Thrifting Modern/Minimal

I'm actually NOT as much into old/antique as some thrifters are, and as I used to be. (For one of my latest yard sales, I wrote on the flyer (after "where" and "when"), "Why: I'm changing from ungepochke (sp?) to minimal".)

First I was into 50's and now I'm into minimal (which, I think, INCLUDES a lot of 50's stuff). In the livingroom most of the furniture is white or off-white -- the couch, a chair plus ottoman. . . -- but also two Bertoia chairs which are stainless steel but very "airy", if you know that particulr Bertoia chair... Of course I got ... well the first Bertoia I got at a 50's furniture store for "real money" (but less than retail), but the second I paid $100 for in a yard sale -- not my "usual" $10 but definitely worth it...

It's very easy to find cool white dishes, bowls, etc., in thrift stores. Pots, too -- though PLAIN white Corning Ware (NOT decorated with those blue flowers, which I admit are lovely but not what I want...) are few and far between but not impossible, and I've now got enough).

I do love Pirex, the kind that's SOLID on the outside and white on the inside. I have too many of those, but use most of them when we throw a party.

I find it a CHALLENGE to do minimal via thrifting (and yard sales and flea markets); there seem to be JUST ENOUGH along that vein, and not TOO much as when one goes antique.

Unfortunately, I am still a COLLECTOR so I can't be quite as religious about minimal as I should be. As I look around this room I see that there's TOO MUCH stuff around, mostly clothes in the closet (and these are my OFF-SEASON clothes, that I keep in this "computer room"). O well.

I also go modern when it comes to CLOTHES. In general, I do NOT dress hippie-style but instead first stalk the expensive boutiques about town and psych out what's "avart garde" these days, and what among these I LOVE -- then I go find it in the thrift stores. Of course, it gives me very great satisfaction when I wear these thrift-stores items at the expensive boutiques and get lots of compliments from the salespeople... (And yes, I do tell them where I got those items, and they say things like "Yes, that's the way to go...")

Lately, though, I've stopped dressing only in black, and am having fun dressing the way my future daughter-in-law dresses -- meaning teen-age style, cool "flippy" skirts with tops that seem to clash, jewelry, too. But I still tend to go for the subdued (meaning black-ISH, or black with exceptions -- a "splash" of red, as they say...).

My neighbors who don't (yet) know that I thrift think I shop in the boutiques. (Or so one of them told me.) Of course, that makes me feel very smug indeed...

Anyway, part of my message here is: A thrifter doesn't have to dress, or decorate, "thrift store style". She can do things any way she pleases.
Many of my friends DON'T thrift, or do but don't dress or decorate the way I do (even approximately). I'd like to hear from anybody out there who does.

Marion (Cohen)