Life before Pinterest...

"Junkin'," like most people who do this as a hobby, started out for me as pure necessity.  When I hit 18, I was out the door and straight into college and living the Dixie Chick song verbatim as dad yelled "check the oil," as I drove off in my green CRV (which I had slept in overnight on more than one occassion) to the Smokey Mountain area for college.

I come from a very modest upbringing, and I came to appreciate hand-me-downs early on as a child.  It never has been embarassing to me to wear, buy or take seconds.  I have never truly known any other way of living.  In fact, my sister and I used the phrase "GS Fashions" quite a lot growing up when asked, "where'd you get that???"  We'd coyly respond, "GS Fashions, and only $2 bucks!"  (I'll let you figure out what GS Fashions means.)

I was never made fun of in school, at least for my "look." Perhaps my mother was a really good "picker" back then or everyone else was just as poor as we were and just never noticed! 

After I got my first "home" while in college, I remember feeling so overwhelmed and grateful when my co-workers at my 2nd job said I could have their couch and loveseat if I could figure out a way to haul it. I remember thinking, how could they possibly afford to get rid of such nice pieces of furniture? It was an added bonus that they threw in the coffee table that had been sitting in their garage.  I got it home and took lots of pictures and called my buddies and made them drive over to check out my new living room set up.  It was a pull out sofa, and I would use the mattress several times a year to put in the back of my CRV and go camping for the weekend and eat fresh Trout caught with kernels of corn from a can at a tiny campground out in East Tennessee called Citico (sp?!)

Later, I remember feeling very accomplished as I went to a local bar and asked them if I could have their bottle caps, and then went to Home Depot by myself for the first time and picked up a small container of grout, and later came home and adhered the caps to my little coffee table. 

My full size bed that I slept on for years sat simply on a metal bed frame with a stiff as a board mattress that my parents gifted me as a birthday present.  I remember staring at the stark white wall behind my bed and daydreaming for hours of how I could make an inexpensive headboard. So, one day at a thrift store, I picked up 12 colorful vintage mens neckties and stapled them into a board and put a cute quote that I didn't entirely understood what it meant that a girlfriend helped me pick out.  It said: 

"Life is something to do when you can't get to sleep."  

For bedding, I used mixed matched vintage sheets and pillow cases that I found at the thrift store.  I'd triple wash them and use Downy softner.  I remember the satiny feel of the broken in pillowcases on my face.  My mother let me "borrow" a white vintage coverlet and waa-laaa, I had a "coordinating" bedroom.  

This all was in a tiny 1 bedroom duplex with no washer/dryer hookup.  The stove was avocado green.  Rent was $300 a month, and I was not allowed pets.  So, I went and snuck in "Charlie," a solid gray rabbit, who was litterbox trained, hardly made any noise, and easily stuffable into a box just in case the landlord decided to stop by.  I just needed something breathing along with me in the little box I was living in.

Instead of buying photo boxes, I'd recycle shoe boxes and modpodge fabric or paper around them.  I made my own photo frames by glueing old buttons that I had been given to a piece of poster board and use a paperclip to hang it on the wall.  One of my most prized pieces of furniture was my $10 vintage chair that I ripped all the fabric off and reupholstered into a tiger print and black crushed velvet.  I remember being shocked how much fabric cost and I hoarded coupons.  My $10 chair quickly turned into a $50 chair after supplies, and I quickly learned a valuable lesson.  It sat horribly. I had no idea how to attach the back cushion to the chair, so I didn't.  When you'd sit down, the cushion would whap you upside the back of the head, but it was mine.

Back then, there was no Pinterest.  These ideas came from wanting more for myself and surrounding myself with what came from my own heart. Things came from people who loved me and wanted to give me a good start. Decor came from being resourceful and creative.

Fast forward 15 years to now, I get a little giggle to see how upcycling has taken off.  I absolutely love, love, love it.  It is so much fun to share "my way of life" with a group of other people who either have lived the same way for years OR are now discovering the pure joy of making something out of nothing.  

I've observed as people jump off the "bandwagon" as quickly as they got on, and I've observed as some people are beginning to truly discover theirselves and their gifts as they begin to dip their toes into things such as chalk paint.  Many are developing new, amazing friendships and relationships in this process.  Some are celebrating in the joy that they finally "fit in" with the masses.  Being one of a kind and resourceful is now "hip!"  After all, who really wants a piece of furniture anymore that just anyone can walk into the store, and as long as they have good credit, order it just to  pay for it for the next 7 years that just came out of a cardboard box??  No!!!  We want to pay CASH and have something that's going to last awhile and make our homes feel warm and loved.

Anyways, critism, and there's plenty, regarding University Pickers just honestly bounces off of me.  I just want to continue to promote people's gifts and their talents and share the joy and love of it all.  Unfortunately, some people are in it to make a quick buck, and that's okay because that's life.  It's very easy to identify those people.  They often steal other's ideas and creativity and then go on to critize other people's talents.  

For me personally, University Pickers is not a "trend."  Chevron is a trend.  And, I hope you can see from my rambling story that upcycling, recycling, junkin'....  it's truly a way of life! 

Granny's Kitchen

I have a crystal clear image of my Granny's kitchen.  She always had ice cold Lemonade made in the fridge with a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch sitting on the top and a canister of Tang in the cub bard.   My cousin and I each had our very own Strawberry Shortcake glass, reserved especially for us.  She made THE BEST cheesy potatoes that never have been duplicated since.  When the family would sit together around her little farm table, the potatoes would be in a covered dish the shape of a potato and cream of corn in a dish the shape of a ear of corn.   This corn did not come from a can, but instead her garden.  The boys of the family would go pick the ears of corn, the kids would shuck the corn, and the ladies would sit under her carport and with long, sharp knifes, slice the corn.  Inside the home,  she had a little room off the side of the kitchen where she did laundry, but also, where the deep freezer was hidden.  Inside, without fail, you could find Popsicles.

After 9/11/01, I remember driving down the road and the image of her kitchen popping up in my mind. I missed my grandma so much and the stability that box of cereal brought to my life.

Sometimes I wonder if "being a picker" is a way of chasing that memory...that long ago lost feeling of comfort and stability.  Rotary phones, pastel Tupperware, cork boards with pinned up pictures and phone numbers and stamps, Wheel of Fortune, China Cabinets filled to the brim with odds and ends of different pieces of glassware, rows and rows of Daffodils....awww, all so comforting.

Fast forward to our current generation. Is it stability that they are missing?  At times when the world feels uncertain, where's your happy place?  All I have to do sometimes to make the world feel right again is look at a picture of my granny.