I have a little entry-way table that I bought at a yard sale years ago. I sanded years of nail polish and pencil marks off of this little table, and gave it a fresh coat of paint. It has been sitting right inside my front door since the first year we moved into our house, and I enjoy decorating that table with seasonal items. I have been collecting vintage goodies and "junk" ever since I was in high school. My mom used to buy me copies of Mary Englebreit's Home Companion magazine (I still own every copy I ever had), and I would scour over the pages developing a love of all things worn and old. It's especially fun to rearrange a lot of my lucky finds from years of yard saling and thrift storing, and make them work for each season/holiday. My favorite thing about decorating with junk, is that every person has a unique collection. You know how there is modern decor, and stuff that everyone else is decorating with??? Yeah...well, I don't like that stuff. I like to have one of a kind old pieces that you can't just run out and buy. Each piece has a story about where I found it, and what great deal I got...and I always wonder about the story behind each piece...and whose hands and homes have used it before me.
The Home Companion magazine also gave me a great love and appreciation of talented artists of all mediums. I remember the magazine always featured an artist and their workspace...and I especially fell in love with quirky folk artists and 3-D paper mache arts...and to this day, I collect these kinds of creations.
I'm sure that to many, it's all just a bunch of junk...but you know, nothing fascinated me more as a child that going to grandma or great grandma's cute old house and looking at all of her old fashioned treasures. I hope that my house will have just a hint of that nostalgia.
