Evanston Antique Hoarder

Even empty this house would have felt small and awkward. The rooms were tiny, the ceilings low and canted at strange angles. And it had that smell that all hoarding homes have -- a funky mix of dirt, mold and mouse droppings.

A helpful sales staffer told me stuff was literally piled to the ceilings when they arrived. There was a single path leading from the front door to the kitchen, and another upstairs from the bedroom to the bathroom.

After hauling away six truckloads of trash, this is what was left.

Hard to believe that until a couple months ago, you could have watched TV on this, because it still worked. I hope it finds a nice prop house somewhere to spend the rest of its life, because hauling it to the dump would be a shame.

A very nice antique display case, in which you could display some very nice antique things.

Age and provenance unknown, but undoubtedly old and authentic.

These old Mrs. Butterworth bottles would sell for $5 each. That's more than the cost of a full bottle of syrup. Sounds crazy, but for some reason, these things actually sell. They're usually in a lot better shape, however.

This picture goes out to my good friend Mrs. Beavers in Oakland, California.

There was an upstairs. And guess what? It was old and creepy.

The carpeting up there reminded me of this place.

Among a lot of stuff was this box of vintage sewing patterns.

If I'd been female, and knew how to sew...

... and was into vintage clothes...

... and these were my size, I probably could have had them for the asking. But none of those things are true.

The rest of the upstairs was pretty much what you'd expect: drab, cluttered, a bit depressing.

Kind of like this blog post.