When a Minimalist Marries a Maximalist
Let’s just say that things are bound to get interesting at times.
Not that Jim & I fight about my love of collecting – really, “hoarding” is such an ugly word! – but we have had the occasional, er, discussion over the years. There are non-contentious areas, to be sure. Both of us are clotheshorses, so finances & storage permitting, I’ve no room to criticize him for buying a shirt or two & vice versa. I’m fine with the fact that his old-school stereo system – complete with enormous speakers that a friend custom-built for him in college – takes up a good chunk of one wall in our living room. I actually got rid of my “cabinet of curiosities” so that said stereo (& a few hundred LPs – yes, Jim was playing vinyl long before the hipsters were, probably before the term “hipster” even existed) could be set up next to our piano.
We tend to differ on decorative objects, though. I am a great fan of tchotchkes as well as china & glassware; Jim is not. If it were up to him, we’d probably only have one set of dishes, wine glasses, flatware, etc. & there would not be retro bric-a-brac scattered throughout the house. Not so much of it, anyway.
So, with gorgeous weather & time on our hands, what did we do last Saturday afternoon? You guessed it – we went vintage shopping in Hampden!
We were actually on a home decor mission this time – there’s a wall in our house that could use some adornment & we thought the fabulous giant fan in the window of Hampden Junque (the store I’m posing in front of) would do the job nicely, but alas, it’s too big for the space. We also checked out David’s selection of retro outdoor furniture, but found none that would fit on our deck. Not that we came home empty-handed, mind you. Well, I didn’t. A vintage skirt, an eyelet petticoat, & a tapestry purse later, I’d exhausted my budget for the day, & we headed to Grano Pasta Bar for a delicious dinner (plus a chance encounter with friends, always nice!) Note that I didn’t purchase a single tchotchke.
As we were browsing in Charlotte Elliott, the owner’s mother asked Jim what he collects. His reply: “running shoes!”
Tags:antiques, Charlotte Elliott, fashion, Grano Pasta Bar, Hampden, Luna Blue, shopping, The Parisian Flea
