Saturday, February 6, 2010

Big Sister's Abode

When your entire family likes to go thrifting and trolling yard sales, it's a bit like belonging a family of alcoholics. We all enable each other with this precarious addiction. What starts as just a peek in a thrift store can turn into an hour of scanning for treasures. A small collection can turn into an episode of Hoarders and my dad's the ring leader. Speaking of Hoarders, am I the only one who can't watch it? You'd think the show would make me feel better about my own addiction, but I find it too raw and way too close to my increasingly cluttered home.

Anyway, my sister Lise is very elegant and seems to know when and where to draw the thrifty line. Her family lives in a semi in the upper beaches and she has a knack for mixing old and new together. I took a few pictures when I was over for my birthday last month.
They've had this Kellogg's cereal rack for as long as I can remember. Note the vintage op-art canisters and the recently thrifted vintage ice bucket. Now all you need is Johnny Depp in a silk bathrobe holding a bottle of bubbly.
This little desk is an unusual size. I'm not sure what it was used for, but a friend of Lise's salvaged it from his workplace and Lise ended up with it. It looks great in the corner.

Lise did a chic assortment of white pottery on top of this mid-century bookcase. At Christmas, the glass cloche had a vintage ornament inside it, which looked very cool.
Thanks Lise, for allowing me to show some of your treasures. You've got great taste!
- Ev
Here's a cool video from the queen of Aussie pop. Enjoy, Aussie sister!

9 comments:

  1. I have that very same aluminum ice bucket! So cool!

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  2. Love the Kellog's rack! It is delicious! I'm very well by the way. Your sister has a very nice decor...

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  3. Hey cats, nice to hear from you both. I love this community, even though we're so far away from one another. I'm doing lot's of boring stuff today. You don't want to know.
    P.S. Would the Kylie song/video be too sexy to put on my classroom blog for Valentine's Day? Discuss. My kids are 10 and parents are fairly liberal and/or oblivious.
    Bye for now,
    Erin

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  4. Oh that stuff is FAB! And no, can't watch hoarders... I watch the decluttering shows but when its too much like an illness I can't watch. sigh.

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  5. I too am unable to watch Hoarders. I just want to #1 go in there without permissions and clean-up (and let the hoarder deal with the therapy costs later) and #2 shake the hoarder and the person who lives with them. YES, it is an illness, but would we allow someone who was sick to continue to throw up without calling in a specialist as well as cleaning the mess up?

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  6. About Hoarders...I watch it and in my opinion border line clutter people should watch it because it makes us feel better about our clutter. And I see that some people are worse than I am...Really the house with the 30 dead cats...EEEEEWWWWWW! And is it me but the hoarders dealing with the psychotherapists in the show never get their shit together, the ones paired with the professionnal organizers get rid of more stuff. But I'm telling you folks this is just the tip of the iceberg, new mental illnesses will keep popping up all over and money hungry tv execs will make shows about them...wow that was a mouthful!lol

    About the video: visually I see nothing offensive and I can't understand half the lyrics so I don't see a problem....

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  7. One of the big differences between hoarding and collecting is whether you use your collection. Hoarders pile things into dilapidating boxes never to see the light of day again.

    Collectors can't stop playing with, admiring, showing off, and best of all, sharing their collections.

    I love the way that the internet is being ustilized to bring collectors together. This is WAY too much fun!

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  8. The heck! I missed the episode of Hoarders with the 30 dead cats. I'll have nightmares tonight. Love all the comments. It's like a virtual Tupperware party of thrift therapy.
    Mom Wald, thank you for putting this into perspective. It makes me feel a little better.
    Cheers
    Erin
    P.S. Vonlipi: thanks for "thumbs up" on the Kylie video. If I get busted, it's all your fault!

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  9. OH!MY!GOODNESS! That Kelloggs rack! Let me know if she ever wants to let it go...I am in loooooooove.

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About Me

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I'm a slightly off-beat Toronto-area teacher who enjoys writing and photography. I come from a family of collectors and now I'm dragging my own family around to yard sales. It's just a bit of fun. Enjoy the scenes.