Just a little thing that has been bothering me…

I read decorating blogs now and again.  Not anywhere like I used to a few years ago, when I had a long list that I tried to keep up with daily, but still there are a few I check at least weekly.   Sometimes I am surprised by what I read.

Two bloggers whose sites I regularly visit design homes professionally.  Both have done a series of posts on decorating rooms based on another decorator’s work.  In both cases, the decorator/blogger has used a photograph of someone else’s work and tried to recreate the room.  In one case the decorator is using the picture she found online and duplicating it to the best of her ability in her own house, and in the other a decorator has remodeled a bedroom for a client using structural and design elements copied from a room showcased on HGTV.

I think this is so weird.  Three things:

1)       Why not come up with your own ideas? Take a few suggestions or ideas here and there perhaps, if you must.  But especially for your own home-that place that should be a unique, inspiring, relaxing haven -shouldn’t it be a reflection of your own tastes?

2)      If you don’t think your ideas are as good as someone else’s than why are you in this business?  Isn’t it a little embarrassing to have to show your clients someone else’s work, and then ask for payment?

3)      If someone was using one of my rooms and copying it for a client, I would at first be flattered, but I think I would quickly become PISSED.  People pay me for my ideas.  Someone else shouldn’t get rewarded for something I did. 

I hope this doesn’t make me sound like an egomaniac.  It’s not MY rooms these women are copying, so I guess I really shouldn’t care.  Ok.  Rant over.  Moving on….

I have two areas of monstrous blank walls I have to deal with.  The sheetrock installation gave me a revelation.  Wide but variegated, horizontal stripes would be striking in my color palettes, some in my beloved metallic paint.  I went to the web for some inspiration:

via Todd Riches Interiors

…On to work it out in Photoshop.

I stalk on Facebook. 

I know, you are probably thinking BIG DEAL.  That’s the whole point, isn’t it?  Even Betty White knows this. 

My version of stalking is a bit different.  I love to look at the background environments in the photos people post.  Especially when they are of people and places I know nothing about.  (If one of my friends is tagged in a photo, if I press the right or left arrow key I can see the whole photo album, even if I am not friends with the person who uploaded the group of pictures.)

It’s the interiors in the photos that intrigue me.  Are they messy?  Usually.  Does it look like the room was created with intention?  Sometimes.  Are there regional differences?  YES.

Last week my husband worked a job fair in Pittsburgh.  On the day he returned, the first words out of his mouth were, “People in Pittsburgh are different!  They have  strange accents and I never realized how style [of dress] can change with only a few hundred miles.”  He has been talking about this the last few days, which made me notice more what I have always been just slightly aware of.  Interior decorating styles can be regional, too. 

Out of my 500 or so Facebook friends, the majority fall into two categories.  The largest group is local:  my friends and business associates who live and work where I do, in metropolitan Washington DC.  The second largest group is from my hometown in Ohio.  The rest are from everywhere, even some who live out the US.

Ohio people  like it…gaudy.  Lots of oversized floral arrangements, gilded candlesticks and long fringe.  They are still faux painting there.  DC people are all trying to streamline.  Tassels were shoved into hiding two years ago. 

Am I biased?

There must be a lot of pink bathrooms still hanging around.  A 10 second Flickr search hit almost 3,000 and that was specifically typing only “pink toilet”. 

Pink, blue and green porcelain was enormously popular in the 50s and 60s.  It’s pretty shocking how many still remain and are in mint (lol) condition.   

Brightly coloring the place you poop seems like the oddest trend.  I wonder how it gained such popularity. It is so amazing that America bought this trend with such exuberance. Especially in light of today, where homeowners are paralyzed with fear even considering any home addition that isn’t beige.   This is not hyperbole, folks.  My clients LITERALLY clutch their hearts when I suggest carpet that is not tan, or tile that isn’t vanilla.

Pink toilets are frightening.  I understand that.  But so are plain, boring houses devoid of personality.  There are millions of other options out there.  Try one. No need to fear, because unlike the durable and well constructed toilet of the 50s, today’s products need to be replaced in 10 years anyway.

Well whatayaknow.  In researching this post I found a whole website dedicated to pink bathrooms!

I caved.  I’ve had an active Facebook profile for over a year now, and I update my status daily.  But for some reason I have dragged my feet creating a page for Decorate Your Space.  I don’t know if I was afraid I wouldn’t work on it, and it would be embarrassing.  Or what if I only have like 20 fans?  That would hardly scream success, now would it?  And I am pretty raw on Facebook.  I post my real life, without a lot of filter.  So maybe I have been afraid that potential clients would friend me—then WHOA. 

But I’ve had a lot of encouragement, and what the heck.  I realized that most of my clients come from referrals, anyway.  And by that time, my work speaks for itself.  I have always wanted to revive a series I used to send via email, back before blogging was the rage.  A few years ago I used to send out Quick Tips–short decorating snippets of advice.  Facebook will be a perfect venue to try this again; the 420 character limit will ensure I stay succinct!

So here’s the link.  Become my fan!

I do read a few, and most are not written by other decorators, but by lay people, renovating their own homes.

I discovered something. Apparently, if you blog, (or at least, if you blog and I read it) you must use white subway tile.

From Door Sixteen

From Addicted 2 Decor

From Making it Lovely

From Decorno (The picture that made me notice this whole trend.)

From Young House Love

My first was tall and handsome, with a tropical configuration.  My second was short and squat.  Both met the very same fate.  A summer storm would blow in, and before I would have time to run to and rescue them, they would fall over and break.

So this year it was early in spring when I decided to stop throwing money away on stylish but fragile outdoor lamps.  And because of the angle of our balcony in relation to the golf course, a constant breeze makes unprotected candles a lesson in futility.  As luck would have it, lanterns are everywhere this season.

I bought two this weekend.  The tall one is from Wegmans and was on sale for $13.99.  The shorter one I found at Pier 1, and I think it was $10.  I got the candles at Pier 1 as well.  I chose them because they match the color scheme on the furniture cushions, but I think later in the summer I will need to switch to citronella.

The lanterns go in every night, safe and sound from toppling winds.

I know this tiny, tinny sound can be heard by others besides me. What else explains the frequent importuning I get from my children? “Mom, can we stop at Starbucks on the way?”

I am usually immune to the lure. I prefer my coffee straight. Black, Strong. Singularly early in the morning. But now all that has changed. My attempts to avoid such conspicuous consumption foiled by a deceptively simple latte.

And not any old Latte. The London Fog is perfect. Sweet and creamy, but balanced with an earthy bitterness. Warm and cozy and full of fat, a sip can chase away the torment of winter. I can’t get enough of it.

Starbucks creates the London Fog from Tazo Earl Grey, Vanilla flavoring (I ask for sugar free) and foam (I ask for breve, which is Barista Lingo for made with half and half. Sorry. For this drink, the fat is essential to the experience.) It is perfect. Here is how the Tazo website describes the tea:

Aroma of citrus, lavender and light smoke harmoniously blended, the tea flavor and astringency of Tazo Earl Grey are perfectly balanced with the slightly spicy, lavender-and-lemon taste of the bergamot.

Last week I was introduced to Kris’s Color Stripes. Kris pulls rectangles of color out of photos and art work. I commented that it could be interesting for decorators to do this, only more specifically by pulling out actual hues that correspond more usefully to popular paint palettes. Fortunately for me, the Tazo box of my obsession wears the BIG TREND of purple and gray.

From the Classic Color Palette from Benjamin Moore:
Moon Shadow 1516
Ashley Gray HC-87
French Violet 1427
Gargoyle 1546

More from Grace at Design*Sponge.  (Don’t judge me for being unoriginal.  This is big news.)

Domino Magazine is no more.  Finished.  Caput. 

My client, Bonnie, used to give them to me when they first went to print 3 years or so ago.  She HATED the magazine and was happy to have only paid $10 for it.  I thought it was simple, small but otherwise OK, and I was getting it for free so I was happy.  Her subscription ended, and a period of time went by.  I started to read more and more about it on the blogs. We got a free issue in the mail and my husband (the wonderful metrosexual that he is) loved it and ordered it for me. Er…him.  Well whatever. 

I enjoyed reading Domino.  I found it interesting how very eclectic it was on the price scale.  The designs featured were sometimes a little low side and WAY high end other times.  It was still rather thin, and seem to be stuck on one style, but who’s complaining.  It is all history now.  Is this a sign of the times to come? 

I did complain once, if you remember.  The editors bragged about a dinner party where children were allowed to join in.  The adults at the table were smoking.

It is Monday morning. Listen…. The house is quiet. The girls are back in school. No more beeping cell phones, no slamming refrigerator doors. No more squeals of sibling squabble. The sky has that “I’m thinking about doing something annoying” look. Across America bloggers are sitting down at their computers to write about….

RESOLUTIONS
Why should I be any different?  Every year I make the same pair of resolutions: To eat less and exercise more. Just like about a billion other people. This year I will still make it, but how about a few others? A few that I can handle?

1. This year I will read more on paper and less on a computer screen. (I read two books over break. My Stroke of Insight and Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You. Both were wonderful and served to remind me how much I love books.)
2. I will update my database in a timely fashion. Weekly would be good.
3. I will respond to emails within 24 hours. Even if it means typing on those dreaded tiny cell phone keys.
4. I will take better advantage of networking opportunities. I will have more One To Ones with my business associates, attend more Chamber events, and support activities at the Workhouse.

I read an email from a friend who said that this year, instead of throwing her list of resentments and grudges into the New Year’s Yule fire, she lit a flame to herself. She said instead of looking back, she decided to look forward and resolved to walk into the future with the light of hope.
That about covers it, don’t you think?