Pretty Is as Pretty Does

Giant cluttered mess.

Giant cluttered mess MINUS A BOOKSHELF.

Our next FFP challenge had better be something that doesn’t require extensive hand- or footwork. At four weeks my Stelara has yet to show positive results, and all of this CLEANING and HANDLING of things is causing trouble. By the way, Stelara isn’t usually considered a failure until after months and months of not working. So. The side effects I’ve experienced so far: excessive fatigue the first 2-3 weeks and slamming headaches. These ought to clear up as time goes on, and I get my second injection Wednesday morning.

On the de-cluttering front there is much win to be had. Although I don’t have quite the exciting “after” pics that my friends have, take a look at that bookshelf on the right in the after photo. OH WAIT. There isn’t a bookshelf on the right any more. And there’s even a leftover empty shelf in the cabinets. The bookshelf and a dresser head for the thrift store tomorrow. We have carted a metric butt-tonne of detritus from this room so far. And the room is still a mess! I’ve only begun the fight for living space.

I'm keeping the ugly photos really small.

There are tiny lights in there, too. And some dust.

And remember the threats I made regarding my mantel? And a possible tableau? Allow me to post a more dramatic after pic (see how I like to do this on the small scale? Maybe I should write only short stories, compose only limericks, and paint only miniatures.) But first! I have to show you my underpants home in an unflattering light. I never got around to dismantling (HA! dis-MANTELING!) the Christmas decor in its entirety. Stop judging me. Here are not one, but TWO images of shame.

So I decided to make a color theme of rose and gold, and a visual theme of…um…some eggs. With some flowers and metal.

Simply divine! Amazing what the right lighting will do for a girl's complexion.

In the interest of FFP honesty, this is a bunch of stuff I had in my house and some flowers from around the side yard. Imma tell you all about it like this was a crib rag.

The vase of fragrant solanum jasminoides is a charmingly corroded silver-plate ice bucket that came free when my husband and I registered at Macy’s for our wedding more than twenty-five years ago. The metallic embroidered and painted runner was a gift from my sister-in-law about ten years ago, probably bought at The Gardener or maybe Summer House when they still had a store on 4th Street.

The mantel clock was my husband’s grandfather’s, and was used in the family haberdashery in Madera, CA, in the early part of the last century. The rosy painted egg was given to us by my mother-in-law, and the metal monkey holding it is the remaining candleholder of a pair. The ostrich egg we bought for ten dollars in Madera around fifteen years ago at a restaurant called The Fruit Basket. It sits on a silver candlestick I bought at the White Elephant Sale a few years ago for around twelve dollars. The brass monkey thing whose purpose is a mystery was a gift from I-don’t recall. The brass candelabra also came from the White Elephant Sale for twenty smackers. The etching of the Tuileries I got for $3 in an antique store maybe fifteen years ago.

I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Demille.

Yanno, all of this styling is making me want to clean out my bedroom and make it charming. That clutter rating pic that Lydia posted yesterday? My house is like 1-2, but my bedroom, by following my very own cleaning tip number #6, is about a 6 on the you-have-way-too-much-crap-in-there scale. We have a lovely handwoven wool rug, Afghani maybe, I don’t know, that someone gave to us, some decent furniture that dates back to the 1920s, and my 19th century mahogany vanity. Lots to work with. I’d like a ciel-de-lit (meaning “heaven of the bed” sorta, a molding “crown” over the bed from which to suspend drapery) some window stuff and like that. IT COULD BE COOL! Just wait ’til my hands are healed and normalish.

You have any big design plans?