One Woman's Junk....Another Woman's Really Good Junk

I LOVE junk!  Junk to me is something someone else has discarded that I find beautiful.  Maybe it's rusty, distressed or the previous owner just no longer has a need for it's orginal use.  If it falls into any of those catergories I usually want to bring it home.  Stop right there - I am not a HOARDER (although I love the show) I pass up lots of junk because I have to get a "feeling" the junk belongs in our home.  For me to haul it home, let alone pay for it, I need to be able to envision what I will do with it and what purpose it can serve.  That means I go to a lot of yard/garage sales, estate sales and Goodwill but I also walk away without anything 80-90% of the time.  It's that other 10-20% of the time that keep me going back.  Fortuantly, I only live 1.7 miles (yep I know the milage) from this new, fairly clean and well organized Goodwill Store so I can stop in about once a week.

I think some of the salesclerks are starting to recognize me but honestly they seem to recognize most of the customers so I'm not that scared about an intervention yet. 

I was reminded again the other day though that what I find beautiful and irrestible is just someone else's junk.  Along the back wall of lamps and home goods I spied a vintage, metal fan with amazing gold blades that had the perfect patina on them.  The bottom was just slightly rusted!  The curved iron casing over the blades was almost too much for me to handle.  I tried to play it cool as I grabbed it off the shelf but inside I was screaming "It's mine! It's mine!"  I have eyed similar fans in Pottery Barn and on different blogs forever.  It was a little more than I normally pay for an accessory at $19.99 especially since it clearly didn't work as indicated by the cut and frayed electical cord but I didn't care.  I only planned to use it sitting on a shelf or mantle. 

As I walked/ran to the front to pay a clerk stopped me and said "Are you going to buy that?" 

"Yes, Yes I am" I said probably sounding very proud.

She said "The guy in the back says those go for a lot on ebay."

My joy over the find was growing!  Onto the counter where the next clerk looked at my fan as I sat it down then looked back at me then back at the fan again,  "Are you going to buy that?" 

Again "Yes, I am" with a huge smile on my face.

"What are you going to do with it?  You know it doesn't work, right?" she said.

"Yeah, I know that.  I'm just using it for decorating at home."  At that moment I had a slight doubt about my purchase.

The almost fatal blow was "What kind of decorating do you do with something like that?"  I know you can't hear tone here but let me assure you she thought I had the worst taste in the history of Goodwill shoppers.  I mumbled something about vintage and probably even threw out something about Pottery Barn as I rushed away.  Once outside, in the safety of my van, I looked at the fan and fell in love again.  It's beautiful and I don't care if the very nice Goodwill lady doesn't like it...it's home!

Moral of the story..I'm going to buy what we like for our home.  Everyone has their own style and sometimes ours includes other people's junk.  Sidenote: Bob came home, noticed the fan and he liked it too...VICTORY!