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The perfect gay housewarming gift

By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman
RHINEBECK, NY – Looking for that perfect housewarming gift for Steve and Jon's new house in Ferndale? Or a bridal shower present for Susan and Joan that will give them laughs as well as style?
Dirty Linens just may be your solution.
Dirty Linens takes toile – a French decorating pattern first used in the nineteenth century – and gives it a hip, queer-friendly twist with designs from gay artist Tom of Finland, pictures of biker boys lifted from Physique Pictorial, and more.
Dirty Linens co-founder Avram Finkelstein said that the idea for Dirty Linens came to him after the home he shares with partner Phil Montana was photographed for Country Living Magazine.
"They brought in some stuff from their advertisers – linens and such – and in our bedroom they put a set of black flannel toile sheets," Finkelstein said. "And I hate toile, but this looked really good. After the shooting I wondered 'What kind of toile could I live with?' and it just came to me – it would have to be sick, it would have to be gay, it would have to be demented."
The result "is the demented love child of Martha Stewart and John Waters," said Finkelstein, who originally planned on making a single set of sheets for Montana and himself.
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However, "Everyone wanted them. So my boyfriend [the two are also business partners] contacted the Tom of Finland Foundation to license the use of the images. That was our first design, and we started getting all sorts of calls for girl-themed patterns and started doing that. Then we did 'Vice,' a celebration of drinking, gambling, smoking and sex."
The company plans a new design for later this year called "Suburban Toile," which will feature gas stations, multiplexes and high-tension wires.
Dirty Linens has also expanded beyond sheets. The company now offers shower curtains, lounge pants, boxer shorts, drinking glasses and cocktail napkins.
But while the company has become wildly popular – it was written up in USA Today – it is only two years old, which means a gift from Dirty Linens will be as novel as it will be appreciated.
To purchase Dirty Linens for the twisted decorators in your life, visit the company at http://www.groovyq.com or call 347-219-6606. Customers who register with the company's web site are offered special product previews and sales.

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Topics: Guides
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