I'm posting pictures today from an old HGTV episode that focused on fashion houses. Betsey Johnson's eclectic home style really left an imprint in my mind. I adore her playful spirit. I often feel that people too often focus on what everyone else thinks a home should be (like what they see in catalogs), and not enough on what best suits themselves. Your home is an extension of your personality, and it's totally alright to use something as unconventional as beautiful piano scarves and vintage dresses in lieu of curtains if you want to!
I love peeking into people's houses, it's one of my guilty pleasures! Once a year they open up a few homes in our historic neighborhood for tours. I hope it's not shameful to admit, that I don't go there to hear about who owned the carriage house in the back and how many layers of wallpaper the owners had to peel. I go in there to look at their stuff!
I'm fascinated by what people collect, and how they put it together. There was one home this year, that some of the local history buffs were scoffing at. As we were walking through the gate I heard two older women exclaim, "that's not historic". It was the brightest painted bungalow on the tour in blue and red, colors the owner had brought from her previous home on the beach. Seeing that it was screaming with character just from the front steps I naturally gravitated toward it. The woman who lived there was a collector of colorful vintage things, her little California bungalow was filled with personal treasures that reflected her taste, her life, and her memories.
Her mother was a seamstress, she had a 50's gown of hers displayed on a sewing mannequin in the bedroom alongside her collection of vintage purses and rhinestone pins that were all neatly laid out on her dressers. She also was a lover of dachshund's. She had three. Just as you walk up her front steps you get a hint of her zest for them. In the tiny back bedroom was a museum devoted to things she had collected about the breed... everything from posters to stuffed animals. The other tiny bedroom (in baby-doll pink) that adjoined that one showcased her passion for vintage children's items from the 50's. Her one and only bathroom had a wall hook with three vintage frilly swimming caps, which complimented the shower curtain with 50's bathing beauties in their dive poses, and porcelain mermaids with gold gilt edges from the past hanging on the walls. Her kitchen was filled to the brim with kitsch, she even had managed to score a bright turquoise refurbished vintage fridge.
These weren't all things that I love, but seeing how she did turned me head over heels for her house. Walking through her rooms filled me with the most fantastic feeling, and gave me such a lift for the rest of the day. I felt immensely inspired.
The next time your shopping in a flea market, a thrift store, ebay, or a estate sale for things to add to your own collection... feel free to abide by Betsey Johnson's motto: "If you love it and it's beautiful, then it goes with anything else that you love and is beautiful".
5 comments:
I am so happy that I am not the only one! I love seeing people's homes. In fact, I love it so much that when I am out walking and there are lights on with curtains open, I totally look. My husband teases me about this, but homes are so fascinating.
:) Great post!
just love the entire follow your heart advice! so important to surround ourselves with what we love...not a catalog or a historical palette!! :)
I think it must be a world addictions of wanting to look into other homes.
Aimee-- my husband teases me too..LOL He thinks I'm crazy when I'm going on about wonderful color the walls were or the beautiful collection they had hung up.
I even admit being at a few yard sales and the house is so beautiful that I want to ask to use the restroom just to take a peek but of course, I mind my manners and secretly wish to see the inside.
ahhh...so i'n not the only voyeur out there afterall. i went on my old neighborhood's house tour for the same reason! did you ever watch MTV's cribs? In theory it should be fascinating for folks like us, but in reality amost every home profiled looks like the same boring designer sold her vision of white and beige. so much better to surround yourself with personal things you love! (even if you end up living amongst some clutter like me)! :)
It's so good to know that I'm not the only one who likes to take a peek into other people's homes... should we start a support group for this?! ;)
Oh yeah, Risa. What's with all of the beige-loving on on that series?! I think it's funny how they always show what's hiding in the cabinets and the fridge. Paris Hilton eats a lot of peanut butter!
Tommy Lee had a very cool house that I liked... on an old episode, it was decorated in Moroccan style.
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