Wallpapers of Yellow Chinoisere

Posted by Betsy On October 14, 2008

Apologies, dear readers, many many apologies because I find myself falling victim to blogging tendency that I find most irritating in other design bogs - namely, too much writing and not enough pretty pictures! Mortification and sorrow abound. In order to atone for my sins, I thought I would do a montage of yellow chinoisere wallpaper, which is an option I am considering for the dream house dining room... Juicy Couture's Pamela Skaist-Levy's house, featured in Bazaar, inspired the thinking. I just LOVE everything about this room...

yellow chinoisere wallpaper

In Honor of the Girls

Posted by Betsy On October 15, 2008

Those who know me well know that I need absolutely no excuse to expound on the color pink (you'll note this blog's title). But since it is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I thought I would follow Mrs. Blandings' fabulous lead and do my bit to raise awareness by blogging on pink for the day. Instead of going the Dorothy Draper route, and don't get me wrong , I ADORE Ms. Draper, I thought I would reflect on my most favorite use of pink EVER, my magical wedding reception:

Pink

Dreaming of a Creative Cottage

Posted by Betsy On October 1, 2008

So one of the "must-haves" for our dream house, which we may have found ... *IF* we can convince the sellers to knock $500,000 off the listing price. Minor hiccup. Our dream house must have a designated space for me to create. Ideally, this would be a cottage by the sea where I could write, craft and spraypaint old furniture to my heart's content. However, unless we win the lotto, which is obviously totally possible, it will most likely be a room in our house where I can write, craft and spraypaint old furniture to my heart's content.

Creative Cottage

Thoughts on Kelly

Posted by Author On September 18, 2008

Being an uber-prep by birth, somewhat by choice but mainly by basic resignation to the fates, I've been thrilled by the recent resurgence of preppy chic. From J.Crew to Jonathan Adler, the blue blazer and pearls are definitely back in full effect. I am particularly pleased by the kelly green palettes that have been popping up everywhere. For instance this delicious bedroom from Mr. Adler:

Kelly Wearstler

The Fabulousness of Ms. Valorie Hart

Posted by Betsy On 7:05 PM 7 comments
I want to share one of the Contest entries I've received. Ms. Valorie Hart of Visual Vamp hails from the great city of New Orleans. Now I don't know about y'all, but I can hardly imagine how hard its been to live in the midst of such destruction and devastation and depression... it must make creating a happy sanctuary in your home that much more important.

Ms. Hart on told me that Domino was her post-Katrina therapy. See, Mr. Conde - see what you're doing? By closing domino, you are abandoning New Orleans to the depths of despair....for shame. (maybe guilt will work on them)

Valorie also wrote of how Domino inspired her:

"I imagine I am like zillions of others who love decor, their homes, and work on a budget. Though I'm not the young thing everyone thinks domino only appealed too, I fell in love with the fresh rooms that made me feel young. So for my post Katrina post depression ha ha, domino was a treasure trove of eye candy. I always shopped eBay, flea markets, garage sales, tag sales, junk stores, discount big boxes, etc. To see a magazine validate this type of realistic approach to such a beautiful end result was validation. I can't control what goes on outside of my door, but I can make my world pretty on the inside."

And check out these photos of the Hart House - the woman practices what she preaches. Her chocolate brown living room is cozy yet elegant (I'm totally jealous of anyone who can use warm browns in their decor. My husband has an aversion to such and so chocolate browns are forbidden chez moi) -


I love the textured accent wall and the pops of blue in her bedroom (I'm addicted to all things turquoise or teal or peacock in hue) -



And look at this holiday tableau - wouldn't it be nice to awake on Christmas morning to a treasure trove of Tiffany's boxes?




Lots of love to all,
Betsy
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My Domino Inspiration...

Posted by Betsy On 9:16 AM 0 comments
















I live in Manhattan in uber-modern highrise in Hells kitchen, which is ironic to all who know me. I'm more of a west village brownstone or a pre-war coop type of gal. Prior to getting married, I did live in a gorgeous west village apartment. However, when we went through the premarital consolidation of households, the owned apartment (my gorgeous husband purchased our apartment prior to meeting me) won out over the rented apartment... the sacrifices one makes for love.

Prior to my arrival, my husband's "style" was bachelor pad "chic" (read: black sloping faux-leather couches and wrought iron everything. The man actually slept on an air mattress for an extended period of time.) Needless to say, part of the condition of my moving in was that the bachelor furniture had to go. I don't think he thought that I really meant it, but as soon as he said, "You can sell my couch" that couch was on Craigslist and was gone (undoubtedly to some other man cave). Lest you think I was overreacting, one of my fabulous friends (with whom I had discussed the state of my soon-to-be-betrothed's decor) actually wrote back to the craiglist post I had sent him as evidence for my laments and said, "I see...I thought you were joking." No, no friends it was just that bad.

So, in deciding how to decorate the apartment (over which I had full rein), my attempts to solicit opinions from Mr. Wentworth were usually met with grunts, groans, shrugging of shoulders and gnashing of teeth. After one particularly heated discussion over his lack of participation, (note: my husband is British so by heated I mean that it was actually obvious that we were both annoyed) it finally came out that he didn't have a clue what I was talking about when I was discussing the various pros and cons of going mid-century modern vs. contemporary. So instead of explaining myself in words, on Saturday morning, we sat in bed looking through my archive of every Domino ever printed (up to that point) and pointed at pictures we liked.

And from that, our apartment was born. Lots of ikea, a little bit of crate and barrel and some smatterings of ebay and here we are. More on the actual components and finds later. Send me your inspirations. I'll be sharing some of the fabulous contest entries I've already received later in the week.

Lots of love,
Betsy
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Contest! How Has Domino Inspired You?

Posted by Betsy On 9:56 AM 10 comments

Our friends at Simon & Schuster are equally bereaved about the state of Domino and have offered us two copies of the Domino: the Book of Decorating to soothe our pain. So, I propose a contest!

And the contest is... (drum roll please...)


How Has Domino Inspired You?

Please tell me about how Domino has helped you decorate your own home. Did a certain article inspire you to repaint, reupholster or even throw everything out and start again? Please tell me your story and send photos of your room (or nook or bookcase or piece of furniture/art or tableau or anything really!)


Submissions go to: savedominonow@gmail.com
Submission guidelines: Please include photos and a paragraph or two about how Domino inspired your particular piece of decorating genius.
Deadline: March 8, 2009
Winner Announcement: March 9, 2009
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Extraordinary Outpourings...

Posted by Betsy On 4:52 PM 0 comments
Hi everyone,

I'm back from vacation and am overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for Domino that I have returned to...my inbox overfloweth. (I was also extremely pleased to see that our collective outcry has reached Page Six of the NY Post.)

Some exciting things are afoot! I'll tell you more about that later, but in the meantime, I want to share with you some of the amazing sentiments posted by the Domino fans who have signed our petition to SAVE DOMINO!

antiqufetish writes..." I love domino because it's different from any other decor magazine I've ever read. It is fresh with great articles and photography and I've been inspired by it.There are so many other publications that I could live without before closing domino down and I would pay more per issue to keep it going."

amy laments..."Its the only thing out there like it!! I am so incredibly sad that they will be no more!!! Good luck with this endeavor! I know sooo many that truly love and will miss this magazine!!! It was one of a kind and became my bible!"

adriene shares..."I am in Advertising and still to this day wish I would have majored in Interior Design. I love to play with styles and color in my own living space...Domino helped me satisfy my craving for design when I don't have the money to do anything with my own apartment. Plus Domino gives you a bird's eye view into the most unique homes and it a great publication for ideas."

These are just the beginning of the *A* people - I will share more later!

Love,
Betsy

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The Poll is Open Again!

Posted by Betsy On 4:48 PM 0 comments
Due to popular demand, the poll about how much you would pay per Domino issue is reopen. Keep on voting!
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Why I love Domino.

Posted by Betsy On 6:14 AM 8 comments
This image pretty much sums it up...

Image by Paul Costello, October 2007.
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More Comrades

Posted by Betsy On 1:12 PM 6 comments
I have been fairly overwhelmed by the support this tiny blog is already receiving. One of my favorite bloggers, Ashley of Decorology, is helping spread the word:

Join the Fight to Save Domino!

Other crusaders are also joining our worthy cause...Ruth's Valley and Presevationista, among them. Join us!
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Laments

Posted by Betsy On 12:47 PM 0 comments
More bloggers have been lamenting our loss of the beloved big D:




The Mogg Blogg

And the sadness over the loss of Domino has gone mainstream with a mention in the Washington Post Blogwatch and the New York Times.




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Buttons...

Posted by Betsy On 12:42 PM 2 comments
So if you'd like to drive traffic to this site please use the following code, kindly provided by Betsy of caflowergirls.blogspot.com

SAVE DOMINO BLOG!

Image by Cool Text: Logo and Button Generator - Create Your Own

I figure the more traffic we can get, the more surveys and petitions we can get signed and maybe we'll have a fighting chance to keep Domino (or at least its website!) alive.

PS - if you can't access the code, email me and I'll send it to you.
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Eureka!

Posted by Betsy On 2:14 PM 9 comments
I published this site today and already support for the crusade! Please visit The Paris Apartment to read one Domino Fan's reasons for loving Domino and for supporting our crusade. Another Domino Fan, Petunia of the California Flower Girls, has joined with The Paris Apartment to start an email/letter writing campaign to Save Domino, that is available here:

http://caflowergirls.blogspot.com/2009/02/united-we-can-win.html.

For the love of god, people, start emailing! And yet another Domino Fan wrote this about our mission:

"I am passionately in agreement with this site... I will pay double for a subscription. Domino is the only magazine that actually delivers new and exciting, affordable and accessible decorating help...Anne"

Please tell me why you love Domino!
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My Personal Crusade

Posted by Betsy On 12:34 PM 12 comments
War, plague, famine - have any of these spurred me to action? No. (Though they are obviously exceedingly worthy objects of a personal crusade and I fully support such. If that's your thing - just show me where to go, sign, protest etc).

No, it's the news that Conde Naste has decided to close Domino that broke this camel's back.

After a week of crying in my chianti (one finds reds very soothing at this time of year), I have decided that I REFUSE to accept this lying down.

I haven't *quite* figured out how I'm going to convince Conde to reverse this very unwise course of action - YET. But I will. There is so much ugliness out there right now - beauty and pleasure must be cherished and defended.

Internet - we must revolt.
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Domino Fans Unite!

Posted by Betsy On 11:51 AM 2 comments
Ladies and Gentlemen,

This is a call to arms - we must unite to save Domino Magazine (or at least its website!!)

Join me in the crusade.

Love,
Betsy
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Fellow Crusaders?

Posted by Betsy On 6:38 AM 13 comments
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