Amazing Collage Chest

Imagine my joy when viewing our current rental house for the first time & seeing this dresser as part of the dining room furniture.

 My landlady has fantastic taste in my opinion. Love this newspaper & magazine clipping covered cupboard. It's definitely hand made but I don't know if she did it herself, or where she would have bought it.

 I've seen a myspace page before of a girl who does similar stuff to chairs, from Belfast.

 I'm hoping if/when we buy the house we can keep this one!

Claire

Dallas Simpson's Miserable Child

Anyone know why a lot of the ugly 70's art featured sad children with animals?

 This is my favourite from my Dallas Simpson collection. Love the colours & it's really nostaligic for some reason.

 I think my granny used to have that bizarre print (that I still don't 'get') of a sad girl standing in the corner of a room with a lassie dog watching her.
What was that all about?

Claire

Tacky Greetings Cards

A tacky greeting card collection could potentially be huge. Have you ever come across your mum or dad's old wedding cards, or the baby cards from the year you were born?
Horrid.

 Greeting card design follows trends as much as clothing does. There are types that go in & out of favour, illustration styles, colour schemes of the year.

 I don't especially collect cards, but I did have two. The third I received from my pal in England, Charlotte (@queenchoo) a fellow kitsch lady.
She sent me the fabulous silver foiled flamingo number. Very tropical!

 The Valentine's card isn't strictly vintage, it uses genuine antique images, but has been put together by a crafter & I bought it from eBay for my husband last Valentine's.

 The last card arrived through my letter box when we lived in our last rental house, from some long-lost-relatives of previous tenants. With no forwarding address I decided I'd put it up that Christmas anyway & have kept it's foil loveliness in the cabinet since.

Claire

Female Flamenco Dancer

My parents had one of these ladies in this jade green colour when I was little.
This is quite a large doll & lives in my glorious cabinet of tack.
Found at Bangor carboot sale.

Claire

Holographic Poodle

Large holographic poodle print. Follows you round the room.

 It's part of my ugly art wall. Can't actually recall where this came from, another charity shop find I think.

Claire

Haunting Pussycat

I've never really understood the appeal of these big eyed, large headed ornaments. To me they look like something that would come alive & go for you in your sleep, but at one time they must have been very popular.

 This funny looking feline is from a charity shop in Holywood.

Claire

The Kitsch Danger Zone

I've mentioned before, there's a very narrow margin between cool kitsch & all out ugly; with this ensemble I'm not confident enough of it not being the latter.

 It's one part of the room I'm just not sure about. Perhaps because most of my other kitsch things are collected in pockets in the room; the wall of ugly art, the cabinet & it's wares, they re-enforce each other that it's 'meant to look like that'. But mister fish sits upon a really stylish retro side table & I'm just not sure if he 'works'.

 My iPhone camera photos aren't the best but he's a sea-green with a slight sheen to his paintwork.
He's a very large, heavy vase, I found him in the same tacky shop in Dublin where I bought the Jesus clock. He was only €15 & worth lugging back to the hotel!

 The plastic flowers are from a normal fancy goods shop, the sort that sells candles & posh twigs for decoration.
The blue birds are again Ikea Summer 2008, and I think they are fantastic! If I retire mister fish I'll still be keeping the blue birds in the room somewhere.

 I'm scared to ask what everyone thinks of this get up! Do you think it's just too ugly, not retro enough to get away with?
I could always move mister fish to the garden...

Claire

Russian Matryoshka Dolls

Russian stacking dolls have bizarrely snuck back into mainstream design this year.
Many mainstream brands have used the image on clothing or cushions & furnishings for this coming winter.

 They appeal to me due to their collectable nature. They come in many varieties, including modern versions of The Simpsons.

 I only have two sets so far, a Star Wars one I bought for my husband & these original design dolls from Hawkin's Bazzar which came 'blank' to paint yourself.

Claire