Hookerson-Blough Auction

Okay people, before you ask who the hell Hookerson and Blough are, I have to tell you that if you're in Toronto this Thursday, March 21, you won't want to miss a fabulous auction happening at Mrs. Huizenga's starting at 7pm. You can preview the goods starting at 5:30pm and even put in an advance bid if you feel brave. I will be contributing some items to the sale and I also have some inside info on a few of the attendees...

Like this guy. This guy looks like half of the guys at the Junction Flea except he is from the 1920s version of the Junction Flea, which would be a farm show with jams, inbreds and chickens, no? (This guy definitely looks like someone who'd be named Hookerson)

This hot stud will also be there in his vintage garb. Apparently he has a time machine where he can travel into the future, find out what is trendy and then report back to the 20s so they can all have a good laugh at us!? 

These guys? All I can say is watch the fuck out for these bad boys. They're going to roll you for all your auction winnings as soon as you walk out the door. You just know the kid in the striped shirt is going to make fun of everything you buy and then make you eat it.

This poor kid (Li'l Blough) will just be there for the baloney sandwiches though, so don't worry about him. 

The whole gang will be there (for sale) as part of this awesome panoramic school photo from Salt Fleet High. Pretty much all of these people are now dead or in a senior's home pooping their pants and eating mush... is there a better reminder that life is too short to stay home watching TV? 

Get your ass out to the auction!

This massive shipping crate will be on the block...

As will this 60s typewriter table and Belgian file cupboard...

And this Mason's steel trunk, it will also be for sale. Apparently this thing was used to carry around aliens, potions, mathematical tools, dead bodies, incense and candles! Oh, and robes and uniforms. That is mostly what it was used for (note the mirror inside). It even has the Cunard label still stuck to one side from when it travelled by ship to hell and back in the 1940s.

This industrial milk strainer light MAY be making an appearance but I'm not sure yet. I am having a really hard time letting this one go, as I made two others that are now in my dining room, so the only way to know for sure is to come to the auction and see.

Same goes for this pair of massive fibreglass bell lights. I can see these sprayed black hanging over a huge harvest table, being all nautical and shit, and I can't quite bring myself to let them go. My love affair with them has been going on for two years now. I have to commit and fix them up or part ways to avoid hoarder status, so let's see what Thursday brings shall we? I have some other goodies coming down the pipeline too, not to mention amazing items offered up from several other cool shops in the city.

See you Thursday!

Hookerson-Blough Auction

Thursday, March 21

7pm (Preview at 5:30pm)

28 Roncesvalles Ave.
416.533.2112

mrshuizenga.com

Buffering...

Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly 4 months since I posted anything. I wish I had a really good excuse for my absence... like, um, I got my hands severed in a combine accident and I've been learning to type with my toes? Wait! I know! I contracted a rare and very serious infection after rummaging through someone's dirty underwear at the thrift store? The truth is, I have no excuse other than burn out. That's right, I am here to admit that I suffer from B.A.D.D. - Bipolar About Decor Disorder. Most days I absolutely love decorating and constantly shit shuffling all of this stuff around but then days/weeks will pass where I can barely stand the sight of it all.

It's not like I've been sitting idle for the last several months. In fact, I've been working my ass off selling my wares in real life (selling in real life is pretty damn swell these days) and I've been working on a few things around here including a dining room overhaul. It's still not done (due to my B.A.D.D.) but I'm getting there. It's hard to finish things in a timely manner when you have to wait for the right items to appear on Craigslist or at the thrift store. Also, sometimes you have to settle on things that aren't exactly what you'd hoped for because they only cost $200 instead of $2000 (like these chairs, for example). But, in the end, things start taking on a life of their own and the next thing you know you've gone in a completely new direction.

I made these lights out of old rusty milk separators that I found back in the summer. They would normally sit the other way around on some big machine, a filter would sit inside and then chunky, pus filled milk would just flow on through. Mmmm, bon appetit!

I bought this 7 foot harvest table for $350 (a steal!). I love having a huge table now, despite the fact no one ever comes to visit us in the sticks (Toronto is secretly a jail). As much as I love being rid of all the midget century modern furniture in here, I'm in desperate need of a few modern bits to add to this room to keep it from becoming too rustic/country/steampunk/butthead. An oversized black and white painting, a Laurel floor lamp and a huge weird bowl for the table would be nice. Good fucking luck finding it all though.

And, wtf, I now have this sign hanging in the kitchen!? Things are changing around here and I'm not sure what the hell is going on. If The Beverly Hillbillies and Audrey Hepburn had sex, I'm thinking my house would be their mutant offspring. 

Speaking of The Beverly Hillbillies...

I made some new lamps with my redneck neighbor! They are simple block lamps that look good with any style of bulb. They are about 5-6" tall and they are perfect as side table lamps, stick one on a book shelf or set one on the kitchen counter for some extra lighting. They will be up for sale in my Etsy shop tomorrow and they will be offered at a special introductory price of $48. They are available in high gloss black and natural, untreated pine. I hope to add a few more colors soon, including white and maybe some neon shades as well.

I just want to say that I will be making some much needed changes around here in the next month or so. I am considering, at the very least, a name change (since I don't sell much vintage online anymore) or possibly a complete overhaul (maybe even of my entire life). I'm trying to sort out whether I want to try and get all serious about this blog again or just let it RIP so I can move onto something new. No matter what, I need to switch things up because I'm completely bored of myself. I am going to keep the random weirdo stuff for Instagram and Twitter and try to start updating this place again with decor related posts only. And yes, 'decor related' also includes dumpy places and spaces that are just wrong in one way or another. 

That's my favorite kind of decor!

Random Shootings

Brookside House Tour

So yea, my aunt has a gorgeous house and I wanted to share some photos of it with you. Like my mom, she's always had a serious knack for decorating and styling and she could vignette the shit out of ANY of you, so don't cross her. 

This place was once just a summer cottage and they renovated it into a year-round home.

+

The massive porch overlooks their own private beach on Lake Erie.

Yup, walk down there a bit and...

BAM! Canadiana panorama in the face.

My ma found her those industrial lights almost 20 years ago and they're still awesome.

My aunt has always had a taste for the classics and her style has always been timeless. 

We had fun looking through her decorating mags from 1985. She's a bit of a decor mag hoarder...

Also, like my mom, she has a thing for (contained) big balls. She found this wonderfully beaten up slab of wood while on a visit to my neck of the woods last year. The guy sold it to her for $40 and she just threw some Ikea legs on it and now it's a babe of a table (a bable?).

These chairs are a bone of contention between my mom and aunt. My mom absolutely hates them, basically they're asshole chairs in her opinion. My aunt couldn't care less - they were cheap and they're practical. It's funny to watch them bicker about them. 

She is very good at karate chopping all of her pillows, which obviously means she'd also be very good at karate chopping all y'all in the face. Just saying.

Sleeping in this guest room would be a bonne nuit indeed! Who wants to come for a visit? 

Modern White Ball(s).

So, I found this kind of ugly, sky blue 80s ceramics class plant pot a few weeks ago...

I had planned on selling it and then realized that with a blast of high gloss paint I could jump on the geometric and/or faceted trend train and keep it for myself.

I do have a strong desire for simple white vases, so I thought that maybe this sucker would be a nice compliment to my collection. (I had to include the word sucker in that sentence so I sound a bit less like an old lady).

Golf anyone?

I found a Sansevieria Cylindrica plant, yeah you heard me, and plopped it in my new white modern beauty and voila! I'm in love (at least until the next white vase/pot comes along).

And that's it! Thank you very much, please come again. No, really. Hello? I know I don't blog much but winter is coming and you know what that means? I'll be housebound so more likely to blog or, uh, something like that. I had to buy a new camera a few weeks ago and I'm still trying to determine why my photos are looking a bit shit, so I will leave you with this link of hungry kitty videos and I promise to be back sooner than later.

Whoa, hello! This is me now, after a crazy busy summer going to every yard sale within a 50 mile radius, scrounging in every rotten thrift store I could find and hanging out with all sorts of weird country folk in the process. 

Okay, wait, wait, I lied. THIS is what I actually look like now. Totally fucking glazed over and rotten.

Why can't this be me? Why can't I be all relaxed, wearing my Amazing Grace jacket with a box of Kleenex in the back window of my super clean and organized car? (Why do people have Kleenex in the back window again? It creeps me out!)

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Okay, enough of that shit, let's get down to business and talk about this wonderfully horrendous new addition to my home...

It's Sally Ann! Look at her box shaped piglet face! She's amazing, right? (Come on!) For me, she's as meaningful as a picture of The Queen in a classroom (which isn't very meaningful at all, actually) or the face of Jesus in your toast. She symbolizes helping people in need mountains of cheap junk heaped into piles all across our nation!

I don't usually bring many of my WTF finds home anymore (fucking relationship decor compromise) but she is definitely an exception. Welcome home my hairy eyebrowed princess, welcome home.

Okay, so who wants a microwaveable meat colon!?