Tribute to Catalog Living - Part 2 of 2

Inspired by the web site Catalog Living, I have continued to leaf through my old, pre-Van Winkle catalogs with new eyes.

The peculiar and gifted insight of Molly Erdman, an actor, writer and comedienne in L.A and the genius behind Catalog Living, has led me to discover a truth.

If one begins to imagine actual people living in some of these rooms so carefully curated by designers (here available to us from CB2 and, final two visions, Pottery Barn), it seems inevitable that bizarre back stories and episodes are going to emerge...

Reflecting upon these colorful images becomes a way of creating my own news in the absence of the real thing.

Here is my final tribute - V.W.

Cecil, the pug-huahua, was known for crashing the weekly meeting of Penelope's Round Posterior Support Group.

Amadeus has promised Penelope that once he completes his original screenplay about the life of Tony Robbins and sells it to Dreamworks Studio he will change out the artwork over the sectional. A Monet? A Matisse perhaps?

When Helga and Augustus shop for furniture, they're well aware that all dimensions have helpfully been increased by manufacturers in order to satisfy the needs of Americans who are larger than ever before in history...

After Augustus and Helga married, her grandmother's giant spoons, once used for ladling lard back in the old country, came with her as well as her grandfather's hippo basting brush. It was a sentimental nod, she told Augustus, to a simpler life, a simpler time, and hearty feasts under the harvest moon.

Amadeus totaled the motorbike in the spring when he went for baguettes and thought the Panera had a drive-through (but it was a brick wall). Penelope, pretending no ire, nursed his injuries and suggested he come up with alternative wheeled transport they could enjoy together--vicariously and safely.








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