Tour This Minnesota Home Filled With Vintage Cartoon Art and Life-Size Snack Food

Gladys Tay is a designer, vintage dealer and lover of pop art who describes her home as "a beautiful mess." With a lifelong passion for design, she aims to fill her home with dazzling art, broad strokes of color and plenty of quirky chairs. Step inside her Minnesota home and see why she has a giant ice cream cone in the living room.

By: Rachael Jones

Show: HGTV Handmade

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Photo By: Tremendous Entertainment

Photo By: Ian Khoh

A Kaleidoscope of Wonder

"I’m a designer and vintage dealer," Gladys says. "And I’m constantly hunting and looking to find things to buy, sell and collect." Originally from Singapore, the now-Minnesotan maximalist appreciates a non-stuffy home chock-full of fun decor, vintage signs, and lots and lots of chairs.

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Creative Cartoon Collections

"My home is definitely a reflection of who I am," Gladys says. "I’m fun. I’m silly. [And] I can be very dramatic at times. [There's] nothing too serious in here. A lot of the decor is from my childhood and things that I love, things that I remember growing up. Everything has a memory with it."

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

I Scream, You Scream

Larger-than-life candy sculptures stand tall in Gladys' living room — and some of them are actually edible. "In my [ice cream cone], those M&M's are made of real candy," she says. "[It] really brings me a lot of joy because food objects are very colorful. And I love to eat, so they’re perfect to collect."

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Cavity-Free Color

Spilled-candy artwork sits beside an oversized light bulb on the glass coffee table. Instead of confining her art to shelves, Gladys likes placing art and books on coffee tables and the floor because it feels more inviting.

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Man in the Mirror

An unlikely duo with a deeper backstory adds a bit of realness to Gladys' playful, vintage art wall. "These two portraits are very dear to me," she says. "They are sort of a reflection of my personality. There’s this part of me that’s very serious and very studious, and then this completely different side of me, like 'I don’t care' — and if I’m in that 'whatever' mode this is literally how I would look."

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Best Seat in the House

Step inside Gladys' second living area, outfitted with more colorful chairs and plenty of space to lounge. "I love this room because it’s very bright and it’s very airy and I get the best view of the house," she says. "And I get to enjoy all my artwork."

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Checkerboard Finish

"This is the fun room where we entertain a lot," Gladys says. "We don’t get as much light in here compared to the rest of the house, so I brought in a lot of richer, warmer colors to make this space very, very cozy."

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Not Waterproof

A pair of paper mache heels with painted toes adds a conversation piece to the coffee table in Gladys' second living area.

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

It's the Real Thing

The corner nook is designed with a playful trio of grand sculptures and fairy-tale appeal. "I love collecting food objects ... especially when they’re extra, extra large like this Coca-Cola bottle that is life-sized," Gladys says.

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Look, Don't Touch

"This sculpture piece is by Shlomi Haziza," Gladys says. "I call it the magic mushroom because they look a little bit trippy." Adding to the whimsy, a small Humpty Dumpty figure sits on the wall ledge overlooking the realistic-yet-faux watermelon art.

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Hey, Hey, Hey

"I love collecting different kinds of artwork," Gladys says. "Most importantly, artwork that resonates [and] reminds me of my childhood. I remember watching Yogi Bear cartoons when I was young, and I thought it was absolutely delightful that the bears could talk and mingle with humans."

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Defining Dining Aura

Gladys' dining room does double duty as a museum-like spectacle for modern chairs and an inviting room for dinner parties. She says, "We entertain here. I work here. I create art here. So this table has a lot of good memories and good energy from all the fun we have around it. And, for a quick refresh, I frequently switch out the chairs from my chair collection. Rotating the chairs around helps give the entire space a different feel."

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Paper Party

"The chandelier is one of my most favorite things in the house," Gladys says. "It’s paper mache, so there are fine line cracks in it — and there’s food stains from all the dinner parties. It’s a beautiful sculpture piece and in the evening when we turn the lights on it casts a shapely shadow on the walls and makes the room so, so pretty."

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Abstract Agenda

"When we saw this house, we walked in and it looked exactly like 1984," Gladys says. "But we fell in love with it because of all the different spaces and the divided rooms. But it still feels like one big open space." A small staircase leads from the split living areas to the second level of her Minnesota home and offers the perfect spot for an abstract gallery wall of acquired artwork.

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Dissimilar Groups

"I like contrast and I like to create drama and I like to play with size," Gladys says. "This [wall] is where I collect some of my most favorite pieces."

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Maximum Maximalist

Her colorful collection of abstract art perfectly demonstrates that gallery walls don't have to be perfect at all. Gladys groups items of completely different colors, all different sizes and shapes together to create one big wall of maximum interest.

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

More Than a Chair

At the top of the stairs, another modern seat awaits. "I do love collecting chairs," Gladys says with a laugh. "I love chairs that serve a dual purpose. It could be a sculptural piece in the room, a statement piece or it could just function as a chair. When we have new people over, it’s a little bit awkward because they’re not quite sure which chair to sit in, or if it’s comfortable, or if [it will] tip over when they sit in it. So [they] make a really good ice-breaker conversation piece."

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Imperfect Perfection

Recently renovated, but forever a part of the plan. "I always knew how I wanted the bathroom to look," Gladys says. "I always wanted it to be imperfect and timeless. And we always knew that we wanted to try and keep as much as we could to reduce waste, so we kept the eighties mirror. And our old IKEA kitchen cabinets that we had sitting in the garage somehow magically fit the length and the width of this entire countertop."

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

And a Dash of Marble

But it doesn't stop there. "These knobs are from IKEA in the children's section," Gladys shares. "And one of the things we wanted [were] double sinks, but we did not want the space to feel broken up, so we found this Italian Carrera marble that works perfectly and still makes the countertop feel like one whole piece. It’s a very different vibe from the rest of the house, but it’s definitely an escape room for me from the beautiful mess out there."

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Design It With Gut

When it comes to creating a happy handmade home, Gladys offers a clear takeaway. "I think design is really within you," she says. "It’s about understanding who you really are. Listen to yourself because that’s when you understand what really works and what does not work for you. There’s no right or wrong — design is for everybody. Anybody can do it."

Watch the Video: Tour a Vintage Dealer's Whimsical Home in Minneapolis

Always a Work in Progress

Gladys' love for collecting vintage decor means her style is always changing. In the past, she took a more monochromatic approach to her home's decor. See more photos and see how her style changed over the years.

See More Photos: This Minnesota Home Is a Maximalist Dream

Tour This Minnesota Home Filled With Vintage Cartoon Art and Life-Size Snack Food

Related To:

Shop This Look

A Kaleidoscope of Wonder

Creative Cartoon Collections

I Scream, You Scream

Cavity-Free Color

Man in the Mirror

Best Seat in the House

Checkerboard Finish

Not Waterproof

It's the Real Thing

Look, Don't Touch

Hey, Hey, Hey

Defining Dining Aura

Paper Party

Abstract Agenda

Dissimilar Groups

Maximum Maximalist

More Than a Chair

Imperfect Perfection

And a Dash of Marble

Design It With Gut

Always a Work in Progress

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