Send Us a Photo of... Your Junk Drawer

Inspiration Overflow

"I travel all over Southeast Asia and I bring back lots of tchotchkes, but there's never enough room to put them all out. Sadly, they often end up in a drawer. Every so often, I rout through these drawers looking for inspiration, so it serves as a kind of overflow from my pinboard." -John Robshaw

Handy Junk Pile

"I've been to other decorators' houses, and you open their junk drawer, and everything is so perfectly placed, it looks like a Chardin painting or a Joseph Cornell box. I am not that person...yet. Maybe someday. Currently, this is the state of things: tape, odd votives, flower clippers in a true junk pile. One day I'll find the energy to make this beautiful." -Miles Redd

Home Office Drawer

"This particular junk drawer is in my desk at home. It contains: Lots of reading glasses — $19.95 at the drugstore — so I can read my 8,000-plus books. (One of my major problems is no storage for anything much besides those books.) An owl paperweight holding down some very important notes to myself. Lots of Post-It notes, in case I have an original thought (or any kind of thought!). A plastic pencil sharpener that's always at the ready, in case I want to sketch. A miniature wooden canoe that I bought years ago. A postcard from Villa Kerylos, a Greek-inspired palazzo, now a hotel, built in 1908 on the French Riviera — one of my favorite places. I keep the card handy, as I intend to live there someday, whether or not I'm invited. Everyone should have a junk drawer full of fun stuff to paw through from time to time." -David Easton

Drawer with Design

"Like my apartment, 90 percent of this junk drawer is composed of my own designs. Not to mention it's in one of my designs! This drawer, in the Tide cabinet I designed for Horm, says a thing or two about me and my career. Looking at it, I see a portrait of myself: I travel, I drink too much coffee, I listen to music, I draw, I create. First of all, if you couldn't guess, I'm a Virgo (even my junk drawers are organized). This one contains some of my favorite designs, and items I use daily: Sceye titanium eyewear, KAJ watches, ergonomic Ronson lighters, Acme pens, and the LaCie Skwarim 120gb flash drive that holds all my music to deejay with. Also, since I travel so much, there's my passport case, Airborne, high noise reduction headphones, adapters, travel-size Kenzo perfume (that little light blue blob in front), sketch pens and sketch pads, gym passes, a Starbucks card, and credit cards, including the Visa card I designed for Citibank." -Karim Rashid

A Place for Everything

"The ultimate in organizing is being able to stow everything from tacks to tea bags in one place. This large, shallow drawer in a cabinet in my office lets me do just that." -Alison Spear

Compartmentalized Drawer

"In my work as an organizing consultant, I've seen a lot of junk drawers. They're little private spaces that give you a rich insight into the identity of their owners. I'm a minimalist, so my junk drawer is pretty devoid of junk. I like to have separate compartments to hold tidy all the little things that I tend to accumulate, like matchboxes, spare change, and keys to friends' apartments." -Stacey Platt

Junk Cabinet

"I used to have a junk drawer, but I never had one large enough. So now I have a junk cabinet. I think of it as organized clutter more than junk. It's essentially an enormous first-aid kit for the entire house. The contents include batteries, key chains, furniture touch-up pens, furniture glides, flashlight (broken — no time to fix), halogens, Pan Am playing cards, picture wire, hand cream, plastic bag with various door lock parts, envelope filled with Floralife (lifetime supply), photos of various table settings, place cards for dinner parties, yellow plastic container (formally held my Invisalign teeth aligners), batteries, mints, scissors, and much, much more." -Susan Zises Green

Kitchen Essentials

"I don't really have a junk drawer anymore. I used to be a pack rat: I even held on to my grade-school math assignments! Then I moved into a small apartment with my husband, and I had to declutter. I just have two drawers in my kitchen, and they have only what I need for cooking utensils and eating." -Erin Doland, unclutterer.com