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

I failed...

Posted by Betsy On 4:50 PM 2 comments
We all know by now that Domino has officially died. I am so sorry. I am going to try to keep the spirit of Domino alive. Starting with...announcing a winner to the contest. Stay tuned! Its soon to come!
Love,
Betsy
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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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