Hey dudes, I'm still here. Sorry I haven't had much time to hang out in blogland lately, but guess what? Ike is sick. Again. This makes the fourth time in three months and I'm about ready to send him back to the baby factory for repairs and new parts. I kid. Really. Please don't jump my ass, trolls. Anyway I am busy and tired and covered in snot and all this awesomeness gives me the pissies when I hear that color and FUN!!! are coming back to decor. Thanks a lot, Sara Ruffin Costello -- you are obviously too perky to have sick children. So, how much do I sound like Grouchy Smurf when I say that I hate color and I hate fun? I don't really, but ok, right now I do. I hate them. In case you couldn't already tell, sleep deprivation and living in a miasma of snot and toddler germs will do weird things to you. Well, it does weird things to me, anyway.

You know what takes me to my happy place? This.

Gary Hutton

Isabel Lopez Quesada

Joel Mozersky

Ryan Korban via Lonny

Kelly Wearstler

Ahhh. Blood pressure. slowly. falling. Tirade ending. Rage receding. Patience returning. Likey Smurf emerging.

Neutrals sometimes get a bad rap because of that whole 80s band aid beige epidemic, but just look how soothing yet interesting they can be when mixed with a country ton of texture. Fur rugs? Check. Muted patterns? Check. Shiny shiny goodness? Check. Acres of psychedelic mushroom marble? Check.

I need it all. It's for my health. Do you think Blue Cross covers decor?

Also, special announcemento: The lovely Elizabethi Hablinski McDougall of the aptly named design firm EHM Design will be here on Thursday to wax dramatic about her very own house woes. Plus as a special added bonus, she will gift you with some very pretty pictures of other people's houses that are not in the least woeful. So be here. Or else.

You kind and generous people wouldn't want me to get all hatery again... would you?

After a long Indian summer in Austin, it's finally bleak and dreary outside. I've been waiting for this turn in weather for(almost)ever, but now that it's come I just feel... sleepy. Lethargic. Like crawling back into bed for some sunshine soaked dreams. But alas, alack, anon, that ain't gonna happen. Maybe it's for the best. Maybe I need to embrace the fall that's finally made its way into my little corner of the world.

Isabel Lopez Quesada

Maybe I can embrace the fall and go back to sleep? Because that bedroom could take me there. How about that plaid mixed with suzani? I may be a trifle overcontrolled by marketing forces, but right now I think everything should be swathed in plaid. I don't mean to say that I'm going to morph into an ax wielding lumberjack, but... I might morph into an ax wielding lumberjack.

I promise not to get to hipster douchey about it.