chair hoarders, we have seven seating options in the living room alone. 

Whether you’re an avid fan of vintage or just starting out on the adventure, we hope you find some inspiration from our collections and the way we incorporate them into our home. We always get asked where we find our pieces, so thought we’d share some of our favourite places to shop, both in real life and online. Read on below for the inside scoop!

Lastly, stay tuned later this month as our Sofa Soiree guest is none other than Drew Pritchard! Host of TV’s Salvage Hunters, no one knows more about buying and selling antiques than Drew, so you don’t want to miss this!

Here’s our vintage sourcebook, shhh, don’t tell anyone!

Sunbury Antiques – resistance is futile, we never come away empty handed!

Spitalfields Market – a smaller event, but one of London’s best and always a great selection of vintage sellers

Always Sunday Store for gorgeously curated homewares including a collection of vintage finds from founder Lexi who has the best style

Old Stock Antiques – one of our favourites on Instagram. Beautifully styled antiques with plenty of quirky, one-of-a-kind items

We also really love a good eBay search. If you know what you’re after definitely have a look here as chances are you’ll find it. We mostly source smaller pieces here that are easily shipped, although if you’re prepared to organise transport, furniture bargains can be found!

Hungry for more? Read our top tips from the experts on vintage treasure hunting now.