Average Jane’s Taste in Home Decor

As you might have gathered from the previous two days’ posts, my taste in objets d’art is a little…unconventional. That’s what makes me such a fan of flea markets and rummage sales – you just never know when someone’s going to part with something really weird and cool.

For example, I have a beautiful little bas-relief tile from Central America that I picked up for around 50 cents at a charity thrift shop. It depicts the touching scene of a jaguar devouring a human heart. Now there’s the kind of thing you just can’t get at Wal-Mart!

I have a painting in my living room called “Bluegrass Rhinos” that was done by our friend, Neil Cannon. It depicts rhinos grazing placidly in the fields of the midwestern U.S. (they do that, right?) as a tornado approaches, carrying a leering jester’s mask toward the foreground. My husband and I think it’s cool. When the glass broke and we had to have the frame repaired, I could tell that the frame shop people thought it was appalling.

My other living room decoration that people either love or don’t mention (they’ve taken to heart the advice of Thumper’s father from Bambi, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”) is a big metal carousel horse sculpture that we have hanging above the couch. I like it. It conveys a nice sense of action, the colors complement the rest of the room decor, and it appeals to my inner child.

If you look closely at even my more “normal” decorations, you’ll sometimes see something unusual. I found a great cast-iron candlestick at a flea market a few years ago that has a Jack and the Beanstalk motif. I keep a stuffed toy platypus on my desk because, hey, did you know you could buy a stuffed toy platypus? My favorite ceramic decoration is a big whiskey decanter shaped like a jackalope. I wouldn’t want a “real” jackalope in my house because I think taxidermy is too creepy, but I enjoy having a depiction of one.

I suppose I’ll never completely grow out of my interest in the weird and unusual. It’s a persistent reminder that the world is far more varied and fascinating than what I see every day. That’s a good thing to remember.