My first second-hand purchase was a red and white polka-dot minidress from Marks & Spencer, so old it had a St Michael clothing tag in it, for a fiver. I was at university and longing for a good slipdress, but after coming up short at my go-to spots Primark and Topshop, thought I’d hit up eBay. As the youngest of four children, with 17 older cousins, I regularly wore hand-me-downs, so I was well versed in things that were new to me but certainly not new. However, it took until the age of 20 to find my own preloved sea legs — and then I became hooked.

The joy of a vintage gem is like a snog on a first date. Plus, it’s generally lighter on your pocket, definitely better for the environment and you can get your hands on something unique to you. For many people, buying something second-hand is not a choice; for those of us with the luxury of options, I think we should be looking to rehome the old where we can, before we inhale the flat-packed new. Thirteen years on I still wear that dress and have gone on to find some of my favourite pieces in my wardrobe on eBay: an electric-blue kilt for £5, a leopard-print shirt with a winged collar, a suede and sheepskin jacket that I have worn every winter for nine years and never get bored of. Like many west Londoners my favourite spot is Portobello market (top tip: take the day off work and go on a Friday morning, to get “in” before the weekend tourists), where I buy white frilly cotton blouses and found my favourite vintage purchase, a Gucci wool blazer with the most brilliant, ever-so-slightly Eighties cut for £50. I have even chosen holiday destinations around the best antique fairs. An anniversary weekend to Paris was steered towards Marché aux Puces de St Ouen, apparently the biggest flea market in the world, where I found a red leather cape with a red faux-fur-trimmed hood, which I call my Mrs Christmas coat, as it can realistically only be worn in December.

From left: a ceramic leopard from Ardingly vintage fair is on a bamboo butler’s tray found on eBay; a vintage glass bowl and gold lamp base sit on a table from eBay that Pandora repainted

As I entered my thirties, I turned my attention to my home. Buying everything new was not an option and I wanted my relationship with my belongings to feel meaningful. The more second-hand I bought for my house, the easier it became (like most things, you generally need to practise). I found a pair of fringed floral lamps, a beautiful porcelain sink in a salvage yard, a Danish banana sofa that my friend reupholstered for me. Everything second-hand comes with its own story, sometimes multiple ones — like a matryoshka doll. Recently I went to pick up a wrought-iron mirror that I had bought from eBay and found out that it had been with its charming octogenarian owner, Rita, for more than 60 years.

I’m not the only one turning their attention from wardrobe to home: an interest in all things interiors has shot up in the past few years, thanks to the democracy of social media, meaning that we get to ogle the inner sanctums of houses that we never used to have access to. Fashion types are regularly to be found at Kempton and Ardingly vintage fairs (look out for the lady with colourful kilim rugs for a fraction of the cost elsewhere), and you may have noticed that influencers like Louise Roe have set up separate Instagram accounts to chart the renovation of their homes.

From left: the sink is from a salvage yard; in her daughter’s bedroom, the quilt is from Etsy, the nightstand from CleanStart and the lamp from Selency

Alongside television shows such as Interior Design Masters, presented by Fearne Cotton, we have seen the emergence of the vintage interiors influencer — interior stylists such as Paula Sutton of Hill House Vintage, Africa Daley-Clarke of the Vitamin D Project and Charlie Porter of Tat.London, who have acquired large followings by inspiring others to spend less and hunt more. Research recently undertaken by eBay revealed that there has been a 404% year-on-year increase in second-hand sales since 2018, and as many preloved items as there are people in the UK (66 million) went to a new home in 2020. You know the second-hand market has taken off when (the admittedly rather good) Zara Home starts copying the look.

It is no surprise that, during the pandemic, second-hand purchasing has soared — shops are shut and people are getting craftier. We are spending more time in our homes than ever before, with those talismans that we use to frame our lives and describe who we are staring back at us. Making small changes — a porcelain soap dish, a framed vintage poster or a crochet blanket — can make the world of difference, especially to those in shared living spaces. “Most of us love and need change in our lives, especially now as we are hunkered down in this second lockdown,” notes Maria Speake, who co-runs the architectural salvage and design business Retrouvius, which rescues and resells everything from doors and sinks to lights and chairs. “People are refocusing on their homes and it’s inspiring a new DIY phase.” I second that — pretty much the only solid thing that my husband and I have not repainted this year are our children (although, trust me, they’ve tried).

People hear the word “antiques” and think “expensive”. Antiques often are — antique dealing is an art, after all — but second-hand gives you the opportunity to buy something “of greater quality and greater design” than what you’d get for its high street counterpart, says creative consultant Matilda Goad, whose second-hand furniture favourites include a four-poster bed for £150. (For reference, “antiques” are generally over 100 years old, whereas second-hand refers to anything that is preowned.) I spent months this year looking for a bedside table/nightstand for my daughter, everything I found either too drab or expensive, before finding a handpainted one for £20 from a reuse company in Manchester that was infinitely prettier than anything I’d found new.

Pandora in a cardigan from Portobello market. The sofa and standing lamp are eBay finds

You do not have to be an expert to enjoy second-hand shopping. You don’t need to know about periods and movements. You just need to know what you like. Neither does it all have to be done in person. Yes, there is nothing like browsing a market or combing the racks of Sue Ryder, Cancer Research UK or Fara Kids — shops that have sadly seen their sales hugely affected by the lack of footfall this year.

I keep the Antique Trade Calendar (£1.50, out quarterly) on my desk: with Pandora’s Box (ho, ho, ho) in Berkshire on the highlighted “to visit” wish list. But there are more than enough brilliant outlets to keep you entertained online, which I have included in my guide for you, and many of them do returns too (which is not always a given with second-hand, so do check first).

I still buy new sometimes (I would love to be able to curb that hobby entirely, though it’s unlikely), but I find this to be a generally useful approach: before buying the new version of something, why not see if you can try to buy it second-hand? It’s imperative for the planet, after all, that we extend the lives of existing things. The future, surely, is all about the mix. “Old things mixed with a few shiny new things,” says the designer and stylist Lucinda Chambers.

That said, it’s also a jungle out there. So here are some tips and people to follow to get started, which you can do from the comfort of your own laptop.

@BY_ALICE_HOME, @DEECAMPLING, @BAILEYSHOME

Pandora’s top tips

How to navigate the world of vintage interiors

READ THE MEASUREMENTS I have capitalised that in the hope that you will not end up with dolly furniture, as I have on more than one occasion (and, once, a pair of shoes that were a baby size 5, rather than an adult size), because you’ve got overexcited. Map out the furniture in the space with masking tape before you buy it. If you’re buying in person — soon, let’s hope — take a tape measure.

Antiques make great presents My siblings and I bought my sister a pair of woven bedside tables for a Christmas present that we knew she would like and, at £50 for the two, were a really good deal. And if I ever see a pretty vase for peanuts, I buy it. They cheer up any mantel or bedside table and make great birthday presents.

Use hashtags when you’re buying or selling on social media. Sutton’s favourites for Instagram are #decorativeantiques, #recycled, #reclaimed, #sustainableliving, #vintageforsale, #virtualvintagefair, #vintagefair, #vintagekitchenalia, #myvintagevibe, #modernrustic and #vintagelover.

Switch up your search terms depending on the website you are looking at. For example, I was recently looking for a particular style of hallway table. On Vinterior, which is a much more curated platform that antique dealers sell through, I searched for a “demi-lune wrought iron console”. But on Facebook and Gumtree I searched for “half moon round hallway coffee table”. Often on the larger websites people just want to get rid of stuff quickly and they don’t care about optimising their listings. It can make for awkward squinting at pictures, but it’s also where the best bargains are to be found, with sofas on Facebook Marketplace listed for as little as £15. (You will probably need to upholster them, so look into that side first, to factor it into the price.)

Use the snazziest websites to find inspiration, then continue your hunt on more affordable platforms. For instance I love looking at the luxury antiques platform 1stDibs, but I rarely buy anything because the mark-up is so high. I like to compile my dribble list using it, then go and set up a load of alerts on eBay and the like.

Most things can be repainted I have a whole drawer of tester pots that I’ve collected over the past five years that I use to repaint furniture, and I regularly change the handles and knobs on furniture — you would be surprised by how much the tiny details can change the impression or even the style. “I often paint something in stripes or checks,” says Lucinda Chambers, which requires “quite a lot of masking tape” but isn’t as tricky as you might think.

Don’t be afraid to repurpose The ever crafty Chambers, whose gloriously colourful home is stocked almost entirely with flea-market finds, turned a Fifties hand-painted skirt into a lampshade. (For those of us less skilled with a sewing machine, a curtain-maker or tailor will be able to help.)

What to avoid

■ Lingerie (unless you are a collector). Nothing is quite as shuddery as someone else’s grubby gusset.

■ Trainers, which have normally moulded to someone else’s feet, notes the stylist and Oxfam consultant Bay Garnett.

■ Broken furniture. Wood can always be sanded or painted and new handles added, but if something is really trashed, the effort of restoring it may outweigh the joy. Sutton advises requesting close-ups of wooden furniture if you are buying online, to check there is no woodworm.

■ Mattresses! So says Alice Wawrik of By Alice. Unless they have been very thoroughly cleaned (someone else’s bedbugs up your jacksie? No thanks).

@pandorasykes