Pink Curtains, Or Why My Husband May Divorce Me

Ben is pretty tolerant of my decorating whimsies. He let me choose the wood flooring in our house. He let me paint the dinette peachy pink. He begrudgingly allowed me to paint his office... twice. Basically I get to control all aesthetic decisions in our house.

Except for the pink curtains.

If you will recall, I planned to do double height curtains in our great room. Well I'm too tired to tackle that expensive problem right now, so I decided to just throw a pair of cheap (but good) Ikea linen curtains on the lower windows to allay my neurotic empty window fixations. I chose some pretty basic flax linen curtains and figured everything would look kinda like this:

Ok, and I may have taken the liberty of switching out the navy chesterfield for a pair of those Ikea Mellby chairs, because in my heart of hearts I know a pair of chairs (or maybe a chaise) would be best for my house... also, for anyone doubting the quality of Ikea's new leather wares: go sit on them. They're really nice soft pebbled leather. Totally worth the price.

Anyway, the mockup isn't perfect but I think it proves a priori that the flax curtains would be just fine and we should hang them and move on.

But...

And:

Plus:

Maybe a little too girly, but still:

Finally:

Yeah. Pink curtains keep whispering sweet nothings in my ear.

And of course Ikea sells pink linen curtains, so I mocked that beeswax up.

I switched the art because I think pink works best when mixed with dirty colors... otherwise it comes off as juvenile and/or cloying.

So now it is super girlytown up in there. Ben also hates the lady painting, but that is just wrong.

What do you think? I would say the board does not accurately reflect colors, that the curtains are warmer and and that there is definitely baby pink in the rug even though you can't see it in the board. Overall the rug is more raspberry than red.

Or perhaps I should just go halfway to girlytown with the lady painting and flax curtains? I could probably ask my sweet MIL to sew coral pink velvet piping on the curtains to up the oooo ahhhh factor.

So, for $100 which curtains should I choose? Flax? Or risk the wrath of my normally mild mannered husband and demand pink? I am, after all, about to be vastly outnumbered by penises and I don't really think he has a leg to stand on.

Ahem. Insert joke here.

And another joke.

Ignore my morning prurience. Instead tell me which art and curtain combo you like.

Thanks.

[Head Over Heels, Ruthie Sommers, Pinterest]

Be the Decider. Please.

Ok guys and gals, I have two major decisions to make today. This would be doable, except that I am a used up, burned, crispy charred piece of toast. This weekend we cleaned, hauled trash, painted, and moved Ike into his big boy room. I woke up at 2am feeling like I had done a speedball -- all hot and anxious and confused about where I was. This morning is not faring much better, and that is why I desperately need your help. Let's get to it.

Decision #1: Buy a Damn Table Already

I am driving the poor sales rep at the furniture store crazy with my waffling, so I'm determined to order something today. Ok, but do I get a marble tulip table, a white painted tulip table, or a walnut tulip table?

Marble tulip cons:

Most expensive. Unknown quality -- the table I'm getting will not be carrara, but some other unknown white marble with less veining (no pictures are available because the marble varies so much). Fragility -- how does a giant elliptical piece of marble stay balanced on a small pedestal without breaking???! Staining -- am I going to wish I had chosen something easier to maintain? Redundancy -- I hope to get marble counters someday and I'm concerned about marble overload.

Pros:

IT'S MARBLE. Is marble overload even possible? I seriously lust after this table.

White painted table cons:

Diminished sex appeal -- it's basically white painted veneer. Unknown quality -- no pictures of finished product available. Durability -- will it chip and gouge out to reveal veneer underneath? Cleanability -- can I scrub the crap out of this without abusing the finish? Length of ship time -- it'll probably take three months to get this table into my hot little hands... gross.

Pros:

Inexpensive (relatively). It's plain white, so it'll go with anything. Easier to move. Not concerned about breaking it.

Wood veneer cons:

Wood is bossy -- rosewood or walnut will limit my chair options in a major way. Durability -- this is veneer so will it gouge out? Not refinishable (veneer). It may clash with my (to be installed in the future) white oak floors.

Pros:

Relatively inexpensive. Available soon. Lighter than marble. Will not limit my counter choices.

Ok, which table should I buy?

Decision #2: Maybe Buy a Cheap Rug While They're On Sale Today

West Elm has 15% off rugs today. I have sample for this denim and jute rug, and it's cute but maybe a little juvenile with my coral/pink walls?

Look at me, I made a mockup. Shocking.

They also have plain jute flatwoven rugs. I'm looking at the fourth one down -- the flax color. This is kind of boring, but it would allow me to do some fun seating upholstery. No mockup. Sorry, I got tired.

Meanwhile, Overstock is also having a sale. I like this two tone herringbone jute rug, but I'm concerned about staining. Is jute easy care, or is that only seagrass? I know sisal is the worst.

Finally, I could just not buy a rug. I would be missing out a bit on the sales, but perhaps I'm trying to make too many decisions at once...

Who, me?

Opinions? Concerns for my mental health?

I have to go to the doc in a few to do my third trimester blood sugar test... even though I haven't gained much weight so far, I'm worried that my steady diet of donuts is about to backfire. Anyway, I may not be able to respond to your comments but I will be reading them while people stick needles in me and examine my hoohah.

It's a good day all around.

Breaking West Elm Outlet News

Did you know there was a clearance rack at the West Elm Outlet? Did you even know there was a West Elm outlet? Well for those of you fortunate enough to live in the suburbs (guffaw), an outlet mall may be lurking in an unpopulated wasteland near you. Lucky for us Austinites, we have only to drive down to San Marcos, which is actually really lovely and features rivers flowing with beer (byob). Winning.

So yesterday MIL, Ike, and I trekked down to the outlets in search of this rug for the dinette and these curtains for Ike's room, but I found none of the above. Still, I managed to score some goodies on the cheap. Check it out.

This giant papier mache impala head is usually $169, but I found it for $9.97 and could not resist. I was thinking about putting it in the baby nursery, but I don't know... maybe it's kind of demonic?

Does it look like I sacrifice goats and draw penatagrams in their blood on my pregnant belly?

Does this remind you of Damien the Omen or is it just me?

I also got a white mongolian lamb pillow for $9.97. I should probably use it to continue the dead animal trend in the baby room, right? Oh, and wouldn't it be funny to put glasses on top so that my infant son is convinced a muppet monster will attack him whilst sleeping?

Maybe not.

I did get a diaper bag for half price. That makes me a good mommy. The gold zippers make me AWESOME.

Perhaps even more important than prepararing for the impending birth of my child is that I found this $400 Moroccan wedding blanket for $19.97.

Yeah, buds. Now my bedroom is going to look just like this:

Or maybe this:

Or definitely like this:

Or perhaps I will hang it on the wall behind my tv.

Wall hanging or blanket???

Either way: winning.

Let me tell you what is not winning.

I have been obsessing about this gorgeous indigo/violet kilim rug forlikeever and they had it at the outlets.

Yay! There were even two of them

But both of them were covered in lint. COVERED. I've never seen something attract so much lint in my life. A lint brush doesn't even do that good a job of defurring your pets.

Do not buy this rug.

Sorry, West Elm.

I still love you.

And I really love your outlet store.

[Moroccan blankets here and here]