20 Home Items You Can Thrift To Get A Pottery Barn Vibe At Home On A Dime

Pottery Barn is long recognized as a design leader in home decor, boasting a signature curation of stylish, high-quality pieces that are distinctively on-brand. Known for their quality, as well as their hallmark rustic, yet chic aesthetic, Pottery Barn helps create spaces in the home that are both functional and nice to look at, while also appealing to a wide range of tastes and lifestyles. Whether you're looking for large furniture pieces, comfy blankets, or statement seasonal decor, Pottery Barn is now a go-to for those seeking that classic, signature look. However, despite the retailer's well-known reputation, there are some things you should never buy at Pottery Barn because, quite frankly, you'll be able to find similar pieces for much cheaper elsewhere.

With such a storied corporate image comes matching price tags, to the point where much of its merchandise can be out of reach for many. But that's not to say you can't achieve the same style at a much lower cost — if you're drawn to Pottery Barn's vibe but want to save money, thrifting offers a fantastic alternative. With a little patience and a keen eye, it's entirely possible to curate a space with the same aesthetic without breaking the bank. Love Pottery Barn's quintessential dishware? Head to a thrift store with a robust antique collection. A fan of Pottery Barn's cozy textiles? A trip down the bedding aisle will turn up all manner of throw blankets and quilts.

Speaking of textiles, Pottery Barn is the trendsetter when it comes to cozy throw blankets, but you can fool any home goods aficionado by thrifting some soft, fringe blankets as dupes of the real deal. The key to a good thrift find here is focusing on natural fibers and knits that are as soft as the more expensive pieces you'd see in Pottery Barn. Extra points if you find neutral tones or oversized throws, just like you'd see in a store. Thrifting will save you the typical $100 price tag seen on Pottery Barn's versions.

Shabby chic is still very much in the zeitgeist, and Pottery Barn's weathered terracotta pieces are perfect to achieve that aesthetic. But there's no real reason to shell out a lot of money at Pottery Barn itself. Rather, try looking for rounded, jug-like vases that you can DIY to achieve a look that's both shabby and chic. All you need is some white chalk paint and a piece of sandpaper to create the same kind of distressing that the more expensive version has. Paint the pot, distress it, and display it with your favorite blooms or branches.

If you're getting a vase, why not look for some complementary fake flowers or branches to put into it? Pottery Barn excels in styling their vases with replica flora, and while faux hydrangeas will run you almost $70 at Pottery Barn, shopping at the thrift store, you'll likely be able to find similar flowers for a far smaller price tag. For the same vibe as Pottery Barn's products, look for flowers in neutral tones or pieces that mimic organic elements like olive branches or cotton sprigs.

While embroidered pillows may feel slightly granny, they're making a big comeback, and Pottery Barn's selection feels both modern yet classic, leaning into an Arts & Crafts-coded vibe. While thrifting, avoid loud, pastel colors and embroidery with cheesy phrases or patterns. Instead, look for muted florals, southwestern-inspired designs, or jacquard-looking throw pillows to fully achieve that rustic chic catalogue look. Be sure to sanitize these pieces before use and avoid pillow-washing mistakes on laundry day so that your thrifted finds look new, not dingy.

Stoneware mugs are another signature shabby chic piece common in Pottery Barn's lineup. But for almost $50 for a set of four, the cost per mug feels a little outrageous. Lucky for the keen thrifter, mugs and drinkware are never in short supply at the thrift store; you just have to keep your eyes peeled for good stoneware. Like with previous ideas, focus on neutral colored stoneware, but fair warning, finding matching mugs may be a bit of a challenge. Pivot to complementary cups rather than matching ones if you're having a hard time.

To get that dreamy Pottery Barn bedroom decor vibe, try thrifting bedding in neutral colors, but keep in mind they should have a bit of character. Focus on dusty-hued florals, subtle quilting, ruffled edges, or even flannel to craft a bedroom style that mimics the unique aesthetic you want. Official Pottery Barn merchandise will run you at least $100, if not double that, but hunting for similar styles from the thrift store can achieve the same results as the 'real deal', but for an incredibly wallet-friendly budget.

Pottery Barn has some stunning antiqued, gold picture frames in their lineup, and incidentally, these kinds of aged-looking frames are a staple at the thrift store, too. While you may have to remove some old family photos or repair the backing on some of your thrift store purchases, you can definitely get the Pottery Barn look on a much smaller budget, instead of paying almost $60 for each frame! For that amount of money, you could probably fill an entire gallery wall with metal frames from a second-hand store.

Why spend tons of money on decorations that are only in your home for a season, maybe less? Instead of shelling out $60 for a chenille pumpkin or $50 for a fuzzy heart, hunt for similar pieces at the thrift store. While you may not be able to find a direct match, you can find something in a similar vein, and you can even reupholster certain pieces with fabric that you can also find at the thrift if you need to upcycle a piece to look a little more Pottery Barn-esque.

How many of us are guilty of gifting a loved one a comfy robe because we don't know what else to get them as a present? And how many of us are the loved one who has no need for that robe and donates it? All that being said, if you're looking for a Pottery Barn-styled, cozy robe  (yes, they have robes!), you'll likely find a good selection at thrift stores, particularly after the holidays. You may even be able to score a new robe, at a fraction of the cost ... maybe even a Pottery Barn one!

Pottery Barn's marble bathroom accessories always look so elegant and expensive on the vanity, but come at a high cost — $30 to $100 per piece. At the thrift store, you can find similar items, as long as you're alright piecing together different parts of the sets. While it may take a little extra work to mix and match, the end result will be a fairly cohesive, marble set that looks far more expensive than it actually is. You don't even have to get real marble pieces, either; matching porcelain pieces evoke the same vibe.

Pottery Barn is all about organic, natural-looking materials, and wicker is a favorite that the brand tends to incorporate into bathroom accessories and living room décor. Whether it's a wicker waste basket for a chic office set up or a hamper basket to make laundry look and feel a touch more elegant, this brand is fantastic at hiding things behind a basket weave. Luckily, you don't have to shell out $70 for a fancy trash receptacle – in thrift stores, baskets are a dime a dozen. 

Utility baskets make for aesthetic organizational methods, but buying them retail at Pottery Barn can come with a lofty $60 price tag. At the thrift store, though, it could be a fraction of the cost for each basket. Again, finding matching baskets might be a challenge; however, if you focus on finding different styles that all speak the same design language, rather than make them overtly match, it can still look equally aesthetic as buying the more expensive, perfectly matching Pottery Barn versions.

Nothing screams a Pottery Barn living room more than white, cream, or taupe linen curtains hung high and wide on a matte black or wooden accented curtain rod. While at the store, an oversized curtain is over $350, not to mention the rod, which is an additional $170 or higher depending on the model, you can get the look for much, much less, by thrifting similarly colored curtains and a look-alike for the rod. While the material should be a focus, the key here is texture. Think organic and slightly weathered, like linen.

The right soft-colored, textured table cloths at Pottery Barn will set you back almost $200, and that doesn't include other linens like napkins and table runners, which can cost $56 for a set of four napkins and $100 for the runner. Usually, the thrift store is chock-full of linen options that you can mix and match to achieve the same cottage-core look that Pottery Barn is famous for with their tablescapes. Bonus points for purposefully frayed edges, linen, and muted forest-inspired colors.

Peruse the glass aisle of the thrift store, and you'll be amazed at the selection of beautiful glassware available. Stock up your bar selection a la Pottery Barn's vibe with some antique-looking cups, colored glass, textured designs, and metallic accents. Supplement these main bar staples with pieces that complement the look, like coasters and bar tools. Not only does it make your bar look catalogue-worthy, but these items make great additions to tablescapes while entertaining. If you were to go to Pottery Barn for your bar items, it would likely cost so much more.

Area rugs are meant to frame out a room, giving it warmth and spatial interest, and Pottery Barn selections tend to evoke that elegant, yet lived-in aesthetic that cottage-core does so well. However, is getting a luxury area rug really worth the price? Pottery Barn's pieces can run in the multi-thousand-dollar range, while at the thrift store, you can likely find similar area rugs on a much smaller budget. Like with curtain ideas, stick to textured, neutral, or lightly patterned to achieve Pottery Barn's look, but with at least one less zero on the price tag.

Pottery Barn is known for having a variety of wall art mediums in their line-up, from wooden trays to canvas paintings, but the truth of the matter is that you can DIY or thrift your own versions of Pottery Barn's chic pickings. Repurpose thrifted wooden trays as displayable pieces by mounting them right onto the wall or paint over old thrifted canvases in the same aesthetic as some of Pottery Barn's art. Get creative for this one — Pottery Barn has everything from contemporary geometric art pieces to classic landscapes or seascapes.

Furniture pieces like dressers, bedframes/headboards, and armchairs can run you into the many thousands at Pottery Barn, and yes, while their millwork is beautiful to look at and their finishes feel expensive, you can snag your own oversized pieces of furniture from the thrift store without having to spend thousands. Even if it's not an exact replica of the Pottery Barn version, you can easily upcycle some of the furniture with a new finish, hardware, or even shabby chic distressing, to resemble the pricier version.

Pottery Barn's Scandinavian-style shelving is really tempting, especially if your design aesthetic is contemporary and modern, but just because it's too expensive doesn't necessarily mean it's beyond your reach. Save on shelving by heading to the thrift and grabbing some existing shelves in the furniture section; you can likely DIY them with a new stain so they feel just as warm as the store versions without the insane price tag. If you prefer the look of Pottery Barn's floating shelves, you can even repurpose pieces of various shelving units from the thrift store.

Whether you're looking for decorative plates for your seasonal tablescapes or hoping to display these pieces on your walls or buffets year-round, there's no doubt that Pottery Barn has some stunning pieces of china. But a quick peek at the dishware aisle in the thrift store could prove just as fruitful as a perusal at Pottery Barn, with stacks of plate sets often selling for bargain prices. While some dishes might have a little ding on them, it's part of the charm getting pieces second-hand, or even vintage.