The Weaselden

You were exactly the person I was thinking of here! You like owls, they're important to you, and you doubtless have very clear ideas of what you like and what definitely has no business being associated with owls. What could typify retro-'70s owl crap more than the macrame owls I keep seeing?

Man, if I get this worked up about owls, imagine how I'd feel if designers started plastering weasels all over everything.

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wrdnrd

Sitting in the window of a store on The Ave there's an owl made entirely of small seashells. But it's a vintage store, so i'm pretty sure that owl really IS a relic of the '70s. Poor owl. The thing that's especially dangerous about ridiculous trends like this, for those of us who *care* about these sorts of particular objects, is people think, "Oh! Chris likes owls. Here's an owl. I will buy it for her!!" And what do you DO with the hand-sculpted owl candle your office manager gives to you? You politely say "thank you," then you quietly take it home and burn it to banish its memory from the earth, that's what you do.

Weasels are in? Lisa likes weasels. Oh, look, a macrame weasel! I will buy it for her!! [flees]

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Oh so true!!! Alas, if the owl comes from a family member, you're kind of stuck with it. We call those "Gifts of Love," usually said through gritted teeth.

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0.o

I am so glad I have no clue what you are talking about with most of this. I firmly believe that decor should be about what makes YOU happy. :)

Spydrman and I have this fantasy of decorating a house in black and charcoal with small splashes of jewel tones or deep colors (like crimson, emerald, violet, lapis blue - as couch pillows, towels in the kitchen, a few minor accessories in the bathroom...). And yes... that much black and dark grey would actually be comforting and nice for both of us. :D

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Consider yourself lucky that you haven't been immersed in ikat yet. And the black doors thing is ridiculous because everybody's jumping on the bandwagon. Yes, if you want to paint your door black, go for it! But let's not declare it some sort of triumph of interior design. It's. A. Black. Door.

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on the bright side, they are moving away from the Red door, and the Blue door trends.

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I predict next: yellow doors.

I like the sound of your proposed color scheme. It would be a magnificent den of OPULENCE!

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See, this is our thinking too. Okay, the bathroom and kitchen areas are likely to be black and white... but that's cause I like stripes and checkers and diamonds. ;)

PINK DOORS!! ORANGE DOORS!!

coming soon... RAINBOW DOORS!

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I am really tired of:
Pithy sayings stenciled on the walls. I especially hate "Perchance to dream" written in bedrooms, because that just makes people look stupid.
Apple green kitchens with red kitchen sinks.
Shelves that have fabric totes in them. Have shelves, or have drawers. Don't half-ass it.
Bathrooms that are designed to look like spas. I want my bathroom to look like a place in my house, not a hotel room.

One thing I have yet to get tired of is shabby chic. Possibly this is because most of my furniture is old and, uh, has character. Also I don't like things that are too matchy.

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Damn, girl, you really get it! This is brilliant. How could I have forgotten this stuff too? Maybe because I've been reading some high(er) design blogs and they're not so down with the stenciled walls.

Secretly I have a soft spot in my heart for those bathrooms that are designed to look like spas for one reason: They always have a great tub, and if there's one thing everybody needs to know about me, it's that I'm dotty on the subject of great tubs.

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Oh, I don't mind if the tub and fixtures are spa quality, for sure. I miss having a tub so bad. (Although my preferred tub is a clawfoot, but you know.) I just don't like all the little accessories that are supposed to make it look like a spa, like bamboo in a cup, piles of folded towels, glass jars full of cotton balls and bath salts. I also don't like it when everything is beige. I hate beige because it's the classic "looks clean because it doesn't show dirt" color that hotels and corporations use everywhere. "Beige" says "public" to me.

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I hear you. The worst is those shades of beige with a pinkish undertone - you get this hideous fleshy effect. Residential interiors are still riding the "greige" wave but I just don't know... Having just said that, allow me to be super-hypocritical and say I like this line of Glidden colors that are the merest wisps of tint. They have precious names such as "Gentle Tide" and they don't really suit my lifestyle but dammit, I lurves them.

When I'm tired and my resistance is low, I sometimes ponder putting cotton balls in a glass jar, until I remember that we don't actually use cotton balls for any reason at all. I could put Q-Tips in a jar, but that doesn't have the same effect.

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PS I forgot two things.

One, I am also really sick of red dining rooms.

Two, link me to some of these blogs that are cool? I am really crossing anything I have two of hoping to get this house we want to buy. I would like to dream about some design ideas. There are a couple of rooms I'm stuck on. (Decorating a house you haven't bought yet is probably a mistake, but I can't stop myself.)

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I will! Give me a little bit of time.... I'm collecting the same set of links for somebody at one of our portfolio companies as well. There are so very very many to choose from, but you can use my small set of faves as a jumping-off point. Each blog has dozens of links to other blogs, etc. Most of my free time is spent hanging out with the weasels downstairs, surfing blogs. This explains why we haven't made progress on our house.

ETA: Also soon to be overdone: red bathrooms.

Edited Date: 2009-10-30 05:32 pm (UTC)

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ugh, red bathrooms are in? The thing I hate about red dining rooms is that it looks so oppressive. I can't imagine wanting a red bathroom -- makes me think of the Shining, for some reason.

I would be very happy to get the link list whenever you're ready! I don't want it to be an inconvenience to you or anything.

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I am a firm believer that if you put WORDS ON YOUR WALL they should actually mean something to you personally. And really, it should be done sparingly.

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Kinda like when you tattoo yourself. But less permanent.

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*exactly*

It's like putting Henna messages on your chest, legs, or arms. Not something that you are likely to show off to those you work with, but something that people who visit your home are likely to see for a while. And certainly something you will have to see every single day for more than a week.

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kalimeg.livejournal.com

Actually, black doors have already given way to red doors -- I can see about 10 of them when I look out my front door.

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