This morning we woke up early (for a Saturday), went by Natania’s work to pick up coffee, and hit the yard sales. It was average fare for the first forty-five minutes or so. It’s so beautiful out today, and the week has been heaven-ish, so there were a good number of yard and garage and tag sales. We picked up a wine rack for $2, and I got 2 lemon bars (for the price of one!) at a bake sale. And then, we pulled up to an unassuming house in the Bog Garden area of Friendly. This was an estate sale, and it was weird.
The fellow who owned the house was an artist. By the dates of his work and the decor of his house, I would place his prime at approximately 1973. Apparently he taught at the local community college, and painted watercolors for trade magazine covers. The house was about as retro as you can get in this day and time. Smallish, and cramped, it seemed like there was no room to move. The place was packed, too, and the hallways seemed hobbit-sized, so it was an exercise in patience just to go from room to room.
Two of the rooms, the bedroom (I believe) and the living room has huge cubist mirror-walls, which reflected the entirety of the place back at you, broken and shifted about. There was orange carpet and mod furniture and an 8 track player in the shape of a perfect sphere. Part of it made me sad, but it mostly made me ill and uncomfortable. Natania grabbed an old paperback of Hamlet and an ancient hardbound Moll Flanders. $2 for hardcovers, and a buck for paperbacks, but the woman at the cashbox wouldn’t settle for $2 even. I guess she realizes that she’ll be making a pittance on the house itself, what with its “inspired” decor, and she needs to pinch all of the pennies she can out of the domicile’s contents.
As we walked away, I mentioned how disturbing it is to walk into a place and feel like you’ve gone back in time to a world in which you weren’t alive. There are styles that last, and then there’s the house of the artist we visited today. The furniture and the carpet and stereos shaped like balls just didn’t make the cut. But, then again… what objects that we use on a daily basis will seem clunky and ridiculous to our children? I think, now, that I better understand Laura’s post a little while back about the depressing side of yard sales.
Still, I’m glad my stereo isn’t shaped like a jawbreaker.
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