How to Find Quality Home Decor Items at the Dollar Store

Finding home decor items at a dollar store is easy, but finding quality home decor items is a bit more of a challenge.

Thankfully, stores like Dollarama offer many home decor items that are of great quality, but they also carry some items that many would consider to be junk. Here are a few tips for spotting quality home decor items:

Check the weight

When you’re inspecting things like vases and candle holders, check the weight of the item. Heavier items usually mean that they’re much better in quality compared to light vases and candle holders. Of course, don’t disregard the light items - they can still be great quality as well. Inspect the bottom and top rim of the items for chips. If there are some, it’s likely not a high quality item.

Check for chipping/flaking paint

Painted items should always be looked over carefully for chips in the paint. If you can easily flake away the paint by lightly scratching the item with your fingernail, don’t buy it. Paint wouldn’t chip/flake off of quality items like that.

Watch for ripples

If you are looking at mirrors in your local dollar store, look very closely to make sure there are no ripples in the glass. I once purchased a mirror from A Buck or Two and realized it had ripples in the glass when I went to hang it up at home. I now watch for this problem whenever I purchases mirrors.

Try to break things… kind of

Now, of course I am not telling you to purposely break things when you are shopping, but before you purchase anything, test the quality of the items. When buying plastic baskets, try to bend them a bit. If they start to bend easily, they are not going to be very durable.

When buying shower curtains or other items with similar material, make sure the material isn’t too thin, otherwise it will likely not last very long with regular use.

Avoid items that could rust

Most dollar store items that are for shower use (organizers for over the shower head, for example) are not good quality. Many will start to rust after being in the shower for just a few days. If you are interested in these items, make sure they are from brand that you know and trust (I have yet to see any decent brands for these types of items at any dollar store I’ve been to).

The same rule applies for items that may be for use outdoors (such as patio decor). If they are exposed to rain and snow, they will likely rust after a short time.

Look out for fraying fabric

Floor mats, place mats, pillows, small blankets and things of this nature will have fraying fabric if they are not of good quality. Don’t buy any items that have pilling or fraying fabric. If they already show signs of wear before they are even purchased, imaging how long they are [not] going to last when you bring them home!

Decor items can be a great score for only a few dollars, but they’re not that great of a deal if they are of cheaper quality and break or fall apart too easily.

Though you can find many quality items at dollar stores these days, you do need to be careful and make sure you are not purchasing something for your home just because it’s inexpensive.

Do you have any tips for finding quality home decor items?