From THIS article from The New York Times Magazine

AS THE MONTHS PASSED, something curious happened: The bigger Cathy was, the more I realized that I was glad — practically euphoric — I was not pregnant. I was in a daze of anticipation, but I was also secretly, curiously, perpetually relieved, unburdened from the sheer physicality of pregnancy. If I could have carried a child to term, I would have. But I carried my 10-pound dog in a BabyBjörn-like harness on hikes, and after an hour my back ached.

Cathy was getting bigger, and the constraints on her grew. I, on the other hand, was happy to exploit my last few months of nonmotherhood by white-water rafting down Level 10 rapids on the Colorado River, racing down a mountain at 60 miles per hour at ski-racing camp, drinking bourbon and going to the Super Bowl.

I had several friends around my age — 37 and up — who were pregnant with their first children at this time, and I was amazed at how their feet swelled like loaves of bread. They were haggard. They seemed sallow and tired, and they let their hair go gray...


If you enjoy getting outraged by mommy-war issues, you should read this.
I am all for surrogacy, but they couldn't have picked a less sympathetic person to describe her experience. Right cause, wrong advocate.

Let me know what you thought about the article, if you get a chance to read it.

The Times photographer and editor must hate this woman. And I think the Times also hates us a bit, trying to make a stink about this issue, when it's not really a new one at all. A lot of vitriol is already spewing in the comments section of the NYT, but little of it is about surrogacy. That's the red herring. The cover story should have been called, "Why We Hate Smug Yoga-Bodied Elite Women Like This," because that seems to be the issue presented in this article.

New lamp.

Kelie, here is your lamp's final resting place. Just FYI. I think the taupe-y shade works just fine with the green walls. And the bamboo pens are now hanging out in the vintage monogrammed silver cup that I also picked up at your store. Thanks for the sweet deals.

Bedrooms.

Open bath? Yes or no.

Our upstairs bathroom is supertiny and my better half thinks we should try this arrangement... kind of open. I worry everything will always be wet and I will spend my life attacking the walls/sink/toilet with a squeege just to dry the damn place off.

What is this arrangement called, anyway? Is there some interior designer term for it? And what does everything think of it? Sound off, if you would please.

Porn shops.

Waterworks showrom in Seattle.


If shelter mags are my porn, then going to marble showrooms and places like Waterworks is the equivalent of putting on a trench coat and shades and hitting up my favorite porn shops.

Because I get to travel a little bit, I do get to see great decor stores like ABC Carpet & Home, John Derian, and LA/SF home stores. But I never go shopping for bathroom hardware or countertops because I have never renovated anything. My idea of big home improvement so far has been, "Oh my god, this lamp is going to change my life."

So imagine the joy of checking out giant slabs of marble and even taking a sample home. Totally thrilling.

So while I love design, I don't really know much about the particulars. I think Joni from Cote de Texas was the first person who introduced me to not just marble but honed carerra marble. Honed? Carerra? I felt so ESL. I had no idea there was so much variety out there.



Carerra is so popular that it's almost unnerving to select it because, well, you don't want to have the kitchen of the moment. I fell hard for a Greek marble called Thassus. It's a very pure white with sort of glittering tiny bits in it. It nearly sparkles. I would select it in a moment if I didn't think it would be wiser to pick a counter with some striation (is this the word I am looking for?) in it to hide our sins (like acid stains and red wine accidents).


Thassus, again.




This tile, above, isn't too compelling here because I am not giving you any indication of scale, but they are slender little slivers of marble. I think a whole backsplash in this would look too busy, so I am scratching my head trying to figure out how you could use it, but I just loved it.




This not handsome photo was snapped merely to remind me to ask everyone what is the preferred edge for a counter? My better half liked this, and if it were in a Deco-y bathroom with Deco-y hardware, I think it would be mighty sexy. I am not sure how it would look in our kitchen. Thoughts?




Waterworks has the most amazing everything, including bath accessories and even laundry hampers (but, of course, none as amazing as THIS one...). I loved these crystal jars. At $40 and up, they seemed like a bargain compared to everything else there.




I was fond of this mini subway tile.




And we laughed about this, which I keep seeing shelter mags refer to as a "tub filler." What's the difference between a faucet and a tub filler? $3000. They would be better named "wallet emptiers," but whatever. We're not in the market for something so fussy-looking anyway. But it's all interesting to see. I think the best part of any home project is this: everything is possible when you're still in the dreaming/planning stage.

Rough sketch.

There is nothing too exciting here. Mainly I am posting so that I can reference these sketches easily from work or home during our project.

If you've been following along my kitchen project (I am now tagging the series of posts with the ingenious title, "kitchen renovation"), you'll know that this is a big deal for us because we currently have the shittiest kitchen in all of middle class USA. Come late Jan or early February, I will be able to show you the before and after, and you will seriously wonder why you take any decor advice from a chick who managed to live with a shithole kitchen for 4 years.

I'll have more to post soon about our adventures browsing for a big slab of marble.

Also - I have a problem with our stove. Currently, it's *not* centered as it is in the photo above. It's against the small wall there... the challenge is that the kitchen designer guy drew it this way to center it, which is more appealing, but in a kitchen with so little space, we're considering keeping it to the side and allowing for a little more counter/cabinet space to the right. Currently we don't have a cabinet there. We have a butcher block cart thingy and my Kitchen Aid stand mixer is on the bottom. On the butcher block top, we keep a jar full of utensils, etc., and I am concerned about losing that space. If you have thoughts, I'd love to hear it.

Mirrors: Yes or No

1.

2.


3.


4.


5.


6.

Please ignore the tragic skirted table and the offensive light fixture.


7.


From HERE.



Mirrors from Wisteria, Nieman Marcus, & Ballard Designs.

Holy banana.

Maison Luxe is having a sale.

30% off everything on her site. And ridiculous deals in her store... she's moving locations and is selling the merchandise off the floor rather than move it all. God bless her, because I scored a great lamp.

Click HERE to shop the web store.

Click HERE to visit the store blog.

Go quick... everything is going really fast.

And guess who I ran into today when I went back to pick up my lamp, python tray, silver ice tongs, bamboo pens, Claus Porto soaps and other essential items to help me prepare for the next Great Depression? Miss Coco+Kelly herself. She moved back to Seattle a few months ago. It's a small blogging world, huh?

Go to bed.

Stripes.

I've had a lot of fun raiding THIS chick's Flickr sets.

Love.

Love this room.

I was bidding on a pair of chrome ball lamps yesterday on Ebay, but got so caught up in my drinking and eating that I forgot to go back to bid in the final hours. I lost.Bummer.

Oh, well. The food was good.

Backyard inspiration.

Honey, when I say I want a pool...

and you tell me our yard isn't big enough, (a) you're wrong and (b) it needs to be just like this one.

Get to it, cupcake.

Image from THIS blog.

He's a riot:

HERE.

Graphicness.

I am going to ignore that he says "graphicness" and just focus on how much I love his overthetopness in this video HERE.

Sorry, you have to sit through a 10 second ad first.

Favorite part is when they cut to him squirting Windex onto his kitchen counters. Just makes me laugh.

I love Miles Redd.

Joy.

Best wedding photo I have ever seen.

How much joy is in this photo? Too much, if "too much" is even possible when it comes to pure happiness.

Thanks to SGM, world's best pop culture commentator, for sending me a link to the BLOG where this photo can be found. She sent the link and noted, "(This blog) is kind of a NYC I Suwannee." (Couldn't be a better compliment, as far as I am concerned.)

Quit buying this at the newsstand:

It's only $7 (there's a $5 discount when you go to checkout) at Amazon if you order before the end of the month.

What should I know about kitchen cabinets?

Yesterday when we went shopping for them, I learned things I never knew. I never paid attention to the details of cabinets. Framed or frameless? I had never given it much thought. But I do know all the photos in the binder I brought with me were framed. And inset.

More than a few times I thought to myself, "Fuck. I don't know. I wonder what Joni would do?"

Guess what was no help? The Domino book. Then again, I should remember it's a book about decorating, not remodeling. Nevertheless, I wish it had more detail on this sort of thing.

So, as always, I turn to all of you, the real (and real-life) experts.

What should I know about cabinets?
What do you splurge on?
Where can you cut corners (if ever)?
If we strip away all the snob appeal of getting totally custom cabinets, what is the difference between what you will order in a kitchen showroom or even Lowe's or Ikea?
What are you glad you did?
What mistakes did you make?
What advice do you have for me?

Reader home tour:

Stacy from Texas emailed me a note to encourage me to go ahead with the marble and she sent me a link to some photos which show marble installed in her kitchen and her butler's pantry/wine room/

Holy cow. She has one hell of a house. I had to show you.




"In the bar, there are red wine rings everywhere and stains. In the kitchen, next to the sink there are also some pretty worn areas from lemons, limes, vinegar, food coloring, etc... None of this bothers me...I loved the way it looked when it was all perfect and new, but I also love the way it looks now after enjoying it!"








Stacy says, "I had wood installed in the kitchen when we remodeled....it is easy to keep and I like having the floors downstairs all the same material... Our entry hall which has had that same paint for over 15 years...roller blades, bikes, hot wheels. I think the paint was thinned to give it a translucency that is forgiving with wear and tear. Could be a good option for you if you want to give your kitchen floors some interest without doing tiles."






Stacy on the right. No surprise she's as pretty as her home is.


Stacy Hyde owns an eponymous shop in Dallas, Texas. Details HERE.






You can see more HERE.

Feature from Dallas Fort Worth News.
Feature by Christopher Wynn.
Photos by Stephen Karlisch.
Interior designer: Shannon Bowers

Marble? I ain't skeered.

I spent the last few hours having people tell me I shouldn't get marble counters (Too soft! They'll chip! They'll stain!). I decided I am not taking my answers from a fat guy in pleated khakis who tells me to get shiny black granite instead.

So amen for THIS blogger who did a stress test on treated marble. It's interesting. You can skip the text and scroll down to get to the photos.

And even more on floor tiles...

THIS blogger installed hex tile in her kitchen and I think it's pretty cute.

If you're joining us in progress, you can read THIS post about my quest for figuring out the right materials for my kitchen facelift.

Save Domino.

**UPDATE: I posted this briefly this morning, but then saw conflicting news about Domino's health. One report insists subscriptions are up. So take this with a grain of salt and let me know if you have reliable information.**


The magazine death list is growing. And while I can be a critic of Domino, I am still delighted when it arrives every month (late, mind you.... like on a slow-ass donkey sent here from Mexico or something...).

Nevertheless, I really do not want it to go under, and I think there is some risk of that. Blueprint, O at Home, Cottage Living, and House and Garden we alive a year ago and today they are all dead.

If you want to save Domino, you should skip whatever trinket or bottle of wine you were going to give all the ladies at the office/school/etc and give a subscription. Give many.

Make it easy on yourself and order here:

More about hex tiles... and tiles in general...

(This idea, but not this pattern, necessarily.)

So, 2 posts down, people are debating hex tiles in the kitchen... thought is that it's a nightmare to keep clean.

But one person suggested black tiles and black grout... will that work? Or just look filthy, too?

Thoughts, please.

Bummer.

Cottage Living mag is no more. (Thanks to the reader tip in the comments of the last post.)

Read it HERE.

What should I do for my new kitchen floor?

(Not my kitchen. If only...)

So, we are finally going to start working on it. It's all pretty standard. We're doing marble counters, either subway or some other tile on the backsplash (I am trying to think of how I can sell my better half on those tiles that are stamped to look like snake in a really subtle way... see your most recent issue of Domino).

The floors, well, I love hex tiles. I do. But I am married to the idea mostly because I haven't given much thought to the alternatives.

I definitely do not want bamboo or laminate something or other.

Ideas? Suggestions?

We live in a brick "Tudor"-esque place built in 1929, if that gives you some context.

Oh - and do you have a link to a photo of a favorite kitchen? I would love to see what is out there and what you recommend.

Thanks in advance for the free advice. It's one of the great benefits of my unpaid blogging job.

Dear kitchen,

Let's make out.

Love,
Decorno

(More to love HERE.)

P.S. Sara, you should change the "button" graphics on your website. They make your site look a little homemade. Also, you shouldn't have an "enter" page. No one wants to wait to get to the good stuff.

While we're on that subject, why do people do that, anyway? Worst offender is THIS one. I could give myself a home perm in the time it takes to load those pages.

Just a little advice from your viewing public and adoring fans. You ladies put together some fine-looking rooms. Seriously.

So fresh and so clean, clean.

Photos by Matthew Hillman.

You really should go see Role Models today.

It is hysterical. 

I have also decided that Paul Rudd should be on my free-pass five. Just FYI. 

Our friend David in KC went to his first protest. 

He spotted this sign, which makes me smile. You can read about the gather to protest the passage of Prop Hate HERE. 

Holiday decorating.

Do you do it? How much? Where? What? How much is too much? 

We're lucky if we get a tree up. Some people deck the halls with everything they managed to find at Z Gallerie. 

Let me know your thoughts on this. 

And let's all agree to ban that damn Pottery Barn reindeer from our homes. 

December Elle Decor.

A preview for you.

Also... I want those lamps.

Oh, for the love of God. Aren't we done with this yet?

"SQUATTING in an inflatable pool in the open kitchen of her apartment in Astoria, Queens..."



Whatever, hippies.

Seriously, I would never give birth in an inflatable pool, for one thing. Let alone let my husband and mother and sister and high-school friend and my PTA co-chair hang out in with me.

Look at this poor mother! She needs drugs. She needs hard-core drugs to her spinal cord. Not an audience of people who can't do a motherfucking thing for her.

This kind of back-to-roots childbirth business is a load of crap.

To my future baby: Momma will have you with some drugs in her. Deal with it. Immediately following birth, she will ask the doctor to grab her compact and her Chanel lipstick and will re-apply before ordering a cocktail. You will not be born in an inflatable pool, nor in Queens. These will be the two ways in which I reassure you that I actually love you. Welcome to the world. Love, Your Mother. Now hand me my cigarettes...


Article HERE. I couldn't even bear to read it. Tell me how it goes.



(Then again, look at this pale, adorable little monster... it's not his fault he was born in a plastic pool... what a cutie.)

Drams.

I got this email today. Thought I would throw it out there. Read it, then my comments following, and let me know what you think. Especially if your name is Glen Senk.



Dear Decorno,

I've never emailed you before, but I am an avid reader of your blog. I'm a fellow Seattleite, and I don't know where I was going with that...but your blog rocks. Anyway, I'm writing you because I don't know where else to turn to, and we need to do a MAJOR expose on the evil empire known as Anthro. I have a friend (totally reliable source) who used to be a manager there, and here is his horrifying tale: After the store had had furniture and accessories for a long time, and after they had been slightly marked down on sale and not sold, he had to take the merchandise and mark it down to "ten cents" (I'm assuming for bookkeeping purposes). After that, he had to take it in the back room and DESTROY it. He says: "I've literally taken a hammer to plates, thousand-dollar chandeliers and more." Even the vintage stuff. If he had taken it home without destroying it, he would have been fired. If he had given it to a co-worker, he would have been fired. Do you want to know why they have this outrageous policy? Two words (their words): "Brand Integrity." They couldn't mark it down so low that people could "expect to walk in to Anthropologie and find a deal."

I nearly died when I heard this story. Can you freakin' believe that? Perhaps we (or you, via your blog) can get the word out to boycott stupid Anthro. Or...to maybe buy everything that's on sale so that it doesn't get destroyed? Ha, I'm not sure what would be the better method. I promise I'm not a crazy...so...hopefully this doesn't make me one by being really upset at this bit of inside info.

Sincerely,

One of your loyal bitches,

S


Decorno says: Hmm. Well, here's the thing. I can totally understand not wanting to turn my Anthropologie store into Clearance Mart. Every retailer sets a lowest-price threshold and won't have merchandise on the floor under that price because (a) it's skanky for your brand... unless you are Dollar Tree and (b) every square foot of your floor space should generate a certain amount of money, so at some point, you should liquidate items. Everyone knows this is why some brands have outlet stores. Anthro isn't an outlet store kind of place, though, I imagine. I mean, once you see a crocheted Christmas ornament at an Anthro Outlet, the jig is up, right? Because you would be standing there thinking, "Oh fuck, did I really pay $14 for this? Because it's a piece of shit, just like that lame Mexican tunic from last spring."

Anyhoo, I am not sure how Anthro handles clearance items, except to say that I hope they let a manager take home a roughed-up sofa. For what little retail managers & hourly workers are paid, the least they should get is a free bent-wood chair or weird Swedish armoire that never sold, right?

If anyone from Anthropologie or Urban Outfitters is reading this, let us know your thoughts on the Great Chandelier Destruction Controversy of 2008. Let's hope sad managers aren't destroying shit in the backroom when your Conner Oberst-listening employees could use said items to trick out their pads.

-Decorno

Stairs.

Love the stairs.

HERE.

Magrit

My current obsession (among many) are THESE shoes by Magrit at Endless.com. Yum.

I also want THIS clutch from J. Crew:



Hint, hint to people who might be looking for things to buy me for Christmas (I am talking to you, honey). Although I may need it before so I can wear it to holiday parties and that sort of thing. You get the idea. Size 7, don't forget.

I love this room by Anthony Todd. Although I think that's his naked mom in the photo, which is slightly weird.



And I am fond of those blue chairs.

That is all.

Too busy to offer up a good post today, so I encourage you to read:


THIS blog.

THIS blog.

And THIS blog.


I can't believe it's November. I can't believe Thanksgiving is 2 weeks away. Where did my year go? I want my year back, dammit.

Does everyone have plans for T-day? What are you doing? Staying or going? Cooking? And what about Christmas? Has anyone started shopping?

I want some details.

I hope Santa brings me the GIANT bottle of Chanel Gardenia. Not the one in the crappy white plastic bottle, the awesome huge glass bottle, thank you. Got it, Santa?

Bathrooms & kitchens on the brain.

It's kind of girly.

But I like it.

The day the music died.

I was looking through old magazines. Here's a treasure from 2007. This is when everything jumped the shark.

Two words:

Liquid. Eyeliner.

Why did it take me 31 years to try this???

When wearing said eyeliner, I look EXACTLY* like the woman in the photo above.


*Exactly = sorta, kinda, not really.

"I will not apologize for being glamorous."

That is what I think this bathroom is trying to tell us.

Morning kitchen?

Morning kitchen? Who knew.

I don't love the look. It's a little too masculine and hotel-y for me, but I kind like the idea of waking up and not having to go downstairs to get the first cup of coffee.

Tiny kitchen.

The image as presented here isn't great (sorry). But click on this and read the accompanying text. Very clever how much function she got out of this closet-sized NY kitchen.

Pizza off.

Some of you may recall we had a "Macaroni Off" a few weeks ago. That was wildly successful. We followed up with a Pizza Off. My man and his kid (14) made these muffin pizzas. Not only cute, but tasty.

As we were cleaning the house to host the event, we found a bag of stuff that my fiance's mom had dropped off. She's a goof and often her contributions to us are silly... in this bag of tricks that apparently had been sitting in our entryway for about 3 months I found these green, white, and red silky/sporty boxer briefs and thought, "Well, Sal, this is pretty random." I held it up and turned it around to discover that these Italian-themed shorts had a life size screen printed image of a guy's crotch on them. Ha! Big ol' sketch of a penis with hair and everything. Needless to say, the kid and I both tried them on over our jeans and each paraded the shorts around the house. We tied them up with a ribbon, realizing we had discovered an excellent grand prize for our pizza event.

Needless to say, Sal (the in-law) won the big prize, so we were dying for her to unwrap the trophy. She held them up and looked totally confused. She claimed that she had NOT dropped these off as some sort of raunchy joke. And of course, we're sitting here thinking it's going to get a big laugh. Our family of 13 or so is kind of staring at us like, "Who the hell gives cock shorts as a prize???!! There are children here!"

Sigh. We still can't figure out how the shorts got here. Mystery may never be solved.


Anyhoo, my entry was a goat cheese, mushroom, and onion pizza. I made the dough from the recipe on Saveur, but it seems like all pizza dough is basically the same. And I improvised the rest... I sauteed mushrooms and onions with a little garlic and then applied that to the pizza on a base of shredded mozarella, parmesan, and goat cheese. Tasty. Biggest mistake was not adding salt to the crust. Truffle oil and sea salt would have made the whole thing magical.

Go make pizza, if you haven't before. It's worth it.

Books.

I would like to play records and flip through art books here with this groovy chick.

Even if you don't watch the show,

I highly recommend that you read SGM's amazing recaps of Real Housewives of Atlanta.

Read it HERE.

Marble madness.

I am in NY this week (which explains my infrequent posts). I was marble obssessed as it is lately, but I've been seeing it everywhere in NY, which has only made my lust for the white stuff even stronger. Bistros and showrooms, little marble tile, big marble tile, marble slabs. It's all giving me kitchen envy, that's for sure.

You can read about the kitchen above HERE.

Today is a great day.

It's got a great beat and you can dance to it.

I know I am late to the party with music, so my apologies, but I just caught on to THIS song and I love it. He sounds so Robert Smith, huh?




P.S. Shame on bands who post to You Tube but disable embeded links. We just want to share the love, k?

That goes for design magazines with websites that won't let you drag and drop images (I am talking to you House Beautiful) or the ones that have teeny tiny images that are barely worth posting (that one is for you, Cottage Living).

Where should I eat in NY this week?

The scene of the crime.


I made a reservation at STK and it's making me feel really, really dirty inside.

I want to go somewhere great where the people-watching is good, but where it's not a total scene or very douchebaggy (think Waverly Inn and the like).

I am fond of Gramercy Tavern, but it makes me feel old.

Please advise.

And no, I don't want to go to some hole-in-the-wall Indian place. I want to go somewhere where I can wear clothes that I never get a chance to wear in Seattle. Know what I mean?

Your pal,
Decorno

PS - Obama Day is almost here. Can you even stand it???