I Make Woody Allen Look Well Adjusted

Sometimes I think I have a problem, and sometimes I know I do. Here's my issue du jour: retroactive shopping. After I buy things, I keep on shopping for the same (better?) things. My mania reaches fever pitch when I make major purchases. Case in point: after we bought a house I trolled the mls for MONTHS worried that a better house might pop up... it didn't, and I felt all justified and vindicated in our mega sweet buy. But what if the most amazing house in the world had popped up? That's just setting oneself up for disaster.

Anyway, know what I can't stop looking at? Curtains. That's right -- I already bought some. But I want more.

Simple yellow with invisible tiebacks.

Pinch pleat with oversized rustic rod.

High contrast burgundy taffeta (burgundy is baaaccckkk).

Greigey violet matched to wall color with uber skinny brass rods... I die.

Nick Olsen shock of cobalt in a neutral room with punchy accents.

More Nick Olsen, this time he does those curtains up righteous. Ball fringe with matching tie backs!

Joe Nye super ballsy pattenered curtains and matching cornice.

Golden showers... with balls.

But no new curtains today. What I do need are some roman shades. I'm thinking of something like this for the nursery:

Anyone have a good but cheap source for custom roman shades? I just need plain fabric with a blackout lining. My sweet MIL can sew the ribbon trim on.

That's all for today, folks. I have family in town so I'll be on and off the computer, but I promise to frantically check your comments for golden shopping nuggets of wisdom.

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Living Room Updates

Interior photography should be an olympic sport. There would be the sofa lifting component, the squatting competition, and the tensed muscles/breath holding element. Also, extremely pregnant ladies should automatically get a blue ribbon. I'm telling you this because I threw my back out whilst attempting a living room photo shoot, ostensibly to show off my new curtains.

Why would I choose the hardest room to shoot, praytell? I think we've already established that I am not always the most rational being. Ok, and I don't want to shoot the very nearly finished rooms until they're as close to done as possible, because I'm weird like that.

Meanwhile, the living room is never going to be done. It's huge, has a difficult layout, and is frequently inhabited by small people and their tiny but obnoxious plastic toys. Fixing this room will cost a zillion dollar billz -- largely spent on new seating, rugs, upholstery, built ins, and custom curtains. Oh, and I would also like a pile of money to swim in like Scrooge McDuck.

Just because.

Enough excuses. On with the show.

erin williamson

Hey, look at that -- I have new curtains.

west elm sheer curtains

They came from the West Elm outlet, $130 total for all four panels. They are silk. They are sheer. They are not overwhelming and I like that. I probably need to hang them higher but I'm not in any hurry to nag Ben into conquering that relatively piddly task.

erin williamson

Dear jeebus that chesterfield needs to get out of there... but it's so comfortable. Like sitting on your grandma's lap and listening to bedtime stories about the good old days, albeit with crumbs and jelly smeared all over your ass.

erin williamson

Here is the back end of the room that I never show because it's sorely under utilized and generally functions as a crap repository. You can see the unpainted hallway in the background... it's not papered because I may have miscalculated the amount of paper I need to cover the space. May = definitely.

erin williamson

Kind of embarrassing back wall. Someday the tv may go back here. Or not. Until then I am unwilling to invest more than a few bucks jazzing up this space. What do you think: New chair upholstery (it needs to be resprung anyway)? Or maybe paint the mirror? New lamps? Rug shakeup?

I don't know. Blank slate. I'm not planning to spend a lot of time worrying about it. I wish I could paint that wall a crazy color, but it would be weird with the other stuff going on around that space.

And there you have it. I just made myself totally depressed.

I am trying to remind myself that the room looks ever so much better than it did when we moved in less than a year ago:

Hahaahaaaaaaaaaaa.

In other news, Ike's room is totes cute but I might buy him a new bed... Also it is insanely dark in there until about 7:30, which is bedtime. Hence the lack of pictures that might make me feel better about myself.

Master bedroom is looking cozy but needs art and bedding. Hopefully these things will happen over the weekend.

Front room looking kinda awesome but needs pillows... I am eyeing these but so far have been too cheap to pull the trigger:

Baby nursery is finally coming along, but I now have an unopened roll of Thibaut's Cheetah wallpaper to sell:

I kept trying to make it work in there, but it felt like hammering a square peg into a round hole. Let me know if you want to buy it and I'll ship it to you.

And finally, all the onesies are washed and blankies are folded. So if Baby X decides to squirt out of ladytown any time soon I am "prepared."

As if.

Droopy Dawg

I am so. damn. tired. Yesterday I took a picture of my basketball sized belly so you could see that I'm headed into the misery stage, but I'm too tired to upload it. I even took pictures of my crazy curtain debacle but I'm also too tired to deal with that.

This is shaping up to be an exciting post. Let me spice things up a bit.

I am obsessed with every single thing in this room. I'm not sure I would be happy living here 24/7, but as a cozy library it KILLS. Those window treatments put all other window treatments to shame. The paint color and glossy built ins are ridic. The textile combo is absurdly good. And I'm going to steal that light fixture... as soon as I can figure out where it comes from.

This room by fellow Austinite Bailey McCarthy touches my happy place (visuals not necessary). The glow in the dark constellation wallpaper may make an appearance in the kid's bathroom at our house.

GLOWS IN THE MF DARK, Y'ALL. If I were really brave, I would paper Ike's ceiling with this bizness. But that sounds hard and I may have already mentioned that I'm tired.

Instead I think I'm going to just order this cute print for Ike's room, glue some glow in the dark stars to the ceiling, and call it a day. (Thanks for the poster link, Katie!)

In other news, I might paint our bedroom this color:

Or maybe this color:

Dede Pratesi's bedroom is pretty much my idea of perfection.

And as if this post weren't already disjointed enough, you need to head on over to MFAMB and check out the room Jenny Andrews just decorated for her precious kidlet.

Awesome real people decorating on a budget makes me SO HAPPY.

What is not making me happy is my curtain situation.

Still working on it. I don't understand why this stupid room has to be so difficult.

Yet another trip to Ikea is in the works, and a trip to the West Elm outlet already happened.

Pictures to follow. Soon.