Odd - A stuffed baby duck. Handpainted plates over my vanity in the masterbath (according to many GW posters lol). My great grandmother's bed chamber in a hutch just off the kitchen (why not, it's shaped like a giant coffee cup!). Three ici repose les corps, which translates to three heart shaped metal and/or enameled memory/grave markers from France with names, dates and ages of death.

Different - A lot of things. A zinc horse head from a French horse butcher shop. An antique lapdesk covered in porcupine quills. A pair of antelope horns on the coffee table..next to porcupine box, of course! Copper ceiling in the powder room. A timber rattlesnake I skinned hanging in the den. ;D

Something a bit unusual that we have is a vintage camel saddle stool. Dh's parents bought it in Europe sometime in the early 60's, while they were stationed at a Canadian Forces base. Dh says he has many found memories of "riding" it around the living room when he was a child. It sat, partly broken and looking a little worse for wear, in our basement for a long time.

A few years ago, I had it professionally repaired and recovered (the original leather was very worn, but I left it intact underneath). It now sits in our living room, and I hope someday my own grandchildren will be "riding" it around!

Carrie

An old cesta used in the game of jai alai.

cooperbailey-
I must say, I had never heard of a cesta or the game jai alai. I had to look it up.

allison -
a rattlesnake, porcupine, antelope horns....starting to remind me of Sarah Palin's office :)

carrie -
I could see my 4yo trying to ride that.

Some of this is stored for right now, but I did have it all out at one time: A large bisque doll's leg I found on the sidewalk...by itself. A headless doll I found on the sidewalk...by itself. A pink yarn doll someone bought me in a junk store because I said it looked like my great-aunt Eunice.
A giant page from an easel version of a 1940s McGuffy Reader with a boy on it, that says in 5" letters, Dick. A tapemeasure with a 4-year old blond boy on it that looks like a future psychopath. A dollar bill where someone crossed out "Washington" and wrote "Goathead" A dollar bill that several people signed under the statement "Got High with this Dollar". A couple other dollars I can't remember

A John Wanamaker's box of sticks that look like something, leaves that have outlines of faces on them and other found objects from the 1930s and 40s. Victorian deer's hooves made into hooks to hold a gun. 1950s paper mache pumpkin halloween baskets, 1950s pumpkin and cat cardboard faces, a homemade change purse in the shape of a cat, a vietnamese nutcracker in the shape of a naked woman, 1950s cocktail glasses with the names of poisons on them, 2 dozen large sized framed Keane prints, a Howdy Doody freestanding night light. 8 ceramic anthropomorphic ceramic liquor decanters painted by a 90 year old nun, 66 danish modern candlesticks. Thats off the top of my head, I am probably missing some things.

A giant porcelain doll head. A vintage dressmaker form (I hang my jacket on it when I come home). A purse made from a real crocodile, including head, tail, feet, etc...hangs in my office. Giant Buddha head, temporarily housed in my living room. I mean giant. Nearly 3 feet high. 'Indian maiden' made of metal, painted white (chipping) that was part of an old ashtray stand. Four foot tall silver candelabra; beach ball sized japanese glass float. Single book ends. Lots and lots and lots more.

I've got a cooking pot on my coffee table. It's a brass Korean hot pot, similar to the one in the link below, but with a lot of engraving all over it and not nearly as shiny. My parents picked it up when they were stationed in South Korea.

Also some spikes from railroad ties and some huge wooden spools from an old thread mill.

And let us not forget the miniature loom with a tiny Oriental rug on it, with my name spelled out in the border, the Meerschaum pipe carved in the shape of my face (no, I don't smoke) and the sculpture of an upside down melting ice cream cone. The entire family looks forward to my brother's Christmas presents every year. They are certainly conversation openers!

Here is a link that might be useful: Korean hot pot

You can decide for yourself, eclecticme:

Here is a link that might be useful: house tour

My partner found an old black-and-white picture in the basement of some big family...and a casket with a dead person in the middle of it. Apparently some sort of funeral or something. We later located a picture of the deceased gentleman from before his death. It looks Victorian.

He insists on putting it on the mantel. Whatever makes him happy!

I also have this fuzzy wooden cat (it is wooden with some fuzz on the body part)...my partner bought it for me when I couldn't have a cat a couple years ago.

A black/white & orange ceramic toucan cookie jar sitting near the corner of the stove, facing the doorway - my kitchen 'sentry'.

Allison-
I remember seeing your house before. I think its amazing. Im sooo jealous. Your house looks amazing, you look 15 years younger than you really are...what more could a girl ask for? PLEASE forgive me for the Sarah Palin comment. How insulting! .

Oh, I wasn't insulted. I just don't think politics should ever be brought into the decorating forum. Right before religion and money. ;)

I didn't think mine was odd until my son asked me why I had Christmas stockings hanging on the wall. lol. In my sitting room, I've got a 5' wide wall dedicated to Christmas items, like the two Victorian stockings given to me that were too pretty to keep hidden, along with some framed Victorian Christmas cards, and other things I'll accumulate over the years.

Some Christmas items are just too darn nice (and expensive) to hide all year long, so this always makes me smile when I see it.

Grandpa's swizzle stick collection.
1958 Seeburg jukebox (clearly not mine, but definitely unusual and a conversation piece, not to mention a nightmare to factor into the decorating scheme).

I am DROOLING over Alison's house. STUNNING!

Allison, I have just one question.... Can I move in with you?

Allison, I don't want to move in. I just really want to use your laundry room. Love it.

My strangest thing, besides us, has to be the 5" high ceramic snowman I made back in 1971 Kindergarten. It was made of white clay and painted with clear finish that had little specks in it, there wasn't any totally clear. So it looks like a snowman that got rolled in some dirt. His eyes, nose hole and mouth were made with a pencil tip so they are a little rough looking. I had a really hard time figuring out how to move it to the kiln. So, being on 5 at the time, I simply pinched the head on both sides. This caused him to have two ears. He is quite hideous looking and my dh cringes whenever I put it out. So I decided he belongs out all year long. He is on a shelf in our bedroom alongside my kids baby pictures and a clear plastic heart which holds the dried roses my dh gave me when we found out I was pregnant.

Ok, now my friend has "the Dead Head room". The downstairs bedroom holds probably 20 or more stuffed animals. I mean real dead animals he killed hunting. The wild boar is mounted and the kids can ride it. They leave the door shut because she is at home mom and walking past the room with all they eyes really freaks her out. But the kicker- oh yes, there is more, is the entire front half of a water buffalo that is in the formal living room. Imagine a lovely sofa in front of the main window. Usually flanked by say an end table and lamp. Nooooooo. This is where the buffalo is. It looks like it came in through the wall, but the back legs/rump/tail stayed outside. It is TOTALLY freaky. Well preserved but FREAKY MAN!

I love birds, especially toucans, and have a fairly large statue of one on a perch, hanging above the spa tub in the master bathroom (and three smaller ones elsewhere around the room, plus a painted metal parrot and a handcarved crane). Lest you think I'm totally crazy, the room is done in a Coastal Mexican look.
Lynn

A family friend is a master of this. His wife could not care less about their surroundings, be he has the most amazing gift for using items in the most unexpected ways. The piece that really stands out in my memory is his wine glass holder made from the disembodied head of an antique rake.

For years my mother had an antique enamelled douche can hanging in the bathroom holding a dried flower arrangement.