After 26 years, Toronto man continues to decorate van and home with eclectic objects

With Halloween Thursday night, it’s a decorating time of year for most Toronto residents, but for 74-year-old Albino Carreira, decorating the outside of his house is an everyday thing.

“I like when they say ‘oh my god, I’ve never seen anything like this,’” said Carreira when thinking about the reaction his house gets.

Carreira came to Canada from Portugal in 1972.

He worked a job in construction, but in 1993 had a serious fall on the job and was not able to work again.

So Carreira said he decided to use his disability pension to fund his new hobby — covering his house on Clinton Avenue in the Christie Pits area in coloured glass balls, sea shells, plastic bugs and thousands of coins.

“I have used over 235,000 pennies,” Carreira said, adding he spends around $200 a week buying materials to glue to his house and minivan, which he hopes will one day go on display at a museum.

Carreira’s neighbours, who have been watching the decorating for years, welcome the fun.

One told Global News, “I’m like ‘wow’, I like it,” while another simply said, “To each their own.”

Carreira said he believes he has about ten years of work left to cover his home.

After that, he said he may return to Portugal where he has another house, or as he called it, “another project.”