Wherein I Tell Stories About the House Using Other People's Pictures (OPP)

Being a photographer is a double edged sword. Yes, I can make my pictures look very pretty, but it's a lot of work and I get incredibly annoyed/enraged/depressed when the pictures aren't perfect. So I talk myself out of posting house pics A LOT. Also, I am sick as a dog, Ike has been home sick all week, and I have a doctor's appt today, so computer usage has been at an all time low (sadly I have yet to figure out how to write a post on my phone). What I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry I'm such a crap blogger. I have great hopes of being better in the near future. But the future is later so in the meantime, look at these random pictures and let me tell you about my adventures.

Yesterday I braved all manner of hideous setbacks to buy a Maitland Smith tessellated coral cocktail table set, just like the one you see in this here 1st Dibs picture. I got the coffee table and a pair of end tables for $175. BAM. Or I could have paid $3750 for just the table from 1st Dibs (WHERE do these prices come from?!).

The end tables look great, but the coffee table has a few etched in rings and a dull surface. Anyone know how to polish those out and reseal the top? I'm guessing whatever would work on marble or travertine would work on this.

The shape and scale are a vast improvement over the old Pace Collection stainless steel and glass number:

It's a really cool table, but I really wanted something square for our new seating arrangement. I'm about to put it on Craigs, but if anyone wants to buy it shoot me an email or leave a comment. It does have some dings and scratches, and is generally... well loved. But it's still built to withstand the apocalypse, so local buyers only. It's easily the heaviest thing I own.

See what I mean?

In other news, I am kinda liking this wallpaper for the upstairs hallway:

It's by Little Greene wallpaper; the pattern is pines.

Here's a closer look at the colorway I have taped up right now. It's teal with subtle golden pine needles.

So has anyone ever hung Little Greene wallpaper? I'm starting to freak about hanging real wallpaper by myself... you have to book and soak it. I'm not even sure it's pre trimmed. Scary thoughts. Deep breaths.

Ok, that's all my news for today. Please tell me how to fix my life, or at least how to hang wallpaper and polish my new table.

Thank you.

Jamie Bush

A while back my pal David John of the uberfantastic blog You Have Been Here Sometime casually informed me that he had worked for Jamie Bush, architect and designer extraordinaire. I shouldn't have been the least bit surprised because David John is ultra talented, super educated, and lots of other important stuff. And then I started stalking Jamie Bush... dude has some genius solutions for odd spaces, and he knows how to work materials like nobody's business.

Just when I think I'm over Mid Mod, this comes along to remind me that I'm only over erstatz Mid Mod -- the ugly lovechild of fleabitten avocado green upholstery and big box espresso veneer.

I would happily sell my soul to live in a place like this -- half baked neotrad aspirations be damned.

I never said I wasn't a fickle beast.

[Pics via Remodelista]

Jackie Astier's Textured Home in Elle Decor

I've been busily (obsessively) taping little scraps of patterns all over the walls, feeling good about some things, horrified by others, and generally overwhelmed by the sheer variety of stuff out in the world. Probably this process was easier when Sears Roebuck offered your choice of three patterns, to be delivered by train or pony. Instead I find myself squinting into a crystal ball, wondering which of said 800 million patterns will be least offensive to me in a decade. Compounding the problem is Better Half Ben's insistent, rather querulous complaint that all my choices are so "decorative." That's gauche, dude. And kind of obvious.

All this is to say that I had an interesting reaction to stylist and socialite Jackie Astier's home featured in this month's ED.

It's all moody broody texture -- not much in the pattern department. Now part of me finds this cozy and fabulous, and part of me thinks I'm just backsliding into my safety net. Haven't I already been here before? Maybe. But lacquered walls and tonal faux bois wallpaper feel so soft and dreamy.

Oh, and grasscloth. Delicious delicious grasscloth.

This bedroom is too girly for me, but I think the color palette feels a little more avant garde than the gray gray grays used elsewhere.

It's a lot of eye candy, but I also feel like I've seen so much of it before. Damien Hirst: check. Mastercraft brass: check. Beni Ourain: check. Milo Baughman Karl Springer Paul Evans: check. Kind of veers into furniture museum territory.

Still, I think she does a lovely job making the space feel more intimate. I've been hard at work trying to create layers with pattern, but maybe in some cases texture is the way to go.

What do you think? Are you all about pattern or texture?

[Elle Decor, Jackie Astier]