The Insider: How to find nice junk online

Suggested Topics

Oh the joy of stumbling across a little second-hand shop, crammed with random tat – and hidden treasures. They're rare these days, and increasingly pricy. The good news? There are lots of ways to get your rummage fix online (and it doesn't begin and end with eBay).

Blog days

Junk newbie? Get inspired at Tales of a Junkaholic (simetra-junkaholic.blogspot.com). Its author, Artemis Russell, also suggests theseventytree.blogspot.com – "full of ideas" – and hellomrfox.com for "great flea-market finds".

Let's go outside

Plan indoors, shop outdoors: carbootcalendar.com does what it says on the label. Salvo.co.uk does the same for architectural salvage outlets.

Bid there, done that

Game for eBay? Some tips: narrow sifting by bookmarking favourite shops (I love Dotsshabbychicshop). Bid-phobic? Befriend the "buy it now" tab. For surprises, type "vintage" and "used" into the "home and garden" search box. Welcome to junk heaven.

The clash

Pre-order Emily Chalmers' ace Modern Vintage Style (Ryland Peters & Small, £19.99), out April. "Nothing has to match," she writes, "your taste will bind it all together." Mix modern and old, Chalmers advises.

Happy shopper

Two favourite, affordable rummagy web stores: pips-trip.co.uk and theokcorral.co.uk. Real jumble fans could brave cybergrot.com – if only for the category headings.

Give back

Oxfam's online second-hand homewares were a recent, joyous discovery. As is Newcastle-based recycleyourfurniture.co.uk.

Finders keepers

Seeking specifics? Try clever search engine shopadilly. co.uk. And relax.

Find Kate's blog on affordable interiors at yourhomeislovely.blogspot.com

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?

Ridley Scott: The most macho man in movies?

His cinematic CV is unparalleled. Yet the Alien director is still obsessed with beating his rivals.
Being Gary Lineker: The clean-cut anchorman is this summer's Mr Sport

Being Gary Lineker

The clean-cut anchorman is this summer's Mr Sport...
Gallic gourmets are putting French cuisine back on the culinary map

Gallic gourmets put France back on culinary map

Overdone, out of touch and old-fashioned: French cuisine has never been at a lower ebb...
So Moorish: Mark Hix offers his own take on classic Moroccan dishes

So Moorish: Mark Hix's Moroccan dishes

Why not create a north African-inspired feast to share with your friends?
Sin and the single mother: The history of lone parenthood

Sin and the single mother

Maureen Paton explores the history of lone parenthood.
The outsider: Margaret Howell is British fashion's queen of minimalism

The outsider: Margaret Howell

The designer tells Susannah Frankel why she has never felt part of the fashion industry.
The 50 Best luggage

The 50 Best luggage

From chic cases to compact baggage, pack it all in this summer
For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos in Greece

For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos

On a secluded peninsula in north-east Greece lies an enclave that's way off the tourist map, especially for women...
48 Hours In: Faro

48 Hours In: Faro

More than just the gateway to the Algarve, this city has much to tempt you off the beach.
Here, the coast is always clear: Celebrating sixty years of Pembrokeshire's National Park

60 years of Pembrokeshire's National Park

Mick Webb reveals a land of puffins, tanks and Hollywood blockbusters.
Free Range: Meet the designers of tomorrow

Free Range

Meet the artists of the future
Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

As scientists at Rothamsted's GM trials plead with activists not to sabotage their work, Michael McCarthy visits the battle field
Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Deep in Cameroon's rainforests, poachers are killing primates for food. Evan Williams reports from Yokadouma on a practice that could create a pandemic
Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Government urged to take abuse more seriously as London study shows 41 per cent are harassed
Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Militant Tuhoe tribe members defiant amid claims race relations had been set back 100 years