Who, me? nope, no hoarding here.  i’m definitely not a hoarder.  not at all. not even a little bit. pshaw, that’s crazy.  for sure not me.  don’t even worry about that, could never happen….

I know i’m not the only one who watches hoarders. And I know i’m not the only one who while watching hoarders is secretly whispering to themselves (which is creepy already), ‘that’s not me, right? I don’t do that, right?  my stuff is pretty?  but I bet they think their stuff is pretty? they had to start somewhere, right? am i starting? do i have the gene?’ you get the idea.   As a prop stylist you have to have a ton of stuff. it’s just par for the course.  If you don’t buy that awesome vintage brass birdcage for $15 when you see it at the thrift store or flea market, then inevitably a client will ask you for one 3 weeks later, and it might take you days to track one down, and you’ll have to rent it instead for $75.  This scenario plays through my head daily.

Having a lot of cool stuff actually makes my life easier and me a better stylist.  Whilst backpacking last year with brian in southeast asia I couldn’t help but collect textiles, pottery and carved wooden sculptures and shove them in my full backpack, ditching necessities, because I knew that showing up to a shoot with these 200 year old vegetable dyed linens in colors you can only dream of will knock everybody socks off.  I need them, truly.  I can’t just keep bringing the same things to the same client; and at flea markets, thrift stores, antique stores, or while traveling, everything is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and it’s just really hard to turn it down.

now, you see my ability to rationalize?  is that how they rationalize.  dear lord.
that being said, I really really really really don’t want to be a hoarder.   But that’s like saying ‘I really don’t want to be a crack addict’.  Nobody does, but it still happens. ( But how??????? I truly don’t understand…or do i????) So i’m going to go in the direction of these pictures, instead.  Putting all my pretty things together in a fairly organized way really does have a strong impact, is super pretty, feels really warm and you don’t look like a freak, more like a collector. yes, that’s it, i’m a collector of pretty, pretty things.

oh, and for the record, i don’t keep anything that isn’t, a. vintage, b. handmade, c. used often for work, or d. has sentimental value.  thems the rules.

images:  1. sibella court book, etc. 2 – 4 style files blog, which is awesome, bt-dubs.