Boutique Owner Makes It Cool to Be Thrifty
Upon walking into Jenny Grumbles’s Preston Hollow home, one sees several rooms neatly organized, all filled with furniture she has collected at estate sales, storage unit auctions, and even through dumpster diving.
In the front left of the home is a sort-of “man cave” for her husband — filled with old baseball and football collectibles, and a television to view all kinds of sporting events.
And in the living room — “the formal room no one goes in” as Grumbles describes it — are two chairs that once belonged to her great-grandmother.
In the entry hallway hangs an old framed photograph of the chairs before Grumbles reupholstered them.
However, it was her mom who taught her how to turn trash into treasure.
It began in college — when Grumbles wanted to decorate her dorm room, apartment, and sorority house on a tight budget — that she began redoing old pieces of furniture to make them look new.
And now she has made a business out of it.
She closed longtime Snider Plaza boutique, Uptown Country Home, in January because of an increase in rent and her newborn son, Thompson, but continues to run the business from her home.
After running the store for several years, Grumbles was presented a unique opportunity when her husband’s friend was asked to participate in “Storage Wars Texas.”
Being a professional gambler, Grumbles said it just didn’t make sense for that friend to be on the show. So instead, Grumbles joined the cast.
The first episode on which she appeared was also her first auction.
“I had no idea what I was doing,” Grumbles said with a laugh.
But she continued, appearing in 68 episodes total, nabbing some finds she now has in her home or that she sold in her store.
Grumbles’ mom, Fran Holley, said she worked Grumbles’ store while she was busy shooting “Storage Wars.”
“I worked there, but it was her name on the door,” Holley said. “People really missed her.”
Often it’s Holley who tags along with Grumbles when she goes to estate sales and storage auctions. Holley said going “junking” is one of her favorite things to do with her daughter.
“I love finding something that we can turn into something cool for the least amount of money,” she said. “And then when someone buys it and puts it in their home, that’s the coolest feeling.”
