On a tabletop made with a bedroom door sit dozens of items decorated by 95-year-old Seymour Skolnick, who started the bejeweling hobby during the coronavirus lockdown in 2020. (Yadira Sanchez Olson / Lake County News-Sun)

There’s no missing what hobby Seymour Skolnick is into when entering his residence at the Sedgebrook senior community in Lincolnshire.

It’s bright. It’s eye-catching. It’s bling.

Rhinestones of all colors and shapes embellish hundreds of items he’s decorated. They hang on walls and sit at tables, corners and ledges.

The radiant faux jewelry is on broomsticks, vases, picture frames, boxes, toys, signs, shoes, clothing, and even on a 300-gallon fish tank and a large bird cage where his birds spend their time chirping and singing all day.

Highland Park resident Shari Coe displays headbands her father, Seymour Skolnick of Lincolnshire, decorates and gifts to friends and staff of his senior community. (Yadira Sanchez Olson / Lake County News-Sun)

But it didn’t always look like that.

Skolnick began his hobby during the start of the pandemic.

“He decided to keep his mind sharp by keeping his hands busy,” said his daughter, Shari Coe of Highland Park.

While in lockdown, Skolnick said he wasn’t able to get out and see pretty things and he felt he wanted to, and needed to. So, he created his own pretty, colorful things to make his space come alive.

“I thought, ‘I’m not going to sit around all day reading the newspaper and watching TV,’” Skolnick said.

The first item he decorated was in honor of his son, David, who died in 2012.

It’s a Styrofoam ball with a number of multicolored tiny pom poms and faux birds — The kind sold at arts and crafts stores.

“Then I said to myself, ‘Maybe I’ll buy some rhinestones,’” Skolnick said.

He bought metal flowers and animals to decorate with the rhinestones. Then he bought more things. And with more things to decorate, he needed more materials and tools, so more of that came, too.

Soon, the spontaneous hobby that kept his mind busy during those trying times quickly avalanched into a passion that consumed him. To feed that hunger, a wall in his apartment was torn down.

Ninety-five-year-old Seymour Skolnick has enjoyed bejeweling things at his home workshop for the past two years. (Yadira Sanchez Olson / Lake County News-Sun)

The once-bedroom is now space for his workshop, and the once-closet is a storage area where he meticulously has organized all of his materials in crates with labels. Glue guns, a rhinestone machine, scissors; all tools of his trade now.

“Every piece of clothing my mom owns, he’s decorated with rhinestones,” Coe said.

Of Lorraine Skolnick, his wife of 67 years, he said, “She’s my life.”

Now, he’s into spreading that colorful world he’s created for himself and his family onto the staff and residents of his senior community. He’s made name badges for the restaurant staff, including cooks and management. Security guards, the people at reception, the janitorial crew. Everyone received something made and loved by Skolnick.

Headbands for the ladies, watches for the men.

“He brings a lot of sparkle and flair,” said Cathy Swan, resident life director at Sedgebrook. “It’s joyful and whimsical, and brings good cheer.”

Some people have offered to pay him for his gifts, but Skolnick has declined. He does enjoy when people express gratitude, though.

“It makes me feel good,” he said.

Wall to wall items Seymour Skolnick has adorned with rhinestones decorate his apartment in Lincolnshire. (Yadira Sanchez Olson / Lake County News-Sun)

He’s not sure what else in his apartment he’ll adorn next, as he’s running out of space. But he’ll definitely keep up his hobby, he said.

“He likes to make everyone’s world bright and beautiful,” Coe said.