I am keeping a spreadsheet list of things I buy at yard sales. I'll need it at the end of the year for figuring taxes on the booth. The last column in my file is for comments. One of the comments that I seem to writing more and more is, keeping it for awhile.
The problem with buying things I like, is that often, I like it so much that I want to keep it. Every weekend after bringing in my new treasures, my house is getting rearranged a bit. It's a good bit of fun.
On Friday, I found a very pretty art vase. On Saturday, I found another. I don't collect art vases. I had no intention of keeping these. I usually use simple vases, like Mason jars or white pitchers. But the more I looked at these vases, the more I loved them. I put them on my kitchen sill just to admire them with light shining through. Then I went to my bathroom and rearranged. These vases are now in my 2x2 bathroom window, up high where the cats won't bother them. They are pretty big and heavy, so they would probably be safe even lower, but I really like how they look in a window.
What am I doing? These are not my style. Or are they? When I retired from teaching, I decided that I would stop worrying about rules. I never thought of that in terms of decorating until lately. Most people play by the rules in decorating. They pick or develop a style and stick with it. I have been having such a hard time settling into a style. The problem is, I like lots of styles. Vintage, shabby, all white, colorful kitsch, artsy, bohemian, minimalist, modern, industrial. I appreciate them all and love looking at them on blogs and in magazines. Choosing just one style isn't happening for me.
Maybe all this yard sale-ing is going to be a break-through for me. I buy things I like, and try some of them out for awhile. See if it's me and if it works in our home. Forget the rules, forget the styles. Just - do I really like it?
On the other hand, ECLECTIC is a style! Maybe that term was invented just for people like me who like so many things and hate things being the same for too long... for people who find cool things they want to keep for awhile.
ec·lec·tic
Adjective /iˈklektik/
Deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.
Here's something else that passed the Do I Like It? test with flying colors - this unbelievably wonderful custom tablecloth. It's super heavy. The toile is thick and has a wonderful texture. The top is soft and quilted. It fits perfectly on my table. It does not go with anything near the table. I have black and cream toile curtains. Why would I throw in a blue and linen toile? Even my newly found eclectic style sense doesn't think that's a good look.
But I'm still keeping it. One of these days, I'll use it as a booth display. I'm pretty certain of that. And down the road, I'll bet I'll use it at home. I don't need to rush this off to sell. I'm keeping it... at least for awhile.
In some cases, I am eliminating one thing and replacing it with something I like better.
I call that trading up. It's incredibly satisfying!
I call that trading up. It's incredibly satisfying!
This bird cage is an example of trading up! I've never seen anything like this. The bottom shelf is sized perfectly to hold a stack of letter sized papers. The top shelf will hold legal size. I set it up on my desk and it looks so much nicer than a run of the mill paper-stacker-thingie. What are those called anyway? It doesn't matter, I'm trading up!
Speaking of trading up, I am planning on trading up on my kitchen chairs. I have had them for ages and intended on painting them. I have procrastinated like crazy. I couldn't decide on a color. My DH wasn't all that crazy about them. I knew they'd need a lot sanding to hold the paint. It just seemed like a lot of trouble for too little reward. Finally, I made up my mind. I'm going to trade up. I'll sell the chairs. I'm sure I can find other chairs that work better for us. I feel so much better for making that decision. And after looking at these for so long, they no longer pass the Do I like it test. They are good, heavy, solid, well made, sturdy chairs and I detest them. :-) That felt good to say write.
I just noticed - I have over 100 followers! Woo-hoo! I have no special reason to want a bunch of followers. This blog is not commercial and I have no plans for it to be. I don't use it to promote anything. I talk about my booth - mostly because it's what I'm into these days, but as far as I know, my followers don't live in the area, so that doesn't count as promoting. Just having people think enough of my blog to click that button and become a follower is really nice! And when I look at the blog stats and see so many others dropping by, well, that's pretty nice, too.
It's the last one for 2010 and will be open all month!
