From Setback to Success: The Junk Princess Revolution
How Jenna and Roger transformed personal adversity into an award-winning furniture customization business in Fredericksburg, Virginia
By Tina Tang
July 17, 2025
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Spotlight on @junkprincessllc
Jenna and Roger with their five consecutive "Best of the Burg" awards, a testament to their dedication to transforming forgotten furniture into newly beloved pieces.
Sometimes life's most unexpected detours lead to the most extraordinary destinations. For Jenna, owner and artist behind Junk Princess Furniture Designs, a life-altering car accident in 2009 that broke her neck and ended her career as a McDonald's store manager became the unlikely catalyst for discovering her true calling as a furniture artist.
After the accident, unable to return to work, Jenna began making Christmas crafts with her mother. As Jenna recounts, "We made everything under the sun â wreaths, arrangements and more. One day while we were crafting, my husband Roger called and said, âGet in the car I found us a store to rent.â He had dreamed for a long time about opening a thrift store.â
"Dressers became entertainment centers and kitchen islands. China cabinets turned into bookshelves and so on. The more unique the build, the happier I was."
â Jenna Wellborn, Junk Princess Furniture Designs
The decision was swift and decisive. "We got to the location and immediately called the owner and it was ours that same day. We spent weeks remodeling and opened January of 2019," Jenna recalls. âBut, we knew thrift and Christmas crafts weren't going to pay the bills."
Enter Teresa Grey, who became a pivotal figure in Jenna's transformation into a furniture artist. "Yup, you guessed it she was a furniture painter. She talked me into trying a piece and, as I was working on it in the back room of our shop, it sold! Before it was ever completed. And that was all she wrote. I was hooked."
Jenna discovered she had natural talent for giving old forgotten furniture new life. Her approach evolved beyond refinishing furniture to complete reimaginations: "As we grew, I became more proficient in my work and we began to make pieces into something they weren't intended for. Dressers became entertainment centers and kitchen islands. China cabinets turned into bookshelves and so on. The more unique the build, the happier I was."
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AFTER
Dresser to Apothecary Cabinet Transformation
Reimagined with Bristles AI
An example of Jenna's furniture transformations. She shared Bristles mock-ups of this old dresser transformed into an apothecary cabinet and sold it immediately. Yes, that is the same piece of furniture!
Jenna could easily see the potential in her pieces, but showing her customers that vision was not easy. "The one thing I was missing was the ability to show a customer what their furniture could become. Then I found the Bristles AI app. Talk about a game changer. I started off slow at first learning how to change the color of pieces and when I tell you my sales soared because of it, I am not exaggerating," Jenna says.
"Then I learned how to use other features like erasing stuff and pulling stuff from other images. I could take a China cabinet and remove the doors with the erase and add shelves and paint it and show the customer how it would look. And once again, my sales skyrocketed for those types of pieces," she explains.
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AFTER
China Cabinet Transformation
Bristles AI visualization: doors removed, shelves added
Using Bristles AI, Jenna can show customers exactly how a china cabinet will look when transformed into an open bookshelfâdoors removed, shelves addedâbefore starting any of the refinishing work.
Jenna emphasizes the competitive advantage this technology provides: "There are a lot of apps out there to put your piece into a room or change the color of the room or add decor for staging, etc. but nothing compares to the Bristles AI app where you can completely transform a piece and wow your customer."
Recently, Jenna has been pushing her creative boundaries: "The last couple months I have been challenging myself to create my pieces to match the ideas I have come up with using the app. I've even used it to design my business cards and Junk Princess T-shirts."
Jenna's Favorite Transformations
A reimagined dresser inspired by Bristles AI.
A beautiful piece with a bold design.
A stunning dresser painted in beautiful blues.
Roger plays a big role at Junk Princess. As Jenna explains, "My amazing husband is a pro at yard sales. He finds the best pieces for the best prices as well as supplies, tools, etc." His expert sourcing enables Jenna to keep prices affordable for her customers: "I don't cut corners or do anything halfway but I still stay as reasonably priced as I possibly can."
Jenna and Roger care about their customers and pour their hearts into their work. Their dedication hasnât gone unnoticed. For 5 years in a row, theyâve won âBest of the âBurgâ, a Fredericksburg competition where locals vote for their favorite businesses. Junk Princess Furniture Designs continues to shine in the furniture category year after year. And they have exciting news. Theyâre hosting a Grand Reopening event this Saturday, July 19th. Be sure to check out their new shop if youâre in the Fredericksburg, VA area!
For aspiring furniture flippers, Jenna offers this guidance: "YouTube is your friend. Find furniture flippers there that communicate with their fans and you can get lots of tips and tricks from them, and definitely get the Bristles AI app from the start."
Author's Note
Jenna and Roger are the creative duo behind Junk Princess Furniture Designs where they flip old, unloved, unwanted furniture into works of art. Jenna has been a Bristles subscriber since 2023. After hearing her story, I was excited to feature her in our new Behind the Brush series.