20 Thrift Store Flips To Furnish Empty Corners On A Budget

Whether you're rearranging your living room or moving into a new home, decorating can be fun, exciting, and overwhelming all at once. Once you establish the structure of your interior decor with large pieces of furniture, filling in the details is where the magic happens. It's at this point that many people encounter a common problem and start looking for stylish ways to decorate the empty corners. Toward this end, we found some great thrift flip solutions to help homeowners solve this challenge and furnish the empty corners of their homes on a budget.

No matter what room in the house, you can end up with awkward or empty corners, and we found a variety of unique ways to address these problem areas. Once you start designing your empty corners with intention, you may even discover they become one of the most enjoyable parts of decorating your home. Before filling tricky angles, decide what you want your space to do, then determine the style. It could be a reading nook, extra seating, or a workspace, or if it's a sunny corner, it might be a good spot for feng shui houseplants to bring good luck into your home. No matter your style, after exploring these inspiring empty corner solutions, you'll be ready to head to the thrift store to find the perfect pieces.

When it comes to thrift stores and items like wall art and embroidered linens, you'll never have a problem finding something affordable that can work to uplift an empty corner in your home. Wall art is one of the basics of home decor, and there is usually a stack of it at thrift stores and antique shops. 

Take one of these home and fill it with an embroidered design for some charming yet rustic fabric wall art. Another wall art idea is to make magic by sun printing with a thrifted tablecloth.

For a cozy reading corner thrift flip idea, take a page from an old book with interesting pages. Then, grab some frames from the second hand store, and upcycle them using a page or two from the book. After you frame the pages, use them to decorate a cozy reading corner in your living room or bedroom. 

You can use several pages to create a gallery that hangs on the wall, or tastefully display a single page on a cabinet in the corner. This idea works great with dictionaries, atlases, or even old children's books, depending on the room or theme.

Go to any thrift store, yard sale, or antique shop, and you'll find at least one chair that needs a home. Often, you can purchase one of these for just a few bucks, especially the ones that are a little worse for wear. Even though old chairs may need some extra TLC, they have a lot of potential for filling an empty corner in almost any room in the house. 

When you combine a chair with a side table, lamp, artwork, and area rug, you have the perfect formula for filling an empty corner or alcove.

Head to the furniture section at a second hand store and you'll find inexpensive cabinets and bookcases that have seen better days. Many of these can become a statement piece when given a fresh coat of paint. 

To add more personality to your interior spaces, you can achieve any style you want by giving bookcases and cabinets fun makeovers using stencils, wallpaper, or decorative hardware. These fit perfectly in an empty corner without taking up a lot of space, and they're practical if you want to add some storage or display a few books.

No matter where you're thrift shopping, whether it's a flea market or a sidewalk yard sale, finding floor lamps is pretty common. If you're looking to fill an empty corner on a budget, find one you like, clean it up, and pair it with some artwork or seating. 

Or, if you're feeling crafty and ingenious, you could upcycle it using ideas like painting it, wrapping it with jute rope or fabric, or adding other pieces to create a sculpture. You could even turn it into something completely different, such as a plant stand or hat rack.

Old ladders can sometimes be found at estate sales, flea markets, and online marketplaces for affordable prices. Whether you keep the rustic, paint splattered charm intact or give your old ladder a fresh upgrade, a ladder will fit nicely into any corner. 

For example, in your bedroom, you could use a ladder to display fresh linens, something that could be particularly charming if you love striped bedding and are trying to achieve a modern cottage or eclectic boho aesthetic. 

While centuries-old antique quilt stands can be very expensive and hard to find, you can sometimes find vintage quilt stands for an affordable price. You could even pick up a few quilts at the thrift store while you're there, or if you're thinking of decorating with a Victorian style, find some lacey crochet throws. 

No matter what aesthetic you choose, a quilt stand in the corner of your bedroom instantly gives the space a comforting vibe. This is also a surprisingly practical idea in the living room, especially if you're someone who likes to grab a blanket when you're relaxing.

You can make a unique plant stand out of almost anything, and with creative thrift flips for plant displays, you can fill an empty corner almost anywhere in your home. Whether it's your porch, bathroom, or laundry room, you can use a plant stand to fill up large and small spaces. 

Make them from upcycled bar stools, high chairs, or a stack of vintage crates. Creating a unique plant stand from items at the thrift store can be a great decorating solution for that tiny corner where a television console and a couch come together.

Room dividers can be helpful in small homes and apartments to define distinct zones and separate areas to create privacy. You can sometimes find old room dividers at thrift stores, flea markets, or antique stores with all the charm and appeal you need. Or, you can give them a fresh coat of paint or use stenciled designs to create something new. 

Another idea is to upcycle old doors that you find at salvage centers and second hand stores and turn them into a chic privacy screen with added shelves.

With a little effort and some DIY supplies, you can fill an empty corner of your room on a budget by creating a small workspace. Pick up an inexpensive desk at the thrift store, upcycle it, and turn an empty corner into a computer station or homework desk. Include a chair, an area rug, and a piece of art, and you're in business. 

This is a great idea for shared bedrooms, and in the living room, it becomes a good spot for the kids to do their homework, while letting you control how much privacy there is.

You may not have even noticed before how many empty corners there are in your home. You'll find them everywhere from the living room to the garden, but no matter where, sculptures are one design solution that you can use to fill up these empty spaces with style. 

In addition to upcycling sculptures that you might find, you have artistic license to use whatever you want to make 3D artwork for your home and garden. So, head to the thrift store, pick out anything that catches your eye, and turn it into a stylish, one-of-a-kind sculpture.

Whether you put musical instruments on display or find unique ways to upcycle them into something different, these thrift store finds can be an affordable way to fill that empty corner. 

From transforming a drum into a mini bar to making a bookshelf out of a guitar, there are many ways to use this idea. If you or a loved one has a special affinity for music, you could lean into this aesthetic by framing vintage sheet music or adding comfortable seating to create a stylish music corner.

Use an old hutch that you find at a thrift store or flea market to make a charming coffee corner or bar. Because a coffee corner can just be a station where people grab a cup and go, this is a wonderful way to use even a slim nook in between the kitchen and living room, for example. 

Decorate it with paint, use stenciled designs, or for a beautiful furniture finish that's suspected to trend in 2026, try using glossy lacquer for a design that really pops and is easy to keep clean.

If you have birds, we found another unique way to use an old hutch in an empty corner, an idea that's perfect if you're on a tight budget. Old hutches were once popular, but today, you can find them at thrift stores and flea markets. 

Turning an old hutch into a bird cage by taking out the glass and replacing it with wire mesh can give your birds a little more space. You'll only be using the upper part, so you have plenty of room below for extra storage.

There are a lot of different types of old trunks out there and many different ways to use them, including a number of ideas for filling an empty corner in your home. 

Whether you turn an old trunk upright, add some shelves, and give it legs or cushion the top and turn it into an ottoman, this versatile idea offers multiple opportunities for adding personal flair to your home decor. You could even pair this solution with globes, airplanes, or framed passports for a travel-related theme.

Since the invention of sewing machines in the 1800s, they have been a staple in households all over the United States. In the 1900s, many homes had sewing carts where the machine flipped down and out of the way. 

Upcycled into a mini bar, sewing machine carts can be an affordable solution to fill a corner. You could even replace the spot where the sewing machine once went with a small sink or ice well to keep your beverages cool. These fit neatly anywhere, even on your patio.

Instead of wasting all that space in the corners of your home, you might keep your eye out on Facebook Marketplace for an old corner hutch. This is an obvious, yet affordable solution for an empty corner in your home. 

Whether you fill it with dishes or use it in a child's room for books and toys, an upcycled corner hutch gives you many design opportunities to create a personal look for your home. You can paint it, add wire mesh, or upgrade the natural wood grain, depending on your style and where you're using it in your home.

Old window frames are often found at antique malls and second hand stores. With the right upcycling techniques, you can transform any of them into a work of art and hang them in an empty corner. Whether it's on your back porch or in your bathroom, a repurposed window frame is a budget-friendly idea. 

There are many beautiful ways to repurpose an old window into home decor, starting with ideas like turning it into a succulent planter, converting it into a side table, or painting the panes with chalkboard or magnetic paint to create a message center.

Although it might seem strange in today's digital world, magazine racks were once commonplace in Mid-Century American homes. Some were made of various metals, including brass, cast iron, and aluminum, and many of these old magazine racks can now be found floating around in thrift stores. 

With a little TLC, a fresh coat of paint, and smart additions like wood shelves or vintage cash boxes, you can give them a whole new look without breaking the bank. These fit right into any corner of your home, depending on how you decorate them.

If you ever see an old grandfather clock that's long past its prime, give it a second look. You'll need more elbow grease than money, but with some paint and new hardware, you can give it a fresh upgrade and it will fit seamlessly into tight corners in hallways. 

If it's badly damaged and no longer works, could also transform it into a curio or storage cabinet. Depending on how you decorate it, you could even put it on a lazy Susan and turn it into a rotating vanity, like this new Costco storage piece that's versatile and useful for small spaces.