Hoarding and scrapbooking
I don't usually watch the original CSI, but I saw the previews and tuned in for this week's ep...about hoarding. You know me, I did a talk on it for church, I *had* to see it. (Despite the fact that I've kind of gone off the reality shows on the subject.)
Given the nature of the show, I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying there were bodies in the house. Shades of the Collyer brothers, although it was probably prompted by the news story a couple of months ago about Billie Jean James, an elderly woman who disappeared from her home. She had dementia, and her husband thought she'd wandered off.
Without her there to stop him, her husband brought in a cleaning crew, and after several weeks, they found the woman's body among the rubbish. As someone said in comments on the article, "In the middle of the summer? In the southwest? Can you imagine how much the place had to have stunk for no one to notice a decomposing body?" Either that, or the A/C was set to "meat locker".
Me, well, I got a couple boxes of stuff out for the church rummage sale---I coulda-woulda-shoulda gotten rid of more, but it's still progress, right?
Another thing I've occupied myself with is thinning out the stacks of 'zines occupying my bathrooms. A while back, I started a notebook with plans for the house...and more recently, I picked up a package of page protecters and have been going through said 'zines and gleaning pix of things that really resonate for me.
Number one on my hit parade is 30s-40s-50s kitchenware/housewares in general. A lot of baby blues and pinks, linens printed with almost cartoonish fruits and flowers, massed collectables (like Fiestaware or milk glass). I aspire to Fiestaware colors in general, with white, ala shabby chic. Just wait---I'm going to hit WalMart for spray paint and they'll think I'm tagging, but really, it's just four folding chairs, the dining table, the coffee table, a wrought-iron side table, etc.
I also have a "thing" for cozy little dining nooks. Given how small my dining room is, it definitely qualifies, and is one of the motives behind the folding chair plan. I'm very fond of shutters, although split rattan blinds would do in a pinch. Occasionally, my taste veers toward exotic---persian carpets, painted tiles, tansu chests....
There's also an offshoot that leans toward mid-century modern, but the minimalism necessary to showcase those elegant lines doesn't really jibe with my over-all ecclectic miscellany. Bark cloth for the win, though!
.
Given the nature of the show, I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying there were bodies in the house. Shades of the Collyer brothers, although it was probably prompted by the news story a couple of months ago about Billie Jean James, an elderly woman who disappeared from her home. She had dementia, and her husband thought she'd wandered off.
Without her there to stop him, her husband brought in a cleaning crew, and after several weeks, they found the woman's body among the rubbish. As someone said in comments on the article, "In the middle of the summer? In the southwest? Can you imagine how much the place had to have stunk for no one to notice a decomposing body?" Either that, or the A/C was set to "meat locker".
Me, well, I got a couple boxes of stuff out for the church rummage sale---I coulda-woulda-shoulda gotten rid of more, but it's still progress, right?
Another thing I've occupied myself with is thinning out the stacks of 'zines occupying my bathrooms. A while back, I started a notebook with plans for the house...and more recently, I picked up a package of page protecters and have been going through said 'zines and gleaning pix of things that really resonate for me.
Number one on my hit parade is 30s-40s-50s kitchenware/housewares in general. A lot of baby blues and pinks, linens printed with almost cartoonish fruits and flowers, massed collectables (like Fiestaware or milk glass). I aspire to Fiestaware colors in general, with white, ala shabby chic. Just wait---I'm going to hit WalMart for spray paint and they'll think I'm tagging, but really, it's just four folding chairs, the dining table, the coffee table, a wrought-iron side table, etc.
I also have a "thing" for cozy little dining nooks. Given how small my dining room is, it definitely qualifies, and is one of the motives behind the folding chair plan. I'm very fond of shutters, although split rattan blinds would do in a pinch. Occasionally, my taste veers toward exotic---persian carpets, painted tiles, tansu chests....
There's also an offshoot that leans toward mid-century modern, but the minimalism necessary to showcase those elegant lines doesn't really jibe with my over-all ecclectic miscellany. Bark cloth for the win, though!
.