JEAN COCTEAU IS HOT, MY FIREPLACE IS NOT

My desk faces this wall, so I spend a lot of time staring at the abomination that is our fireplace.

erin williamson design

Ok, maybe it's not that bad. But if your job is designing interiors maybe it is. When we bought our house, I knew it would be a problem... who built this travesty? Did they just throw a dart at the wall and decide gosh golly it would be the perfect height for a fireplace? Somewhere in no man's land, a brick ledge is gathering dust and lizard tails. Plus it used to be a putrid shade of rusty brick topped by a mantel just this side of nuclear orange oak. Let no one say improvements have not been made, but still... over it.

Did you notice the vents that I carefully, obnoxiously disguised with plants? I hope not. 

In the immortal words of Ice Cube, I want to tear this mother up (that is not exactly what he said) but the firebox... Removing it would, frankly, suck. So I have considered removing some bricks or possibly adding them instead. This is doable, right?

tall fireplace | design crisis

Because the megalomanic in me is ready to build the tower of babel part deux.

fireplaces | design crisis

Or I could mayhaps go a bit more subtle. Because I am a very subtle person.

Who am I kidding? At the rate of current renovation around here (please see our master bath, sporting a lovely shade somewhere between pea and bile green), construction is years away.

In the meantime, wouldn't it be awesome if this happened?

jean cocteau |madeleine castaing

Jean Cocteau's home decorated by Madeleine Castaing has been on my radar for years... it's so inspiring. Don't like your architecture? Draw it in!

Speaking of Cocteau, I am obsessed. Did you see my scarf?

erin williamson | jean cocteau

Do you like my picture? Was I a) being arty for instagram or b) disguising pajamas and unbrushed hair? I don't want to ruin the image of my perfect life for you, so let's go with a.

Hey, did you know that Roche Bobois has a super line of embroidered Cocteau pillows?

jean cocteau roche bobois | design crisis

And I'm watching this Cocteau lith on ebay:

jean cocteau | design crisis

And I'm even following this tattoo guy David Scheisser on instagram because his work reminds me of Cocteau. Obviously line drawing is the next Twombly/Kelly Wearstler Channels/abstraction craze. Turns out David likes to draw on walls too.

david schiesser | design crisis

I feel like we've come full circle here. I should just draw on my walls. Or you know, have someone else do it.

eirn williamson design

What do we think? Crazy awesome, or crazy going to scar my children for life?

It could be cool. Think about it.