Mary Randolph Carter Preaches the Gospel of Good Junk

On March 27, Oblong Books hosted author and longtime collector of life’s leftovers Mary Randolph Carter at the White Hart Inn in Salisbury, Connecticut, for a conversation about her latest book, Live With the Things You Love (Rizzoli). The book is part design manifesto, part personal archive, and part gentle pushback against the cult of minimalism. It’s also very Carter: warm, nostalgic, a little chaotic in the best way.

Carter, a longtime Millerton resident, has spent decades making the case for clutter—or rather, for the meaningful mess that builds up when you live long enough and care hard enough. A former creative director at Ralph Lauren and one-time beauty editor at Mademoiselle, Carter began documenting her obsession with found objects and flea market ephemera in books like For the Love of Old, Never Stop to Think...Do I Have a Place for This, and Garden Junk. Her home—and her brain—seem to operate on the principle that everything has a story, especially the things we’re told to throw out.

Natural finds crowd an architect's table in the Vinalhaven, Maine home of Sharon and Paul Mrozinski. Photo credit Carter Berg.

Live With the Things You Love is a continuation of that credo. In it, Carter visits homes across the country—an old farmhouse in Maine, a Rhode Island artist’s studio, a Brooklyn brownstone bursting at the seams—to show how people decorate not according to trends, but according to memory. The book features plenty of vintage textiles, chipped ceramics, stacks of dog-eared books, and walls lined with portraits of other people’s ancestors. In other words: the good stuff.

If Carter’s writing has a mission, it’s to convince us to stop apologizing for the things we love. Whether it’s a rusted watering can or a collection of mismatched chairs or a cabinet of seashells, she argues that living with objects that carry personal meaning is not just aesthetically valid—it’s life-affirming.

The party room in the Connecticut home of Robin and Paul Bell. Photo credit Carter Berg.

The March 27 event was part of Oblong’s ongoing author series at the White Hart, which has hosted writers ranging from literary stars to culinary icons. The format is casual, often lively, and Carter had a few stories up her sleeve—not just about junking, but about memory, family, and the ways we make a house feel like home.

Whether you’re a maximalist looking for kindred spirits, or a recovering minimalist open to letting a little more in, this book is a must-read from one of the more distinctive voices in the world of design and domestic life.