(I know it's blurry but it's still funny, no?)
1/28/11
WTF!? Friday
This week I have a few great WTF!? duos for you as well as a few random stragglers. I'll start with stupid potato inventions...wait, what?
NEVER BEEN USED! $5!
Gee, I wonder why this was never used...perhaps because it's a useless piece of crap!? Who's going to thinly slice a potato, strategically place each slice in the tray, nuke them until they're dried and withered and then serve them up with ketchup and some weird creamy dip!? NOBODY! Also, the box says it's perfect for bagels and steamed vegetables. WTF!? You gonna make steamed carrot chips in this thing!? And what kind of bagel could slip into this slot? Ugh!
Next up? The Rotato!
Could there be a more uptight and anal retentive way to peel a potato? I mentioned this stupid thing on Twitter a little while back and am still laughing at it. This is an invention that is destined for the thrift store the moment it leaves the factory.
Now let's move on to a pair of of redneck truck scenes, shall we? We'll start with this old clunker (with testicles) that's filled with old refrigerators...
Yesterday, I saw another dirt covered truck with the following sticker on the back window:
Yea, so there. Just an FYI, k?
Shall we move onto a sad/funny/bizarre/OMG is he dead!? kind of scene that I saw a few months ago? Sure!
(He wasn't dead, he was just wasted and needed a nap...and a high interest loan.)
Apparently it was -124 degrees celsius on Monday so I got a quick loan, threw on my bikini and ran next door to Coconuts Travel and yelled, "Show me the coconuts!"
Now it's time for a few random finds...
Holy shit, you'd have to be He-Man to lift these suckers into your house, right? They'd fall right through the floor of an average house, no? WRONG! They're as heavy as a... piece of styrofoam. These are so faux and shockingly ugly. They're the kind of thing someone would have bought at a really bad suburban 200,000 square foot mega flea market in the late 80s.
And finally...let's just take a moment to admire the product photography from President's Choice (specialty food from Canadian grocery store chain, Loblaws). Is that appetizing!? Why such a zoomed in shot of that Swiss chicken thing!? It doesn't help that the word breast is so prominent on there, either. I think the only President who would choose something like this goes by the name of Silvio Berlusconi...except he's not a President, he's a Prime Minister so that joke doesn't really work. Oh well.
1/27/11
House Tour: My Mom's Little Gray House. Part 2.
I wanted to share a quote from an email my mom sent me recently: "Let's put it this way----I don't think too much about my so called design (crap choices), I just keep hauling this shit in till I don't like it and then out it goes, only to be replaced by more (shit)." Yes, she talks exactly like me. Or I talk like her. Or something like that. We're a pair of high class broads, that's all I know!
Continuing on from yesterday, we'll start in the dining room/kitchen. I should add that my mom also has a thing for balls. Bowls of balls, rows of balls, colored balls and black ones too, she just can't get enough of 'em!
Oh, what is that? Another Lotte lamp? Yup! She loves pottery too, brown, earthy tones are her very favorite.
And check out the great starburst clock she just found the other day at the thrift store!
(Of course, it too has lots of balls).
Her cute little kitchen is adorned with lots of vintage wooden bowls along the top of the cupboards. She even decided to keep the old school gas stove because it has brown faux bois detailing on it!
Dansk peppermill + Copco kettle + mid century pottery spoon rest = awesome.
Wait, hold on, are we still in the kitchen/dining area? No! We're now in the bedroom where the matching Lotte lamp lives on yet another amazing teak credenza.
This is where my mom sleeps and dreams of teak and other vintage brown and/or wood items. She also reads decorating magazines in here almost nightly looking for new inspiration. See that thing hanging over the bed? It was an old piece of tin ceiling that was rusted and beaten up. She found it at one of our favorite junk shops run by a small little leprechaun woman. She sanded the worst chunks of rust off and then lacquered over the rest, which really brought out the rust color and detail.
She has this cool old shoe form hanging on the wall just outside of the closet.
She also loves old luggage as well as vintage art posters which are on display around the house.
Even her basement is decorated well, although I couldn't get much in the way of photos because a) she kept following me around yelling, 'Don't take pictures down there, it's a dump, it's a shit hole!' and b) it was too dark. I did manage to get one shot of her globe collection that is on display beside her little laundry area though.
And that's it folks! This concludes the tour. In a few weeks, I plan on revisiting her house to photograph some of her great dishes and collections of chrome kitchen appliances. She has quite the array of vintage collections that I look forward to showing you all. Oh and one last thing, did I mention she turns 61 on Saturday!? Happy birthday, ma! xo
Continuing on from yesterday, we'll start in the dining room/kitchen. I should add that my mom also has a thing for balls. Bowls of balls, rows of balls, colored balls and black ones too, she just can't get enough of 'em!
Oh, what is that? Another Lotte lamp? Yup! She loves pottery too, brown, earthy tones are her very favorite.
And check out the great starburst clock she just found the other day at the thrift store!
(Of course, it too has lots of balls).
Her cute little kitchen is adorned with lots of vintage wooden bowls along the top of the cupboards. She even decided to keep the old school gas stove because it has brown faux bois detailing on it!
Dansk peppermill + Copco kettle + mid century pottery spoon rest = awesome.
Wait, hold on, are we still in the kitchen/dining area? No! We're now in the bedroom where the matching Lotte lamp lives on yet another amazing teak credenza.
This is where my mom sleeps and dreams of teak and other vintage brown and/or wood items. She also reads decorating magazines in here almost nightly looking for new inspiration. See that thing hanging over the bed? It was an old piece of tin ceiling that was rusted and beaten up. She found it at one of our favorite junk shops run by a small little leprechaun woman. She sanded the worst chunks of rust off and then lacquered over the rest, which really brought out the rust color and detail.
She has this cool old shoe form hanging on the wall just outside of the closet.
She also loves old luggage as well as vintage art posters which are on display around the house.
Even her basement is decorated well, although I couldn't get much in the way of photos because a) she kept following me around yelling, 'Don't take pictures down there, it's a dump, it's a shit hole!' and b) it was too dark. I did manage to get one shot of her globe collection that is on display beside her little laundry area though.
And that's it folks! This concludes the tour. In a few weeks, I plan on revisiting her house to photograph some of her great dishes and collections of chrome kitchen appliances. She has quite the array of vintage collections that I look forward to showing you all. Oh and one last thing, did I mention she turns 61 on Saturday!? Happy birthday, ma! xo
1/26/11
House Tour: My Mom's Little Gray House. Part 1.
Okay, before we get started looking at some photos of my ma's place, I just want to make something clear. My dad actually lives in the house too - it's their 'recently decided to downsize' retirement house - but, as most of us know, the man of the house doesn't get much say about decor. He just gets to help with hauling the crap, refinishing it and rebuilding the house around it. A tip for all you dads and/or husbands out there, don't own a truck! Buy a Smart Car or a bike or a wheelchair, otherwise you can expect to be moving thrift store finds a little too often.
My mom has been a thrift store junkie for decades. She had my sister and I wearing pee stained pants as early as the 1st grade. Okay, not really, but we were shopping second hand WAY before it was considered socially acceptable and not because we were poor or had to shop there out of necessity, but because she knew even then that the quality of offerings were far superior to what you could find at the mall in 1982. Her decor style has always reflected this and I must say, she has great taste! She is especially fond of the color brown, as you will see in the following photos.
In fact, she's so fond of the color brown I'm starting to think she poops teak! She's always had a knack for finding cheap credenzas, chairs and coffee tables, although those days are starting to wane now that everyone is looking for the same thing. She used to visit a guy she called Peter the Junk Man who would sell her amazing mid century furniture for $3-5 a piece. I remember she used to always call me to see if I wanted yet another teak side cupboard or night stand because she'd been to see Peter. The funny thing about Peter was...he had a HUGE gut and would always want a kiss in addition to the $3-5. Mom, I'm not sure what you had to do for the amazing finds you got for me but I just want you to know I appreciate the fact that you MAY have had to go the 'extra mile' for a few things...
I think my mom has about 6 Lotte lamps and lampshades in her collection. They're amazing and one of the few mid century gems that can be considered uniquely Canadian. See that lamp in the corner, with the Lotte shade?
She found this sucker in the garbage! It was on the side of the road, all smashed up. She brought it home (well, my dad did in his big truck), fixed it up and added the Lotte shade.
Another Lotte lamp, this one is complete. I told you, she has a lotta Lotte! Err...
This Lotte shade was also an add-on to a pretty cool industrial floor lamp she found for $5 a few years ago.
She collects antique and vintage cameras as well as photography books.
Before we leave the living room, just take a closer look at this amazing beauty. I may have to switch out this piece with something else while she sleeps or just wait until she goes senile so she forgets she had it in the first place.
Onto the spare room, where she has chosen a black & white scheme. I think the b&w combo runs a close second to her love for brown.
I love that black lamp! Actually, I love this whole vignette situation going on here. She has a great collection of vintage Alfred Hitchcock books and also collects boxes, both wood and metal.
She also loves old photographs of simple houses or austere snow scenes, despite the fact that gray winter days depress the shit out of her! Okay, I'll leave it here for today and resume with part 2 tomorrow with photos of her dining room, kitchen and a few other things.
1/24/11
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