De Boemerang

Every so often Gwaz makes her way to De Boemerang. “The Boomerang” as we call it closely resembles its American cousin, The Goodwill Industries. A second-hand store, De Boemerang accepts donations of conceivably almost anything, mostly household items, and then sells them for pennies, so to speak.

Condiment Platter

Want an 8-track player? (I swear I saw one there.) Need a baby crib? Maybe a couch? How about a complete set of bone china? Bikes, toys, record albums, can openers, no kidding, this place is incredible, and the best part is the prices. Two euros for the German version of an Irish coffee serving. A mixing bowl for fifty cents or a glass tea-bag caddy for a dime. Some things are more, but its all relative. A heavy rough-cut wooden dining room table for twenty-seven euros, IKEA lounge chairs for seventeen. Who knows what this stuff cost new? Who cares?

A tile perfect for the table I plan to make

Last weekend I joined Gwaz on a rummaging expedition. I have been collecting souvenir porcelain tiles for a project I have in mind, and I figured De Boemerang might be just the place. Just before I found the tackiest commemorative tile (exactly what I had hoped for…) I heard the expression that for most men signals the end of discussion. “I want this,” I heard Gwaz say while eagerly showing me what she had found—a vintage Dutch wood & lace window screen.

This is not the first “this” that Gwaz has found at De Boemerang. There’s the German coffee set I mentioned, flower vases, and assorted glassware, but nothing like the screen. Designed to diffuse sunlight or to partially block the curious view of anyone looking in, the lace window screens can be seen all over Holland. No longer serving the useful purposes for which they were once so popular, they are more decorative than utilitarian these days, but nonetheless Gwaz “wanted one,” and she found one…in, of all places, De Boemerang.

German "Irish Coffee" Set