VOTE for F.D.R. and eat Smarties!

Ooops- wrong election, but then who’s paying attention to the nonstop, yakkity-yak-yak political adds these days?

NOT ME!

My house is all about enjoying the King Daddy of visual holidays.  For color, creativity, and candy Halloween covers the gambit. I love it!                                                                       Dianne Ross photo

Like millions of you, I enjoy tuning my kitchen into a mini haunted house gallery for the month of October. There is a wonderful, green faced witch posing as a cookie jar on the counter. Another long, slinky, one who  holds a bouquet of fresh flowers, strikes a pose next to the sink. I like plastic bugs and spiders, too. They add nothing in the way of color, of course, except black – and every room benefits by a touch of black, if not by creepy-crawly things. They just add some goofiness.

The photo is of a pumpkin shaped candy dish with a riot of brightly colored, juxtaposed Halloween goodies.  Can you read the headline about F.D.R.? Some more fun.

 But, if Halloween isn’t your bag ( sometimes, you have to admit I am funny ), you can still bring out the rich tapestry of autumn colors in your home by placing a pumpkin or two on your kitchen table. It’s a superbly simple statement but it does bring a blast of orange color into the room. It announces a new season of harvest is with us again. It is possible, nevertheless, that it may bring on an uncontrollable urge to eat shrunken candy bars, Sponge Bob Squarepants gummy Krabby Patties, Smarties, or cogitate over the news that you didn’t even know F.D.R. was running again.

As my 2 year old grandson says, “There’s happy punkins everywhere!” 

 Eat lots of candy. Give away even more candy. Have fun this weekend!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

 

Dianne Ross

Interior Designer/Phelan’s Interiors

363-9634

AUTUMN WARMS UP WITH HOT METALLICS

WANT TO ADD SOME SHINE, SHIMMER AND SOPHISTICATED SHEEN without breaking the bank? (no pun intended, Mr. Bernake) Do it with pillows!

Ultra modern throw pillows are showing up studded with inlaid crystals, gemstones and sequins. Faux crocodile patterns are also showing up in crazy shades of copper – well, not that copper is a crazy color, but have you ever seen a copper crocodile? How about a platinum one?  okay – how about an aqua crocodile?!

Some of these pillows are hand painted with great care, highlighting a leaf or a pear or a simple cirlce with metallic outlining. The pillows become individual works of art in your room, but if all this talk sounds a little too fancy-shmanz for you, relax and grin a bit. Shimmer and glimmer can be done for no other reason than pure fun. Just get with it and Go Glow!

Andy Warhol knew how to add sparkle to pillows, as well as faces.

Sharkey Charming photo at Andy Warhol museum.

 

 Go on a leaf drive this weekend and marvel at the millions shades of copper, gold and bronze. If that’s not possible then throw a pillow on your sofa, close your eyes and visualize Autumn warming you up with her hot metallics.

 

Dianne Ross

Interior designer / Phelan’s Interiors

363-1332

towel bars suck

Philosophically, I am opposed to towel bars. Really.

 

 From a pragmatist’s point of view, they make no sense either. The towels hang beautifully tied with fancy tassels for “company”,  which is code for “NEVER TOUCH THESE TOWELS.”  Artistically is the only way to approach a towel bar because they serve no real function. And artistically they get an F.

 However, when you try to actually  use  a towel bar, the towels get all scrunched up and shoved together. Ugly. Dysfunctional. Confusing. . . are the towels fresh or dirty? Who can tell? In the design world, towel bars are like being sucker punched. It’s only my opinion.

 I’d like to meet Mr Towel Bar (the inventor) because I have a hunch that he’s a honey lipped, sweet talker. And what makes me even crazier is that no one has had the nerve to call him out. Nope. We just go on buying more towel bars. Like sheep to the slaughter. Towel bars, towel bars, towel bars. 

May I make a suggestion?

Buy a handsome, iron coat rack or hat rack or whatever you’d like to call it.

 Doesn’t this LOOK better? After a shower you can throw a towel from across the room and it will land in an eye pleasing position! Doesn’t this FUNCTION better? Everybody, even the guests can use it!  Doesn’t this, in fact, embrace all philosophic truths? That all beauty is good, and all goodness is true, and all towel bars suck?

 

Dianne Ross

 Interior Designer/Phelan’s Interiors

363-9634

IF the Government “rescues” Interior Design. (or “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose. . .”)

 This photo depicts how a room might look if the government

 decided to bail out and restructure the interior design world!

 Okay, so it’s a cheap shot.

 After all the hand wringing , vote counting, and one-up-manship that our government has put us through this week, I decided we could all use something silly to giggle about!

Unwind. Throw on some fat, warm socks.  Watch a couple of I Love Lucy episodes or Entourage, or whatever tickles your funny-bone.

 

As Janis Joplin (see headline) so beautifully belted out,

 ”Lordy, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy, Lord

                                Hey, hey, hey – Bobby McGee!”

 

 

 

Dianne Ross

Interior Designer / Phelan’s Interiors

363-9634