apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

On a related note... my local library has a display of framed collections of 'things they found in library books'.

It's fascinating, grocery lists, airline tickets, homework, Rx prescriptions. People's junk is pretty interesting.

i still call it the junk drawer, as my mother did, as her mother did. long live the junk drawer!

I do still have a junk drawer. Mine is definitely less "junky" than the one I grew up with though. (You never wanted to reach in there without a recently updated tetanus shot.)

Both the tiny drawers in the bathroom and at least one drawer in the kitchen I wouldn't want anyone to open - and if they dared to, I'd ask them to update their tetanus shot too. LOL - but the storage was needed and there are things that don't seem to ever find a home.

some of those junk drawers look pretty good considering.

i'm a photographer and last year photographed a lot of stuff left in laundry mats. lots of dirty socks and underwear... this is way nicer to look at :)

i dont know what i would do with out my junk drawer. if macgyver saw it im sure he could make a few things out of it.

Growing up, we didn't have a junk drawer, but I was always fascinated by the junk drawers my friends' families had. It seemed the answer to every problem could be found in those drawers. It's goofy, but I was excited when I finally set up my own house and could create my own junk drawer!

Ah yes- the junk drawer. We just moved into a home owned by my grandparents, and we have subsequently inherited a 50 year-old junk drawer! Some interesting stuff in there, but it is also one of the last remaining things we have yet to "colonize" into our own realm of occupying the house. Also, it's one of the things in the house that really makes me remember my grandma, who was notorious for saving everything. I miss her and love her every time I open it hoping to find a rubber-band, a D-battery, or a colored pencil.

i know this artist! i nearly fell out of my chair when i saw this post! so great to see him featured on AT!

OK, I was looking for some writing on junk drawers (since I really don't have anything better to do...) and I stumbled upon a funny blog:
http://www.junkdrawerblog.com/2009/02/you-really-wont-believe-this.html

Long live the junk drawer!

yep, i also grew up with a junk drawer. ours was fairly organized and i got my love of organization from my dad, so mine is organized as well. i use a plastic tray from Container Store that has a half-tray that slides along the bottom one. we have a small hammer, tape, scissors, tacks, picture nails/wire, pens/pencils, my son's schoolwork pencil/eraser/sharpener...as well as the various bits you never know you might need! wine corks, plastic and razor scrapers, bits of twine, a small slab of copper, Mysterious ball bearings, marbles and beads... i think organization is always best if there's a little of the mad and magical in it. =)

Pixie - The link you posted to the junk drawer blog threw me for a loop. They've posted a plastic bag in their tree, which is she same predicament I posted over at AT Chicago today:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/green-ideas/plastic-bag-in-the-tree-079048

regina - that's freaky!

RWorld - you stole my line.

I try to keep the junk drawer somewhat organized but my husband's tries to stuff anything lying around it and then I can barely open it. I've told him that my paperbacks and mail do not go in the junk drawer!