An avid McDonald’s fan has transformed her home into a shrine for the fast food chain – complete with a massive golden arches sign and a Ronald McDonald stain glass window.
Ever since she was a little girl, Taylor Gecking has been infatuated with all things McDonald’s related and has fond memories of running around her local restaurant’s playground, happy meal toy in hand.
The 31-year-old from Richmond, Virginia, USA, has continued her passion for the fast food chain into her adulthood by collecting nearly 100 McDonald’s memorabilia items.
Taylor, the McDonald’s fan has transformed parts of her home into a real-life McDonald’s museum
Funeral director Taylor has since transformed parts of her home into a real-life McDonald’s museum, complete with red and yellow walls, huge golden arches, a Ronald McDonald stain glass window and countless collectables from the chain.
Taylor, who is married to HR manager Adam, 40, said: “My obsession with McDonald’s started as a kid.
“I visited the play place back when they still used the McDonaldland characters, Ronald, Grimace, Hamburgular etc.
“My sister and I had so much fun climbing around and sliding into the ball pit. It made a mundane lunch something to look forward to.
“I started my collection a couple of years ago.
“My husband and I stopped at a flea market during a road trip and saw the Ronald McDonald stained glass piece and I was inexplicably drawn to it.
“I walked away from it that day, but a whole year later as we were driving through the same area I asked him to stop at the flea market so I could see if he was still there.
“The price hadn’t gone down, and I still couldn’t afford it, so I sadly walked away again.
“My husband could see how sad it made me and the next day while I was at work, he drove the eight hours roundtrip to West Virginia, so that it was waiting for me when I got home.
“Since then, anything McDonald’s themed just calls to me.
“I definitely get a rush of excitement when I see a vintage McDonald’s item in the wild.
“I’ve found some of my smaller things at antique malls or flea markets, but many of my items are from online marketplaces.
“The biggest rush I’ve had was finding the hamburger spring toy. It was amongst hundreds of items on a local online estate auction.
“Counting all the individual happy meal toys, I’d guess I have over 90 items.”
The oldest item in Taylor’s collection is the golden arches hanging on the wall above her stairs, which she says is an original sign from the 70’s taken from a real McDonald’s restaurant.
She hopes to continue to grow her collection as the years go on, with Taylor’s dream piece being an original McDonald’s bench that has a Ronald McDonald statue sitting on it.
She added: “I actually finished my McDonald’s wall during the pandemic, so no one else has seen it in person yet.
“No matter what items I add to the collection, my Ronald McDonald window will always be my favourite, but I did feel a really childish excitement when we hung the giant sign on the wall.
“It was everything I had envisioned and I definitely did a little happy dance.
“One day I hope to add a Ronald McDonald sitting on a bench, but so far it’s been out of the budget. A girl can dream.
“Our whole home is full of things that are a little unusual to decorate with, but my husband and I both believe in surrounding ourselves with things that make us happy.
“For him that’s thousands of books, records, and video games, and for me it’s McDonald’s, Funko Pops, and salt and pepper shakers.
“Adam has no McDonald’s nostalgia whatsoever, in fact he’s vegan, but he still gets just as excited as I do when we find a McDonald’s item because he knows how happy it makes me.
“He didn’t flinch when I told him I was painting our whole stairwell McDonald’s red with McDonald’s yellow trim. We love that our home reflects us.”
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