I’m still sad. about Dan. my friends are sad, my family is sad and america is sad. I’m pretty sure that guy is not going away quietly and i’m predicting a Dan spinoff show or something (I think he’s still dominating in the fan vote polls so vote vote vote if you want him to win – i’m a real bad ‘vote-for-yerself girl’ so i’ve been doing few for me, then switching it up between Dan and some of my other faves which i’ll highlight later).
First of all here is our space:
There are some problems, yes, but overall i like our space. Let’s start with some behind the scenes.
1. there is a bit of a war on the blogs about who’s idea the swing was. it was mine. kidding. It was Nina’s idea, she said she’s done it before and that she knew how do to it. BUT, she did want to paint it silver and use chain to glam it up (which could’ve looked good, too) but as i remember, Dan wanted to keep it simple and natural. maybe Nina could’ve hung it properly, but fact is that Dan did it. there. I liked it, she claims we all detested it, but thats not true. i think it did look playful, gimmicky yes, but interesting.
2. Fake applied moulding. I’m still conflicted about this one. It did a lot for the room, but the part of me that isn’t into faux finishings isn’t into this either. i feel like its a good option for a 24 year old renting an apartment, Its a lot of bang for your buck, as it has a lot of impact. It was Nina’s idea and Dan, Casey and Stacey helped her do it. Again, it was a lot of wall to cover and no artwork so we had to do something. I was a busy sewing bee and not so good with straight lines so i sat out the taping situation.
3. Stacey’s stories. Stacey is getting a lot of flack out there for her carnation story. Was choosing the carnation a risk? of course. she knows its not the most popular flower, but that is why she chose it. her stories are a hard sell, but she sells ’em. The desk/office area was cute,
I like the mismatching lamps, the ghost chair is what it is, but, my what an adorable little pillow for you to rest on while you are sniffing your carnation. me likey, stacey.
I was so happy that Reese Witherspoon was on my team again. Its so great that she can take away time from legally blonde 3 to do what she really loves – painting walls. and she is super down to earth, no weird famousy pretentious, she won’t even answer to Reese if you call at her. She just wants to be one of us.
Ahem. You didn’t get to see a lot from Casey this week, but she did a lot behind the scenes. Casey wanted her part of the room to feel like a watercolor painting, so she did this effect on the walls. She kinda washed the walls with this blue. it was pretty. I made those pillows, but she styled the bed.
We upholstered a headboard in linen to add structure. this rug was supposed to go in to the living room but it didn’t work, that is why the living room has a kinda nuts carpet. And while i like the lamp, now the room looks a bit off balance because of it. oops. But i like the little chandy. its cute. Overall, i think its a sweet room.
We all got along so much better this time. i didn’t resist any ideas, i started my ‘just let people do whatever they want and hopefully it will make the room look better or they will go down for it’ strategy. I’m not competitive, so i had to have some sort of strategy and while this one seems apathetic, i think it actually makes the most sense. I am not into the wall art at all but cared more about having a pleasant day than to say anything. I figured it it made the room look better, great, good for everyone on the team. but if it was bad then someone deserved to be criticized for it. I don’t actually think that being competitive is that good of a thing unless you play sports, by the way. Why compete? Whats the point? I don’t compete with my friends (even my fellow freelance prop stylists when we are up for the same job) my siblings, my cats, nobody in my real life, so why would i magically become competitive just because i’m in a talent competition? I tried, at first, really. but no puedo.
I think that is one of the reasons that Dan went home. He wasn’t competitive either, just a great guy trying to help make a great room. Had we had somebody (an extra carpenter) that could help out, Dan could’ve focused on his design. Sorry, Dan. again.
So did I just sew? yep, mainly. Not totally proud of it. Of course I helped with all the shopping and styling too. I guess that if i hadn’t sewn none of those pillows on the sofa, swing or bed would be there (and obviously the curtains wouldn’t be there). I love the pillows with the rug. I don’t mind the pillows with the wall moulding. I don’t mind the wall moulding with the rug. But all three elements together is a bit overkill – a lot of really strong patterns in one room. It does, however, look like a room that I would love to have a cocktail party in. it has fun energy and a lot of life. I remember right before the judges came in, thinking, there is a good chance that a crazy person would live in this room. i love crazy people, but not sure if the judges do.
Those curtains, by the way, took me forever to sew because they are so long and wide so just measuring them and cutting accurately was a huge time suck – it was like 20 yards of fabric and doing this in a teeny space where everyone else is trying to work and paint is a big ole pain in the arse. They were white hankerchief linen, i didn’t want a pattern, i didn’t want any distraction, just natural organic fabric that would fall naturally, let the light through and look romantic. I wish you could see the fringe better, it definitely gave it that hippie vibe which i love.
That’s it for now. gotta run.
To answer a couple questions:
No we can’t hear what the judges are saying up there. but yes, it is very uncomfortable.
i’ll talk about the boys tomorrow.