PSA: Pheasant by Twigs Wallpaper, All Colorways Pictured

Remember this wallpaper?

It's the lusciously lickable, preppily psychedelic Pheasant by Twigs wallpaper that I was talking up last week.

In the interest of continuing theme Wallpaper Week, I started to shoot my sample collection in our hallway for your viewing pleasure... but then I went and ordered yet ANOTHER sample that I feel I simply must wait upon before asking your opinion.

I am going open a crazy lady wallpaper sample shop when all this is said and done -- the kind of shop with dusty lampshades and random cats patrolling pee stained darkened corners. In other words, I have a problem.

While I sort out my OCD issues, I decided to shoot and post all the colorways for Pheasant because they aren't available anywhere online. I tried my hardest to standardize the colors and density, so I think the pictures are fairly accurate. This may not be the most exciting post, but hopefully it will be useful to someone out in the world.

Blue

Brown

Gold

Gray

Malachite

Marine

Orange

Peach

Red

Rust

If you like, call the nice folks at Twigs and order some samples for free. Rolls are 100% gorgeously hand printed (from a 1980s pattern!), so you have to trim the selvedge yourself...

Cold sweat, people. That's scary stuff.

But worth it -- this paper is deluxe.

Also it reminds me of the time I "got drunk" and went to the renaissance faire to watch weird people make marbelized paper.

That alone puts it in front runner status, right?

Double Height Curtains

Thanks ever so much for your feedback on the fireplace dilemma -- I now have a lot of things to think about. Most pressing it seems I must do something about the windows, and the new question du jour is: what, praytell? Should I do shades or curtains? Do I address all four windows or just the lower levels? And then there's the adjacent (non tv wall) -- it has glass patio doors. So whatever happens on the fireplace wall must carry over onto that wall, as well. (You can see a rough old floorplan here). Shades would be the easiest and most cost effective, or perhaps it would be even cheaper to only hang curtains over the bottom windows and treat the top ones as transoms, as per Nelya's suggestion. But I have to say the double height curtain plan has got some traction... inside my brain at least. Turns out the height to the top of the window is 148," which is too tall to use the longest premade curtains I can find -- by a matter of inches. UGH. Who built this house?! So now if I go that route we're talking custom curtains and that means berserker cash. Let's look at some pictures and see if such a thing might even be worth cleaning out my piggy bank.

Leggy. Like Angelina Jolie.

What I do know is I don't want this to happen. I mean, that is my house.

Gone horribly wrong.

So there's a lot of drama inherent in the giant curtain idea. I like drama, but will they be too overwhelming?

What do we think about double height curtains?

And is there anywhere I can find them premade in lengths longer than 144"?

Once again I'm depending on you to save the world.

[Fawn Galli, House Beautiful, Tom Scheerer, Happy Home Workshop, Harpers Bazaar, AD -- thanks Pieter!]

Let's Stare at My Fireplace and Solve all of the World's Problems, or at Least Mine

Because that's what I've been doing -- sitting on the couch and staring at the fireplace. A lot. You may recall that when we moved in the fireplace was a disgusting orangey brick atrocity, a horror of mid 70s suburban design. Well, it's still brick and it's still overwhelming, but at least it's not orange anymore.

Does this fireplace make me look fat? Thanks a lot, wide angle lens. But I digress. Look! It's white now. Simply White, to be exact. And the wallcolor is Cappucino Froth at 50% formula (thanks, Sanders!). I don't exactly hate all the whiteness, but what I really want to do is rip out the entire fireplace and have a smooth wall with a regular old mantel. Sadly that's not going to happen, what with me on bedrest and Ike throwing cookies all over the floor in a mad rush to beat me to the tv (my parenting skills are without parallel).

So let's discuss what I could do with this white wall of shame. Here's another view:

Let us not discuss the peskily persistent speakers, the hideous magazine rack, or the fact that my house looks like a dorm room because I can't have anything on the coffee table but toys. You are allowed to notice our West Elm Niche tv credenza. I think it looks ok, but that wall definitely needs some spicing up. Oh, and we have a new coffee table.

Ok, back to the fireplace. We can't rip it out, so I'm thinking we need layers. Lots and lots of layers. Perhaps something like this hung just below the top of the fireplace from a quilt rack thingie:

And then maybe a mantel on which picture(s) and small lamps might rest in front of the tapestry:

I would prefer something a little less chunky, but I think a reclaimed beam could add some warmth... not sure how difficult it will be to mount onto brick without cornices, though. Moving on:

A pair of Delft planters (with neato plants in them) flanking the firebox, to cover up the hideous vents that I want to rip out and destroy with the hot heat of my hatred.

You do know that delft is the new black, right?

Whoa there, Mary McDonald. You a little crazy.

And I don't know. That's all I've got so far. Maybe a sheepskin on the ledge between the potted plants to add some warmth? Maybe the Moroccan tray from our old kitchen, this time perched above the very tip top of the fireplace?

Sigh. I miss our old fireplace.

It might draw your eye up in a weird way, but the space above the new fireplace between the windows just feels blank.

Ok, what do you guys think? Any interim solutions to turn this sow's ear into a silk purse? Please let it be relatively inexpensive...