So You Wanna Steal Emma Chamberlain’s Home Decor Swag
26 vintage home finds + thoughts on her theory linking interior design and tattoo sleeves
It can’t be overstated: Emma Chamberlain is obsessed with apple decor. After her first Architectural Digest Open Door home tour racked up 13M views and sent the internet into a tizzy in 2022, I leapt at the suggestion on my YouTube homepage for an updated video of her home this week. First thing you’ll notice — the apples.
About four minutes in, the video starts to feel like a thinly veiled ad when she mentions her new West Elm collection. Lol. (Of which apple-focused decor pieces make up a not insignificant portion.) But there was a golden nugget of secondhand shopping wisdom lurking beneath the surface that made me immediately open up a blank document and start typing.
During a walk-through of her living room, she somewhat indirectly likens home decor to tattoos, sharing a throw pillow from the collab stitched with objects she has inked on her arms. There’s a mushroom, a turtle, some birds, and an apple, obviously.
What I think she’s getting at is the idea that she treats collecting the pieces in her home the same way she collects her patchwork tattoos. They’re representations of the things that speak to her: important moments punctuated by ink symbols and vintage cookie jars. What is a living room or a sticker sleeve but realized adornments of interests, values, and the memories you hold close?
The bulk of the interior was designed in partnership years ago with Ashley Drost and Marie Trohman of Proem Studio, she explains in the original tour. But she shares in the 2026 update that most of the tchotchkes she’s added since have been collected secondhand from vintage stores and flea markets. She elaborates on her interior design philosophies:
“I like to find myself through being eclectic, mixing and matching. I love so many different things from so many different eras: ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, medieval times, who knows!
“But when I sort of tapped into that, I found that it magically had a cohesion because the through-line is me.”
!!! That’s the crux of why shopping vintage is so fulfilling: no two people can ever have the exact same collection, and whatever you collect is entirely tailored to your specific taste. No two blends can ever be the same. Each is a unique combination of styles and decades and references that might only be held together by a single common thread — you! When every piece speaks to you, they can chime in to help tell your story too.
The homewares space actually seems like a pretty natural path for Emma, a YouTube pioneer turned coffee company maven turned fashion darling. She’s proven herself time and again to have great style instincts and sensibilities — it’s a huge reason she’s been able to graduate from posting thrift store hauls as a teenager to sitting front row at Louis Vuitton in Paris and giving red carpet commentary at the Met Gala. The two worlds aren’t so disconnected, after all.
She explained in her original home tour that she feels hunting for a home and for a closet are the same process — “I find inspiration for the home everywhere, the same as fashion. It’s all one in my mind.” Well, yes!
So if you left this video like I did, itching to climb right into a vintage home decor rabbit hole, I’ve got just the salve for your aching little heart:
a vintage home edit inspired by her eclectic genre-bending interior design swag.
Some themes and design buzz words I kept in mind: soft coastal, cottagecore, organic shapes, subtle whimsy, playful elegance, earthy tones, medium/dark wood, mid-century modern, ‘60s/’70s kitsch, “soft mossy garden” energy (in her own words)
Oak Mid Century Gossip Bench, $859 (called a gossip bench because you used to keep the phone on the table and sit on the bench while talking shit with your friends!)
Vintage 1960s Mod Big Blue Eye Girl Hand Mirror, $39
Waechtersbach Red Apple Coffee Mug Vintage Retro Dark Blue West Germany, $10 (Yeehawt color palette helloooooo)
Vintage Throw Pillow with Floral Pattern Ruffled Trim, $95
All-American Ads of the 60s by Jim Heimann, $28
Small green metal mushroom clip-on lamp, $42
Vintage Handmade Art Pottery 5” Cat Figurine, $19
“Rebecca” 1940 Movie Poster Print, $11-$42
Vintage Handmade Small 11” Red Pillow Beaded Flowers Bead Embroidery, $12
Vintage Kelvin Chen Miniature Enamel Watering Can, $40
Vintage old enamel milk can, $32
Vintage Mid Century Vinyl Gossip Chair Telephone Sleep Rite, $325
Vintage Atomic Cat Salt And Pepper Shakers MCM, $30
Vintage Original Southwest Landscape Painting Oil on Canvas Impressionist Signed, $129 (Emma’s dad, Michael Chamberlain, is an oil painter who has done a lot of the work in her house. His pieces generally focus on northern California landscapes and landmarks.)
Yahtzee Dice Game Vintage 1956 E.S. Lowe Company Sealed pieces Unplayed, $20
Vintage handmade speckled teapot, $25
Vintage Set Of 2 Home made Fabric Chicken/Hens Plush, $19
Vintage Original Photo Woman with self portrait painting Art Artist 1950s, $11 (I just think she would love this. I love it. You probably do too.)
Vintage Round Bright Turquoise Ruffle Velvet Pillow, $33
Vintage MCM Oblique Wooden Mirror, $66
Vtg Margie’s Garden Green Studio Art Pottery Vases Set Of 2, $35
Vintage Siberian Elm Burl Wood Birdseye Jewelry Square Box, $90
VTG Ceramic Cow Head Decoration Black And White 8 1/2” Signed, $30
Vintage 1970s Pine Wood Table Lamp 38 cm Rustic Scandinavian Fabric Shade, $60
Vintage Hartstone Pottery Golden Delicious Apples Mug 1982, $12
VTG Wicker Woven Basket with Lid, Delicate, Tightly woven 8.5 in Tall, bid at $13
Hope you enjoyed this juicy letter — a digital fruit basket from me to you. This one is free, but usually the vintage finds are just for paid subscribers. Consider upgrading if you enjoyed today’s lot <3
Get in touch with me at mackinley@yeehawt.com if you’d like to work together, browse my shelves here, or follow me for more vintage and fashion chatter on IG and TT.
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