NATCHEZ — Joyce Hawkins knows how to make a house a home and on the cheap.

“I can go over to the thrift store with $20 (Natchez Children’s Home Services Thrift Shop),” she said, “and come back with a big black bag full of stuff.”

She has been doing so for years accruing a vast collection of various things.

When The Dart landed on Concord Avenue in Natchez, Hawkins was enjoying a comfortable lazy Sunday lunch on her couch amidst her trinkets.

In every room of her house and in her front yard are dog and cat figurines, colorful birdhouses, wind chimes and windmills and family pictures in every different kind of frame.

Her decor is not haphazardly strewn around. Everything has its place and no two things look alike.

“I’ve always liked decorating,” she said.

Hawkins puts new meaning to one man’s trash is another’s treasure. In fact, it has been her life for the past 56 years.

“I was the seventh of 19 children,” she said. “Everything was a hand-me-down.”

“I had to learn to make do.”

Over the years, Hawkins has learned to not just “make do,” but has totally embraced her second-hand lifestyle.

“I love reusing other people things,” she said. “I love making things more beautiful than how I found them.”

And with her house, she has done just that and she continues to add to her collections.

“It was a nice house when I moved in. I haven’t changed anything,” she said. “But in adding all of my collections, it has given it much more personality.”

Hawkins’ next mission is the house next door. It’s abandoned and has been for some time.

“When my grand babies are playing in my yard and their ball goes over there, I tell them to leave it,” she said. “And let me go get it because I don’t know what could be in those tall grasses.”

Her house is a complete contrast.

“Sometimes people pass by my house and tell me how nice it looks,” she said. “I want people to say that for the whole street.”