Junk Junkie

For The Love of Junk...

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Queen of the Junk praising the junk gods

I love hunting. Strike that. I'm obsessed with hunting. No, not in your traditional sense involving weapons and furry creatures... but I assume the energy that comes from going outside with hopeful anticipation for what you might find to bring home is about the same. My guilty pleasure is hunting junk.

My personal definition of junk: Something that is old, interesting, quirky, and was at one time loved by people before me, and I'll continue to love (or help someone else love) for generations to come.

When a thing finds its way into someone's home, it's rarely by pure happenstance. Someone, somewhere attached some form of value to that inanimate object and they held on to it until it no longer served them. While in their possession that item captures stories, truths, and secrets while providing inspiration until one day, it no longer holds the same meaning and it's sold, discarded, or donated. Maybe you'd say I'm giving material items more credit than they deserve, but for me, part of the thrill is imagining the lives of these items before they presented themselves to me. The appeal lies in the adventure that souvenir coffee cup took to get here or the recipes once cooked in the stunning Pyrex bowl before me.

Why I truly love thrifting (having even been in the game myself with Jae's Funky Junk), it only feeds part of the addiction. See thrift stores are curated collections where someone often assigns value to an item. While it's still thrilling to search shelves, nooks, and crannies, in order for me to take it home it has to be truly exceptional. As a full-on junky, the purest high comes from finding a hidden gem buried on a bargain store bottom shelf, or something discarded on a curb just waiting to be rescued. I love taking something that someone saw zero potential in and reimagining how it could be transformed into something valuable again. Plus at the most basic level FREE or a really, really good deal seems like a good place to start.

I often try and think about where this obsession and subtle hoarding tendency originated. As it pertains to this, my earliest memory is going to my great-grandma June's farmstead. While I unfortunately can't remember the extent of her numerous collection inside her house (I'm sure she was #GrannyChicGoals!) my memory comes from finding some Abalone shells (that didn't make the cut for her indoor collection) that she was using a landscaping out in the yard. I remember how ugly and dirty they were on the outside but when you picked them up and turned them over they were so shiny and covered with iridescent patterns inside. When she allowed me to take one home with, it solidified something inside me.

While that instance lit the spark, my mom tended to the fire, (much to her and Emory’s demise now, I imagine.) So many of my favorite Saturdays growing up and throughout my 20s revolve around her asking me to go junking. I loved helping her find things, exploring small-town Iowa, and catching up as we drove from town to town.

While it started as a passion represented by countless rock and stamp collections it eventually led to a college dorm room furnished with curbside furniture flips (long before it was popular on Instagram.) Fast forward a decade later and the love of the hunt evolved into me starting Jae's Funky Junk, a vintage pop-up shop that frequented the Los Angeles flea market circuit up.

Jae's Funky Junk: Maximal design, funky finds and furniture flips

Since starting Jae's Funky Junk, my love for junk grew even deeper. The stories about objects grew to be connections shared with other people. The value I got out of running a flea market booth was not one of the intended monetary compensation (somehow I had the profits spent before the money came in, go figure) but that of friendships formed between vendors, stories shared with customers, and lessons learned throughout the whole process.

While I genuinely loved working the markets, there's a LOT of behind-the-scenes work beyond what I could have ever imagined. Sourcing was the best part, but love for junk is an addiction. I struggled to find the balance between the business and my obsession at the cost of our apartment's form and function. I couldn't help but feel like it was my heroic mission to save the items from the alley no matter how many other projects were still waiting to be completed.

After some therapy (literally) and moving to a new home, Jae's Funky Junk has a new mission. I'm focusing my energy on designing and curating our home first (more in-depth coming soon.) I'm trying my best to only pick up junk when I can see that it will meet a present need in our home. I swore to Emory that I wouldn't lose sight of the function of our space and trust me, he holds me to that while still finding a way to support me on this adventure. It also comes with more of an effort that when an item no longer serves me, I have to let things move on and take their stories elsewhere. While selling is no longer a primary goal, it's bound to happen from time to time maybe in the form of a garage sale or on Facebook marketplace. Until then, I'll be sharing our house interior design story along with furniture flips and DIYs.

Lessons Learned: When you let something go, you will always find something new that will bring you renewed energy for your space! By donating to Goodwill or Salvation Army you're providing someone else the opportunity to find your former items and give them the same excitement it once brought you. Not only is street-sourcing and thrifting a sustainable alternative for the environment, but it's also a sustainable option for your wallet. Yes, you save on what it'd cost you to buy something new, BUT what I recently realized is that if you take care of something and fix it, there will always be a market for vintage so rather than discard, you can just resell it!

Research the items you find, share their stories, and let people know how they came to be yours. Put things out on display, and give them a new life. If it brings you joy, more is always more.

With Love,