TEXARKANA MAGAZINE
I love walking into a minimalist house with neutral tones. It calms my mind and puts me at ease. This is the person I strive to be. Those kinds of homes look like the mom really has her act together. If I could only achieve this status. Well, when stepping foot into MY house, one quickly realizes…THAT AIN’T ME! I remember someone walking into my mom’s house and saying, “Well, she’s not afraid to hang anything on the walls.” Since genetics plays the role we know it does, the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree; the apple has taken it to a whole new level. I’ll hang a picture, plate, musical instrument, or gallery wall faster than you can find me a hammer. And if you don’t get there fast enough with the hammer, I’ll hammer it with a high heel or any object I find first. Instead of the calm, white, neutral tones I admire, one could say the vibe of my house is “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Whenever I have kids and friends over, my husband always says, “Don’t worry about messing anything up. Everything in this house Ali has gotten at Goodwill or an antique store. Even some of the dogs were free.” It’s true. I love junkin’, thriftin’, antiquin’… whatever you want to call it. If it was an Olympic sport, let’s just say I’ve earned a gold medal. Nothing makes my heart beat faster than the patterns of old vintage Pyrex. I would tattoo my body with them if I could. Dishes, funky metal platters, bowls, and trays… I can’t get enough of them! An entire wall in my kitchen is filled with different 60s and 70s floral plates. I have also collected so many paintings of random things and people. My husband and I sleep below a painting featuring an old, tired farm couple. They look absolutely pitiful. It makes me laugh, and I bought it for five dollars at a garage sale. My daughter’s bedside table is bright yellow, and I made a U-turn to load it up off of the side of the road. (Always have your eyes peeled when driving!) It makes life interesting to have these conversation pieces hidden around my house. When one sets out for a day of thrifting, you never know what you might find, and that’s the exciting part. Some days, I just wake up with the feeling, “There’s something out there, I’ve got to go hunt!” This might be equivalent to what most men feel during deer season.
COLLECTED LIFE COLUMN BY ALI DEAL Confessions of a Compulsive Collector
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LIFE & STYLE
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