Kelly and Olive, Part II

Right before Brownlandia was abandoned back in the spring, Kelly + Olive were kind enough to offer me professional tips on sprucing up the place. I do believe I promised you a look at their advice back in, oh, 1993. Or maybe it was July. It's so hard to tell anymore. What day is today? Why are those people shouting at me and pointing? Why am I running? Life is mysterious!

And so: their conclusions. I'm only going to highlight a few of their pages here, but I've put the rest on Flickr.

Here's the cover page. This is an assortment of images that I sent to them, so they could get a better sense of what I like. That exercise alone was quite helpful. The minute I read "vintage/eclectic," something clicked. I had never thought of my style that way, but that's precisely what I am. I mean, not ME, I AM NOT VINTAGE, but my style. I guess maybe I am vintage. And I'm certainly eclectic.

Let's look at that first sentence. "You gravitate toward punches of red and turquoise on more neutral backgrounds of white and brown." That sentence alone, my friends, set me on the right path. Once again, I had no idea that that was what I liked. I thought I just liked purty things! But everything they pulled here as examples of accessories made my heart sing. (Except the pouf is kinda hideous.) (I do like the idea of a pouf, but I do not like the idea of that one.) (Also, no one with a small child and two chronically shedding dark-haired pets--beasts who consider vomiting a leisure pursuit--is going to buy a white shag rug.)

Here, they advise putting the TV in the fireplace. A moot point, as our new apartment has no fireplace, plus we bought a flat screen tv to replace our trusty ol' hand-cranked televiewoscope. But also this tip didn't sit well with Scott. I might have been game, but if there's any hint of whimsy in our decor, Scott gets enraged. He might think I'm exaggerating, but he just got a look at this picture and OH GOD HE'S BREAKING THINGS AGAIN--

Shmoopy drapes! And they didn't even know the half of it. Like how each drape was lightly fringed with cat hair, from when Izzy rubbed her body against them as part of her scheme to drive me mad. We have shades in our new place and they make me so happy. I'm easily made happy, it seems.

This is fantastic. We have, my friends, far too many framed things. In our old place, we had under-bed storage boxes filled with framed prints and photos. We really wanted to do an arrangement like this, and the tutorial they linked to was invaluable. Once we got started, we just kind of eyeballed it, and it turned out great, if we do say so ourselves.

Even though we didn't use their advice for our old place, we sure as hell used it for the new one. Next: pictures of our new living room. I will try to get these up before 2012, because I hear tell that's the apocalypse.

Comments

[Pink Ronnie]

Mmmm... TV in fireplace - definitely never considered that before either. I have to say that I'm bit of a vintage/eclectic fan myself. The great thing is that that type of styling doesn't seem to date.

Anyway, really can't wait to see your new living room. Get those photos up pronto! :)

[nova]

Huh. Now I want an art wall and my tv in the fireplace!!

[Pink Ronnie]

I lie. I just had a look at some old photos and realised that we did indeed back our TV into the old fireplace at our last home...

[Maura]

I love EVERYTHING about this! So cool. Can't wait for the apoco... pics of your living room.

[Amanda]

Can you please tell us where to get the roller shades? I can't seem to activate the link - I think it's lost in the flickr posting method.

[Miss Britt]

The fact that you admitted to not having a life that could handle a white shag rug makes me love you an inappropriate amount.

[megansquared]

Oh...so pretty.....I like pretty things too. I want pretty things. GIVE ME PRETTY THINGS.

[edj]

How fun! But I do like the pouff. Prob cuz I just moved from Morocco, and that one reminds me of the touristy ones they sell in that one shop in the medina. Only the ones I've seen are cooler.

[neversent]

I am with the person who asks about the link to the roller shades. I am in need of these roller shades and need good, cheap, cuttable ones. Would you mind posting the link? Thanks!

[Alice Bradley]

Re: shades--I know the ones they recommended are from Ikea, but those aren't the ones we bought. We purchased some cheap-ass ones from, uh, somewhere else. Scott bought them, so I am no use to you.

[Leah]

I'm pretty sure the apocalypse is happening on May 21, 2011. I keep seeing a guy in the subway holding up a sign to that effect, and I saw it on a billboard also.

[WendyPinNJ]

Since we tend to like fires in our fireplace, putting the TV in there is probably a bad idea. And I have NEVER been a fan of shmoopy drapes, but never had the words to describe them accurately. Now I do. Not a big fan of twee drapes either. Shmoopy and twee are not for me!

[karrousia]

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