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.

Hey Austinites, You Need to Just Dewit Already

You already know AB Chao, although you may have trouble placing her face. That's because she looks like this:

Yeah, she's kinda famous for her headless self portraits. But she's even more famous for this:

You can't even google the words "farrow" and "ball" without this room coming up. EVERYONE has seen it -- even Kelly Wearstler. And she liked it. A lot.

But AB Chao has made other things, too. Like this:

And this:

And even this glamazing garage redo:

Pretty awesome.

And sure -- you might hate her a little. She's tiny and even peppier than her teenage daughter, she used to write for fancy tv shows, and her clothes are always cute. Even her husband is cute.

I mean -- dammit, AB. You need to quit it with the cuteness.

But here's the thing:  I've known her for years and she's a really nice, really real person who knows how to make something out of nothing (those curtains in the top shot? first dropcloth curtain diy I know about). This is important because being an average middle class wage earner should not be an impediment to style.

And now you can join her Dewit Design Camp and be like AB.

Dudes, AB Chao is coming to Austin from June 30-July 1 to school you! Learn this stuff:

• Basic principles of design • Creating inspiration boards • Drawing layouts • Paint, wall coverings, lighting, window treatments, furniture, art • Using and repurposing existing items • Decorating on a budget • Common mistakes • Putting it all together • Styling • Shooting interiors • Q & A

Plus you will get to eat yummy food and hang out at Meredith Pardue's fancy new art studio. You know Mer:

She makes those paintings that are in all the glossy magazines.

She lives in Austin, too.

Austin is cool.

Cool people live here.

Be even cooler and meet Misses Chao and Pardue in person and soak up their coolness by osmosis.

Sign up for Dewit Design Camp right HERE.

I might even show up if I don't drop a baby first.

Curtain talk tomorrow.

Comment if you have any Dewit questions today.

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]