Lately my thoughts on design have been filled with more questions than answers: Should i go with 2 small or one large coffee table? Box-up, display, or hock the knickknacks I’ve been carting around for years? And, most importantly, when to say when with a teddy bear colletion:
Psst, I’m pretty sure the answer is one. Or a million. Shit I don’t even know. I kinda sorta like how 80 gazillion raggedy bears create a textural, bizarre landscape in this otherwise simple space. But then again, they’re teddy bears. And then we must consider that they are in the same home as these displays:
Someone likes collections. On one hand I appreciate the restraint with which all these groupings are displayed. Despite the fact that Mr. Homeowner also owns 452 canes and 347 magazines (my figures) the place is still pretty spiffy and looks nothing like the vintage shops most collector’s homes resemble. But, then again, these are canes and bears we’re talking about here.
And glasses, let’s not forget that we need 18 thousand glasses. I saw a wide shot of this room and that cupboard is like 90 feet high, this is only a third of the glassware. That bird is like head level to me if that helps put it into perspective. Why not 4,000 birds you ask? Fear not
For there are at least 782 quail on the premises. And, if my design logic is correct these puppies are smack-dab behind teddy bear alley.
But, then again there is this Jesus on the Cross right below a fossilized fish, so there’s that.
What do you say? Are 433 canes appropriate? Should I keep all those stupid knickknacks of mine? And what about the double / single coffee table dilemma? Sorry, you get no visual on that. Go with your gut.
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Karly…Fabulous post! Looks to me like this guy (guy?) has his obsessions (barely) controlled. It’s as if this could all come undone with a two lb. weight gain or a day of missed meds. Yes, I conclude he’s a bag of Funions away from discovering a dead cat beneath a smiling mountain of plushy bears…
But I live in a glass house…totally feel you on the knick-knacks. I’m about to move and can’t stop typing “Abraham Palatnik” into an Ebay search 12 times a day. I say you box them up, put out some new ones and “rediscover” the old ones one fine day in the future.
As far as the coffee tables goes…that’s a hard one. We have a two-year-old, and since he was about six months we just scrapped the table all together in favor of an ottoman…but how I MISS the table. If it were me, I’d probably go with one, mostly because it’s one less thing that would get moved around on a daily basis!
Dust.
Dust. That said, I do have some hoarding tendencies, although they run mostly towards books and magazines.
I’m afraid I can’t get behind the teddy bears at all, but otherwise I quite like the decor here, especially the rugs and that black cabinet under the portrait in photo 5.
I had a collection of dry heaves when I saw this. Makes me itch.
If you have large heavy side tables, do two small coffee tables. If you have smaller round side tables, don’t repeat the same shape and size with small multiple coffee tables, will look like too many randoms floating around. Just my opinion…
-e (modern24seven.blogspot.com)
Is that a partially eaten bagel below Jesus? If so, then I declare wit as a necessity in design. (Not whimsy, mind you, but wit.)
weirdorama
one table
gut feeling
Ha! too funny! Heather (love Your Space) sent me the link to your post because I posted about this today, as well! The canes, maybe, but the teddy bears would never land on my living room sofa – although there is just as many stuffed in storage bins beneath my daughters bed
Sometimes too much is just too much.
I am not saying he deserves one cane-slap for each of the 452 in his collection.
BUT…I am not dissuading it either!
On the coffee table front……may I suggest 452 of them in varying sizes?
Great post today!!
Rob’s comment just made me laugh out loud. Great post, Karly. I used to have a zillion collections. Slowly they’ve been boxed up and now reside in our attic. I feel better. But I’m digging his crucifix/fossil ensemble. Nice juxtaposition, Mr. Cane Lover.
That couch is one teddy bear away from being a Campana Brothers piece.