Quirky

DD#1 is home until Thursday morning.  While she will be with extended family most of the time home, I got her for an hour to myself this morning.  We went out for a late breakfast at a little downtown cafe, complete with home fries and the bottomless cups of coffee that taste so much better served by a waitress straight out of the Alice sitcom. Of course said coffee meant this almost 50 year old had to make two stops to the ladies room.  The cafe is in a storefront building well over 150 years old, and has been redone dozens of times in it's history.  Originally, the restaurant that was there was fine dining in a small town with limited options. The bathroom, tucked in the back uses lavish amounts of paint to hide blemished, and sheet covered walls, but sprinkled among this decor are little spots of posh.  On the vanity is a single retro ladies pump shoe.  A wall shelf holds  a 1950's case type handbag, and the paper towel holder is adorned with a porcelain knob.  It is a cute and creative way to make what could be a dive looking bathroom shabby chic, and a nod to the buildings heritage.

I like quirky things in unexpected places. Whether it is in clothing or a room decor.  I don't like gimmicky, but I don't mind cheesy.   These pictures were taken by me in a similar type cafe in St Paul.  This cafe is known for serving up lots of good wholesome home cooking and has it's roots deep in hockey heritage. I love how the signed photo is in a beautiful frame in the women's bathroom.  In any other type restaurant, it would just be odd, but here it works. Three points if anyone reading this can guess what restaurant this is. 

I like the quirky randomness of these bathroom objects. 

I am not a fan of "kooky" though know there is a fine line between quirky and kooky.  My definition of quirky is a play on realism, where kooky is using something that doesn't fit for the sole purpose of trying to stand out. Quirky is part of a person, a building, or a homes personality.  Kooky is a call for attention, and "look at me;  aren't I creative." I don't have a good flair for the quirky, in spite of my many quirks, but I like it when it works, and feel almost uncomfortable when it doesn't. Because I am so vanilla in my decorating and my personal style, this is awfully shallow of me, I admit. I've been guests of people with lifestyles so utterly different from mine, but because it suited them so well, I felt perfectly at ease.  On the other hand, I've been entertained by people who so clearly were trying to portray their home and life as something it wasn't, it almost felt unwelcoming. What are your thoughts in the art of quirky? What quirks do you show to the world?