Gathering junk. Well not the kind of junk that is garbage, but the kind of junk that is standing on its last leg, looking at the garbage as its only friend and seemingly useless. My Mother saved this pie safe, it was in a junk pile. She painted it, added new screen and instead of becoming firewood, it stands in her dining room proudly holding her white iron stoneware.
I grew up with a mother who saw things with an uncommon eye.
Growing up we had a tool box sitting on the kitchen counter that held the silverware. None of my friend's mothers had a tool box sitting on their kitchen counters. My mom was collecting junk before junk was cool.
Her imagination was a champion when it came to re-thinking, re-creating, decorating on a shoe string and using what was at hand. Thank God we didn't live by a junkyard… though we did spend a great deal of time there come to think of it….
Decorating means; texture, different shapes, colors that correspond, groupings to create a theme…and the eye popper that makes you smile. Humor is needed or a place risks becoming to stuffy. My mother's house was far from stuffy… Clean yes, stuffy no.
The walls in her dining room are outdoor wall siding. When the carpenters were putting it up they kept looking at each other and rolling their eyes. I was too young to understand, but I do remember wondering why they were rolling their eyes?
When it comes to gathering things and using them for a different reason then what they were created for, you really need to let go of any preconceived ideas for your imagination to be free to wander.
Baking pan= cooks letters
Milk jug= holds pencils
spice tins = stamp dispenser,
Kitchen cupboard = becomes a desk and,
An old rake head becomes a dish rack.
My mother and her friend Holly have opened a shop called, "Gathering Better Junk".
If you are in Willows, California you might want to stop in and say Hi.
Oh the above is my Mother's bedroom… pink is not in her vocabulary, cranberry is.
A wall of bricks that my mom collected when our small town knocked down their BEAUTIFUL old buildings. Also a railroad tie she found and had placed on the brick wall to use as a mantle. Wooden bowls polka dot the mantle for color.
Note: My mother and Holly opened their shop in October. My mom has been home since her stroke, and will start back at the shop the day after Thanksgiving. She says she is feeling better, but not 100% her self …though she said she can "be" at the shop or "be" at home, it is the same…. I guess that means she is feeling a 100% spunky… that is Thanksgiving!
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