Style Addicts

The New York Times has a pithy article about regular folks "over propping" their homes, and of course then posting the pictures of their over propped and over styled homes on a blog or Facebook or Twitter.

If you have at least three of the ten things on their list of over used items, then you are over styled with props making your home a performance. Boo hoo.

It's hilarious. And of course I have a few of the things on the list ha ha.

I am guilty! Bar cart, vintage typewriter, color matched books! All in one photo on a blog!

Here's the list - how many do you have? If you have three or more you are guilty guilty guilty.

• Books arranged by color
• Vintage typewriter
• Edison (light) bulbs
• Terrarium
• Monogrammed towels
• Taxidermy
• Le Creuset Pot
• Bar Cart
• Fresh Flowers
• Vintage Fan

Are you laughing? I beg to differ with a couple of them, like bar carts, which are a staple in homes in the South and used on a daily basis, and fresh flowers, and even vintage fans, which again are useful and so much cuter than modern fans. And monogrammed everything in the South is a way of life, not necessarily a photo-op.

It's there! Hiding in a corner masquerading as a book end, the dreaded vintage typewriter! I confess it's my house!

What's worse, a new fan pretending to be vintage, or a vintage fan? We use it everyday!

Guilty! I arranged some of my books by color - Cute orange chair painting by Annechovie

So all you Dorothy and Dan Drapers out there, keep making your house cute no matter what, and use lots of stuff, and please post pictures. It used to be you had to peep into windows when you took a walk to see how people decorated, now the blogoshpere is one huge fabulous picture window. And you know we all want to see what other people have!

Please add my NEW address to your blog list:

http://thevisualvamp.blogspot.com
And please become a Follower again (or for the first time) on this new blog

The Dust Ruffle and Bed Skirt Controversy

Do you remember way back in blog time in 2008 when Joni from Cote de Texas did a post about skirted tables that started a huge debate that ultimately led to podcast she stars on called "The Skirted Roundtable."

Holy dust ruffle!
Charlotte Moss

Well clutch your pearls, there seems to be another great controversy brewing regarding dust ruffles and bed skirts.

Joni's lovely deep drop bedspread

It seems that not only are bed skirts (I hate the word dust ruffle - why would anyone want anything described as dust?) out of fashion with the Lonny-Rue-Apartment Therapy set, but they are unsanitary too with worries of attracting bed bugs.

A tailored bedspread with a deep drop skirt

Glam bed skirt - Temple St. Clair

Mmmm.. Personally I have no dust ruffle in the guest bedroom because the iron four poster bed did not require one visually. The bed in our master bedroom does have a dust ruffle. This bed has a headboard and a metal bed frame and box spring, and I don't think it would look very good without the bed skirt. I even tried the white bed spread with the huge skirted drop ala Joni, but found it too cumbersome. Damn I should have sold it on eBay sooner! Now who will want it?

Eddie Ross used a tailored bed skirt
in this pretty traditional bedroom

I came across the following article by Sara Ruffin Costello:

A headboard with a bed frame needs a bed skirt

"So the other night I went over to my friend Miles Redd's house for a TV party. Curled up in his seraglio-inspired space, I took in the visual splendor—the towering four-poster mirrored bed with striped silk taffeta upholstery, the wall-to-wall caramel cashmere underfoot, the yards of couture curtains across simple French windows and the endless originality—which all added up to a tailored, comfortable, no-grandmother-in-sight inner sanctum.

Fishing for free decorating, I submitted to my old friend, "How can I get a little piece of the Miles magic?"

Miles Redd's bed sans bed skirt
But what's up with the padding?

"Oh, please," he said. "This old shoebox?"

"Well, yes..."

And then, with the precision of a brain surgeon, he said, "An exposed box spring is like a fly in the soup...unsightly. Cover your box spring with a decadent fabric...touch of luxe darling...every room needs it, especially the bedroom."

I sat up and took note. By God, I realized, the filthy, pointless dust ruffle of '80s Shabby Chicdom is dead. Long live the tailored box-spring cover!

Ditching the dust ruffle diminishes your chances of bedding down with bugs. (A floor-grazing bed skirt is like a hospitable stairway for bed bugs.)"

Miles Redd - This Old Shoebox

Well! What do you all think of that???!!! First of all that tag line: So the other night I went over to my friend Miles Redd's house! Well smell her! In a good way of course.

Miles Redd four poster bed

Four poster beds look good without a bed skirt. The proportions of the bed suit this choice.

Miles Redd used a dust ruffle! Alert the media!

Bed with headboards and box springs seem to need the bed skirt to give it a finished look. Of course a platform bed with a mattress only, would look ridiculous with a bed skirt.

Miles Redd in Domino
The bedroom that launched the careers of blog decorators
Swoon! J'dore! Copy!

Modern interiors seem to fare better without a dust ruffle. Even the word is too granny for the hip decorating spawned by Domino.

But what about the majority of the world dwelling in suburban traditional homes with traditional bedrooms, or gasp, bedroom sets?

Can a dust ruffle or bed skirt be done right, just as Joni thinks doing a skirted table can be done right? You hardly see skirted tables anymore except at events and weddings. Will the bed skirt become as extinct as the table skirt?

Tom Scheerer's stainless-steel bed doesn't need much
besides crisp sheets and a white cotton slip cover for the box spring

Will they give up their bed-in-the-bag that includes the matching dust ruffle? Can they get behind a box spring slip cover?

No dust ruffle for Jonathan Adler and Liberace

Will there be bed skirt and dust ruffle burnings to alleviate the bed bug pandemic!!!! Will there be a new podcast show called "The Dusty Ruffle" or "The Skirted Bed"?????

Betsey Burnham doesn't use a bed skirt

Chime in! Bed skirts yes or no! Discuss! Dust ruffles over and out?

Martha Stewart don't need no stinking bed skirt or box spring slip cover

Kelly Wearstler doesn't have her slip showing


Even shabby chic can go skirtless

Apartment Therapy eschews the wrapped bed

Go HERE to see the whole article.

Darn That Eddie Ross!

First let me tell you that Alberto and I absolutely love and respect Eddie Ross and Jaithan Kochar, and cherish their friendship tremendously. That being said, I would like to wack Eddie with a wire hanger!

Last year he published a little how-to project on his new blog. It was an immensely popular project and post, with scads of people writing in saying they were doing the project. That post and that idea has haunted me all year long. It involves making a wreath with about 80 round Christmas ornaments, a wire hanger formed into a circle, a glue gun, and a pretty hank of ribbon. Of course you can buy a similar looking wreath at Target for around $25., but where's the sport in that?!

I have had my eye out at yard, garage, and estate sales, and searched eBay and Craigslist looking for some vintage ornaments. Of course I didn't want to pay too much. Who does?

Finally last weekend I found a huge box at an estate sale. I was already "checking out" when I saw it hiddden near the door.
"How much for the box of old ornaments?"
"$100."
"$100.???????!!!!"
"What do I know, I'm Jewish, make me an offer!"
"I'd like to pay 50 cents, but I'll give you $20."
'Sold!"

So I got my box of the 80++ ornaments, amongst them some drek like 1980's twee, and treasures like a few New Orleans Saints (Go Saints!) ornaments, and over a dozen truly beautiful vintage beauties destined to be displayed in a mercury glass blow. And there were plenty of just-how-I-like-them tatty ornaments for the project.


I have chops. I have been a hired (glue) gun for Martha Stewart (amongst others). I have hand wired thousands of flowers, and hand tied thousands of bridal bouquets. I have made thousands of bows. I have pouffed and fluffed thousands of napkins. In other words, I fear no project, especially one like this that seemed so easy peasy.
And this is my little bone to pick with my dear Eddie (and Martha for that matter). Even if they don't actually say one of their DIY projects is easy, they imply the ease when they do it for us on camera.

This project was not easy. First I did not go back and read the instructions. There are no wire hangers in our house, so I had to scrounge one I found banished in the garage. Bending it in a circle is not that easy. My circle was a little irregular.

Then I just started to happily string the ornaments on the wire hanger. Ooops! I forgot you had to glue gun each and every one of the 80 (!) little silver caps of the ornaments BEFORE you string them along. They started popping off, flying to the floor (don't you just hate the sound of an exploding Christmas ornament!). So I removed them all, plugged in the glue gun, went to Eddie's post to read the instructions, blah, blah, blah.


I had some large balls, some medium and small, but no tiny ones. My wreath did not take on a circular form very easily to say the least. I tried to hot glue some filler balls to the balls already wired on. This was a disaster (I took them off and peeled off hot glue globs). I turned the wreath every which way to see if the balls would fall into some pleasing resemblance of Eddie's gorgeous wreath. I did this for over an hour, futzing and fussing!

Then I tried to hang it somewhere. Eddie showed his hanging on a door. Well my wreath was so fat, it had no flat side, so it didn't work on a door or in a window. What was I supposed to do, suspend it like a mobile? And I had some empty space on the wire hanger, where I could not make it work by filling in with ornaments, so the pretty band of ribbon Eddie showed as a hanger, was a total flop for me.

But, I did not give up! I used the hook from the hanger as a way to hang the thing, and finally found the only place it would work, which is hanging off the edge of the fireplace mantle. I wiggled and jiggled, and put a pretty satin bow in the gap at the top, and finally it looks kind of cute. Or does it? It took me about three hours of huffing and puffing, and laughing so hard at the image of brilliant Eddie watching not so brilliant me execute his "easy" project.

Here's Eddie's masterpiece! Go to his blog HERE for the easy instructions!
And do send me a photo of your Eddie wreath!

Blog Crack And Printed Sofas

Have you ever gotten to the point when you felt you had to stand up in a room and announce: Hello my name is blogger and I have an addiction. Mmmmmm.
Have you ever neglected your real life long list of things to do in favor of posting on your blog, and then spending hours and hours reading all your favorite blogs, commenting and/or e-mailing the great bloggers you like you much?
I just had to see if I could go cold turkey.
Like any addiction the first few hours that take forever to become one day strung to the next, are murder. As I walk by my closed lap top, it reproaches me. I cannot even open it to do e-mail, because that's another Jones disguised as keeping in touch.
I busy myself with house work. Very unsatisfying house work. I busy myself with watching television and napping. Somewhat more satisfying. I teach my classes. Fun as usual. I take long walks with Cholo. Of course I rearrange the furniture - it's time to make room for the Christmas tree. Rearranging the furniture always puts me in a better mood.
And the most satisfying of all is that I read a 600 plus page book!!!!! I have not been able to read a book since I started blogging!
I think I have a low grade depression of sorts. Me and everyone else preoccupied by dwindling money in the bank is feeling nervous and a little low. We already live modestly, almost frugally, so cutting back even more really is a drag and a worry.
A few of you have written, and I will get back to you and I will get back to blogging. I thank you for your concern. Frankly I am surprised that anyone cares, or at times that anyone reads. And the great blog machine just keeps on turning its huge grist mill, whether you hop on or off.
After awhile everyone gets saturated.
You have to ask yourself why you spend so much time writing a blog, why you enjoy it so much.I confess to being lonely. Lonely for friends. Lonely for my old profession. Lonely for something to do.
Coming up with a burning YES or NO question, like are print sofas, couches, and settees making a come back seems a little silly after going cold turkey.
But a girl has got to get back on the horse one stirrup at the time.
My friend Laura has a very cool retro sofa that she recovered a long time ago. It has a dark blue denim like fabric, very good looking and very practical. The original fabric was the typical 1960's -1970's retro print fabric that many of us have experienced at one time or another. Laura misses the verve of the old fabric, and the sofa is due to be done over again, and she is definitely going for a print.
There's nothing new about print couches making a slight come back. After all with the hoopla of Mid Century Modern, Shabby Chic, and Hollywood Regency, a revival of prints has ensued.
Designers like Tricia Guild have given a glam attitude to printed sofas, as have Ruthie Sommers, and all the cute girl designers out there.
Other than editorials in the magazines, blog postings, designer show houses, or catalog pages from Anthropologie or West Elm or CB2, etc. is anyone out there really getting into having a print sofa? Do any of you have one, old or new?

Prints work well on sleek modern forms, but they also work well on really classic forms like the good old camel back, which has a surprisingly modern feeling quite remarkable for a form that's been around since the 1700's.
The Shabby Chic look was so hot for so long because it was so cozy and pretty and easy for anyone to to achieve.
But we all remember the thrift store sofas out there, well made with alot of years left in them, but the printed floral so unappealing after the 20 years or so since their creation.
Yet, when a print is applied in new fabric to old forms, it has a verve, and a seduction. I think taking the skirt off updates a print on a sofa.
Prints are great in the wear and tear department. They really do hide the dirt. The couch is usually the largest piece of furniture in a room, so using a print will visually dominate.
You can get it right, but you can also get it way wrong too.
Good graphic design of the print seems to be the key. And color.
It could be fun to co-ordinate the room around the sofa print.I'd love to have a print couch to lounge on....and a huge Afro wig to cheer me up.