When Sarah and Jeremy met in Savannah, Georgia, they bonded over a shared love of collecting vintage toys, oddball objects and natural specimens. She was studying painting at Savannah College of Art and Design and he was a glassblower working at a new studio in town.
Their dates consisted of hunting for treasures in thrift stores and junk shops. They have the same idea of what constitutes a good find: “the creepier, the funkier, the better,” says Jeremy. They spent hours combing long stretches of road outside of town in search of insects they incorporated in their art. “A bug can die and it stays totally perfect,” Sarah explains, “I love butterfly and dragon wings for their delicate and lacy beauty.”
Thirteen years later, the New Orleans apartment Sarah and Jeremy share with their two young children reflects the nostalgic yearnings that brought them together as young artists. The walls are decorated with the beloved objects they’ve gathered and inherited – separately and as a couple – throughout the years.
Nearly all of their furnishings are vintage. The couple prefers to salvage and refurbish pieces rather than buying something new. “In the days before big box manufacturing, things were made with more thought; things were made to last,” Sarah explains.
Jeremy enjoys tinkering with electronics and bringing them back to life. A collection of vintage radios decorate the hallway outside of the kids’ room and a larger one is now a side table in the dining room. He has incorporated his handblown glass into the space – as door knobs, drawer pulls, chandelier embellishments – in every room.
Judging from June's growing collection of nesting dolls and silver dollars – both annual gifts from her grandfather, also a collector – and Louis' love of vintage windup toys, the kids take after their parents. Jeremy says he always had them in mind – even before they were born – as he acquired things. "I was a romantic in the way that I was thinking about my kids," he says. Wondering whether June and Louis will want to inherit their collections some day, Sarah muses, “I think it’s really interesting now, raising kids in a house with everything from previous decades, because of the newness of everything in their generation. I hope that we can instill in them an appreciation of the past."
Photos and text by Jacqueline Marque
You can check out the full hour tour and read more about Sarah and Jeremy's style on Apartment Therapy.