Decor on a Dime: 10 Must-Have Home Goods From Your Local 99-Cent Store
Photo: Andreas Gursky. 99 Cent. 1999 / Courtesy of MoMA
In the past 10 years — recession and all — even the most basic decor items seem laughably overpriced. But good, cheap design items can be found. You just have to know where to look.
The classic 99-cent store in your local strip mall may seem an unlikely place for awesome home items, but — surprise! — some of the smartest design objects in our daily vernacular are often those small wonders that are so useful, they become invisible in their adept functionality: the perfect clip for papers, colored tape, the right handle on a cabinet, that deck of cards in a drawer. Having a well-designed home is not always about the big things like couches or wall paints. It’s also about the details that make the small moments of our day more functional, more beautiful, and more interesting.
So take a trip to the closest 99-cent outpost for your own dollar design mission. Let’s hear it for good style that’s more about a sharp eye than a big wallet.
All items around $1 and can be found at almost any local 99-cent store.
It’s no surprise that in Céline’s fall 2013 collection, Phoebe Philo lifted the pattern of these bags for a highly stylish overcoat. Found in dollar stores worldwide, these bags typically come in red, black, and blue plaids and are made of a durable plastic material. They’re ideal for laundry, seasonal clothing storage, or hiding excess in great style.
Zip ties are typically the good friends of electricians, plumbers, and handymen, but they’re also a secret for design-conscious organizers. Though you can use zip ties for scores of tasks, we recommend them for organizing scrambled chords in a neat, easy way.
Who knew the dollar store could rival the Japanese empire Muji in travel accessories? Taken out of its cellophane wrap and out of context, these plastic containers become chic accessories for your next trip. With their cute color palette and practicality, they can also be wrapped up as a great gift for a jet-setter friend.
Matching dishtowels are one of those things: a bit prim, a bit proper, but very effective in making a kitchen look tidy and well put together. Try these striped numbers in bright colors for a modern kitchen to add some uniformity as well as a hint of color in a more muted kitchen. They also look great as bathroom hand towels.
In interior design magazines, a favorite stylist’s technique is a attractive fruit bowl on the kitchen counter. These bowls can be anything from an African basket to a crystal bowl. The dollar store offers yet another possibility in the form of colorful mesh colanders. Try one in kelly green, and pile it high with fruit for a decorative centerpiece or a functional kitchen staple.
These bamboo steamers work as wonderfully as they look. They’re woven from beautiful natural fibers, and their elegance lies in a subtle color palette, detailed construction, and weave. They look smart lined in a row when used as storage and, of course, look great displayed on open kitchen shelving if you happen to also get hooked on the wonders of steaming.
Gingham has been a design classic in everything from English suiting and Prada dresses to tablecloths and curtains. We found these gingham baking cups, which transform your run-of-the-mill muffin or cupcake into one fit for a bakery window display. Gratify an effort in the kitchen by letting the presentation be as good (or better) than the treat.
Handwriting may seem primitive in the digital age, but the paper notebook isn’t extinct just yet. Instead of Post-it notes or writing on whatever random piece of paper happens to be around the desk, try a uniform notebook by each computer at home or in the office. We found a glossy black variety trimmed with red that looks like it belongs in a Wes Anderson film.
A tiny store in Berlin called R.S.V.P. Mitte makes the most banal office supplies look like the best gift you’ve ever received. It does this by parsing out each item, from a paper clip to an eraser, presenting it on long, minimal shelves, and allowing you to notice every detail. It’s a museum of adorable office supplies. Colored rubber bands are among the treasures. But you don’t have to fly all the way to Berlin to get your own. Available in a variety of widths and tones at dollar stores, rubber bands can be used as a clever design scheme in organizing stacks of magazines, grouping supplies, or even wrapping boxes and gifts. Curate your own aesthetic world at home by using the office supplies that make a workspace feel like your own mini museum of functional treasures.
For anyone who has followed Martha Stewart’s lead in organizing closets and storage areas, you’ll know that one of her most frequently used design tricks is to create order through repetition. Many dollar stores sell a version of these neon-colored plastic bins, perfect for organizing coat and bathroom closets, children’s toys, and art or medical supplies. The trick here is to follow Stewart’s lead and use them in succession and in a uniform color. It gives a bit of vibrancy to the inside of utilitarian spaces and helps to organize the spaces we use most but often ignore most in terms of their potential for great design.
