Are you intimidated by faux flowers, wreath making and floral arranging, or are you an old pro? It was only in the last few years that I really started crafting and decorating with faux flowers, and I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed when I decided to start making wreaths on regular basis. One day, out of nowhere, I decided I was going to be a “master wreath maker,” so I headed to the craft store thinking I would just luck into some perfect combination of materials. I almost always find something amazing on my junkin’ adventures, so I thought surely the flower shopping would be no different. I normally avoided the “tacky-fake flowers” section however, so I was shocked at how gorgeous and realistic faux flowers had become. And there were too many to choose from! I realized I just needed to use a method of design that has always worked for me in the past, which is to base my creations around some sort of decorative item or accessory.
I am a junkaholic. Or at least I think I think I am. I love a good rummage sale and prefer to spend my free time on the hunt for anything vintage. My previous blog and IG name, “Junkaholics Unanimous” was a play on my hobby of non-stop junkin’ and being proud of it. On my blog I called for all vintage junk addicts to proudly unite along with me, (hence the name) and many did!
A typical assortment of finds after a successful junkin’ day
Back when I launched Follow The Yellow Brick Home in 2017, an instagram friend and I were discussing whether or not to keep my old name blog name on social media accounts. She convinced me that although I might thrift my treasures, my style is far from “junky,” and that the junkaholics name didn’t really tell my home decor style or story.
Older vignette with chippy shabby junkin-finds, and elegant, but still elegant and eclectic.
What? Why? How? Junk IS my style. I love anything chipping, rusty, crusty, old…junky! My blogging friend had never been to my house, so she hadn’t seen my collections of jars of antique marbles, vintage buttons, and mismatched game pieces, hoards of vintage pearls, or stacks of antique post cards curated neatly around my home. Neatly. Yikes! So maybe I wasn’t really a junker? I might have had a crisis of identity!
After listening to her reasoning I began to agree with her. I love to go junkin’, but I really do have a more brocante and shabby-French or English cottage style. I don’t have hoards of rusty metal and salvaged wood piled up behind the garage (anymore). Inside the garage is a different matter…and the basement…ugh!
A collection of vintage frames and antique mirror gallery up the staircase, all junkin’ finds.
The types of items I buy on my junkin’ adventures can vary, but I am most often drawn to vintage items with touches of elegance, especially if I can somehow incorporate them into seasonal vignette. Anything with flowers or that can be used in garden-inspired vignettes is coming home with me!
In fact, I have filled our house with mostly thrifted furniture, some of it truly looking like junk before a little TLC. The antique china cabinet, century old farm table and chairs were all thrifted finds that received makeovers with paint. The china cabinet is filled to the brim with beautiful vintage china and dishes.
More Examples of Elegant Junkin’ Finds
I remember back in the spring of 2017 coming home with a loot haul that would make Aladdin jealous! I scored all this vintage brass in one morning between two church rummage sales. The items literally were spread out all over the place at each sale, and I am not sure anyone else even gave these pieces a second glance—except for my son (eleven at the time) who inherited the junk gene! I had to laugh when he kept coming up to me handing me brass pieces, and I hadn’t even told him I was considering them! I decided to go for all the brass pieces we could find, and it wasn’t until I got home that I realized I ended up with a beautiful insta-collection.
He also found these vintage Italian Florentine pictures for me, $1 for the set.
When I am out rummaging I never pass up pretty shabby-chic mismatched dishes. When these pieces are mixed in among old eight track cassette tapes, used fly swatters, and broken egg timers at sales, they do seem like junk. But once they are cleaned up and grouped together they are so very beautiful.
This little crystal vase for only .25. The pretty French calendar is from the Dollar Tree, and the daffodils were picked from my yard for free. Frugal, not junky!
This gorgeous tureen for only $5 at a local consignment shop, and a set of two little ironstone vases for .98. Not so junky!
I remember finding this set of vintage gold Florentine nesting tables and magazine holder for only $60 at the same shop. Junk? Not according to many antiques dealers, and certainly not to shabby French decor enthusiasts!
I guess I can see why my friend didn’t see me as a junkaholic, but since I would never find any of these treasures if I wasn’t a true junker, I am going to stand by my own assessment of having a signature “Junky Chic” style.
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