When the folks at Weird Home Tours contacted me ask about about including my home on their virtual tour I didn’t know whether to be flattered or appalled.
In the past when my home was featured on a public tour it was because of the original architectural details that still remain from the era the home was built which was 1912. And it was once a consulate for the country of Panama after the big earthquake the wealthy fled SF for Oakland.
But the architecture wasn’t what the folks at Weird Homes were interested in They had seen photos of mannequins (yes plural) that I have in my garden. And since I sold mannequins for a living, they suspected I probably had mannequins inside too – which is true.
However I think they thought my house would be like this home in Lake Tahoe where the photo above is taken. That home received national attention when it went on sale on Zillow because of the dozens of life size mannequins realistic mannequins with wigs dressed in evening attire posing throughout the house. No shade to the owner of that house but that is not my style.
Mannequins like that in every room would remind me too much of my warehouse where I sell them. In my home I have NO mannequins with a face, and most of them are functional art. Meaning they have the dual purpose of being pretty to look at AND perform some type of purpose. Like the leather mannequin torso I acquired from a Louis Vuitton store and had turned into a lamp that you can see in the background of this photo.
Weird Homes Tour was founded in 2014 in Austin, Texas by husband and wife David J. and Chelle Neff . The purpose of the tour is to “showcase the places that make cities fun, irreverent and strange, and to give people a glimpse into these authentic dwellings, many of them home to local artists, performers, and creatives.”
The emphasis on creative (which is a very subjective term ) versus weird is what convinced me to participate in the tour. Since I had started a Crafty Fun With Mannequins group on Facebook, I thought this would also give me an opportunity to showcase the amazing home decorating ideas people do with mannequins or mannequin parts.
Most people think of mannequin lamps as the ubiquitous Christmas Story leg lamp not this high end mannequin lamp from the MacKenzie-Childs company.
Weird Home Tour was agreeable to including a slide show in the virtual tour of my home with curated mages from my Pinterest boards on mannequin lamps, mannequins in the garden, mannequin in your glam closet and mannequins as dress form Christmas trees.
So fasten your seatbelts and click on the Youtube video to see what it is like to be in the home of someone who not only sells mannequins for a living but sees them as a canvas for various art projects.
