Proving that one person's trash is another person's treasure, a Dunedin woman has furnished her home with free and thrifted pieces. Kim Dungey reports.
"It’s kind of crazy," Anna Easton reveals. "My husband will be walking down the street and someone will yell out to him, ‘I love your new bed sheets’."
The comments might be a little personal but they’re par for the course when thousands of people follow your wife’s every decorating move on social media.
Dubbed the "op shop queen", Mrs Easton has styled almost their entire home with things bought from second-hand stores and op shops or found on the side of the road.
After two decades travelling the world, she returned to New Zealand with her South African-born husband, Sean, and their daughter, Frankie, in 2020. The family initially lived in Mrs Easton’s home town of Oamaru, before moving to Dunedin.
"Everything from our couches to our stereo, our Persian rugs, our artwork, fabrics and clothing, it’s all got a story," she says, pointing out the gold velvet curtains in the living room that cost just $30.
"I was so excited when I saw them, I threw them over my shoulder. I’m just like, ‘this is insane’."
There are also vintage bowls and cutlery, candlewick bedspreads, retro lampshades, a Marantz stereo "that plays as beautifully as it did in the 1970s" and old-school speakers, some of which serve as bedside tables and coffee tables.
The recycling enthusiast says she gravitates to certain colours, such as mustard, turquoise, orange and yellow, and describes her style as "eclectic colourful textures, bold boho art, modern retro and totally random".
"I haven’t done it for fun recently, just because we’ve been moving so much, but when I do go to op shops to browse, my favourite thing to look at first is the homewares/bric-a-brac section — that’s my guilty pleasure," she says, picking up two mid-century "genie" bottles she found at the Oamaru Trading Post and "had to have".
The items they have found on the side of the road have blown them away, she adds.
In Melbourne, where they lived for a decade, they drove around on the days kerbside hard rubbish collections were held, dragging home colourful rugs, wooden pews and a green-fringed lampshade.
"I saw it and was like, ‘oh my God’. The week before, I’d found a [flatbed] trolley on the side of the road so I got the trolley, put the bed on it and wheeled it the two blocks home."
Working as a freelance photographer in Victoria’s capital took Mrs Easton to suburbs she would not usually visit.
"I’d see all these op shops and it was really exciting so I started to make a list of them to remember the best places to buy rugs or furniture or curtains. Then I started photographing them and making albums on my computer."
That led to a Facebook page and website, She Hunts Op Shops, where she writes about op shops, photography, family life, outdoor adventures and "owning a poo business" — the couple bought a Portaloo and septic tank business, Awamoa Sanitation, in 2020 and still commute to Oamaru to run it.
She also recently recorded a podcast for the Otepoti Waste Minimisation Network (Rethinking Waste on Spotify) and is planning a guide on Dunedin’s op shops to complement the Wanaka, Queenstown and Oamaru ones already on her website.
The secrets to successful op-shopping include visiting them regularly and being patient, she says.
Sometimes she has time to browse but usually she is looking for a specific everyday item.
"I could go to six op shops in a day but when I go, I’m in and out like a fly."
"For instance, if we need more screws or tools for our business, I’ll go to specific op shops that I know sell hardware and I’ll buy them there ... And if we really need some sheets, I’ll only look at sheets. I won’t look at anything else."
Having moved seven times in the past four years, she also knows something about making a rental more homely.
The first thing they do is put their own curtains up, she says, adding that replacing the "corporate grey" curtains in their rental immediately changed the look of the whole house and that she collects second-hand curtain accessories, such as wire, rings and hooks, "because buying that stuff new is just so expensive".
While she will buy new items as a "last resort", op shop purchases are usually cheaper, more sustainable and better quality, she says.
It’s also about nostalgia and the thrill of not knowing what she will find. Recently, she went to a charity shop to buy a mop, also leaving with a $3 disco ball.
"It’s brought me so much joy. It’s in my bedroom and when the sun hits it, that room sparkles like it’s Studio 54."
Frankie, 9, has inherited her parents’ thrifty ways.
"She’s into buying things second-hand on Facebook Marketplace, which I think is really awesome. She’s happy to wait for the best deal as opposed to wanting everything now. And she looks after her toys so she can sell them on afterwards ... "
At the same age, Mrs Easton also had an eye for a bargain.
"My friends and I built a tree hut and I chose the location specially to be above the dump so I could see what people were throwing out," she says.
"When they left, I would drag the furniture up the hill. I decorated our entire tree hut with stuff from that rubbish tip."
