decorno is now blogging here and it's cool.
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 7:50PM not really. but she is leaving awesome comments like this:
"Dear Angie,
It's too cutesy, indeed. In fact, it looks like "blogger decor" to me. Totally well-executed and more mature, but it has all the signs: pops of pinky/blue color, the usual suspects for furniture style, cute art, girly to the max... cute. Cute, cute, cute. I think that room will date fast because everyone is crushing so hard on that look. That living room looks like a Polyvore mashup of every blogger's wet dream. When your reaction is that strong - run. It might mean you've been seduced by trends.
xoxo
Decorno"
she is talking about this room, and i totally agree with her...
when i saw this room i hated it. so many trends involved in one room...
it looks like a hotel room had sex with domino and lonny came in and raped it while it was down all while stephen drucker was watching...stroking his phase shifter behind that coral motif pillow.
this however made my knees weak...
so...
what?
cornsy 
Reader Comments (29)
See, that second room makes me want to puke (orange and gray? the ubiquitous lucite chair? cheap binding tape on burlap to cover a table? sisal rug? wtf is that lamp base made of? yuck!) but the first one gave me a little dirty thrill - ok, so I'm pedestrian. Although I did have the presence of mind to stop and ask the "experts" whether I was going down the wrong path of cutesy. But thanks for humiliating me nonetheless. No, seriously, I'm thrilled that I was enough of a provocative, tasteless shithead to help bring Decorno (I'm still suspicious about whether that's her real name) out into the light. I think she will relish her role as senior counsel to the taste deprived. But she can't have my dog. He pees all over everything but I love the little bastard.
no angie, i agree, although orange and gray is a gorgeous color combo- no matter where you put it. if steven gambrel did it you'd all be fucking humping his face. but really, you can't hate a color combo...on second thought you can. gross ass turquoise and black mostly (i said mostly) makes me want to knock over someone in a wheelchair. but yes, lucite chair, sisal rug, it's all there...and i SHOULD hate it, but i don't. which is my point kind of...
I'm still trying to hold down my lunch when I see yellow and grey. I realize this exposes many shortcomings. But take heart in the fact that I don't do white and baby blue either (I don't do white at all except kitchen and bathroom cabinets painted white, always - but always with green). Orange and grey is a bridge too far. I don't think I could hump anyone's face over it.
I've totally missed something somewhere.
While I'm not a fan of that room (it's too un-matchy on purpose and impersonal), the only problem I have with how Decorno tears down the look of the room is that it makes you feel bad if you happen to like the room. I think it's totally fine to point out why you don't like something, or why a look is boring or won't age well - but I think that design in all forms should exist to be useful and beautiful to the person who owns it or uses it. It should make the person happy. And if pink unicorns and a blue shag rug over sisal with a ghost chair and imperial trellis wallpaper makes somebody happy - more power to them.
It makes it all so much more interesting.
Not that I'm against the snarky, I loved your imagery of Stephen Drucker in the corner with that coral pillow! ;-)
My feelings certainly were not hurt. My initial hunch was that the room had a lot of things that were, individually, appealing, but that all together it was OTT. Which, it sounds like, has been confirmed via comments like "too many trends." So I guess my burning question is - is there anything, standing alone, to take from this room? What could be eliminated to make it less fru-fru wet dream and destined for an early dating? Another space that I think has a lot of the same appeal and many of the same OTT flaws is this http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/small-cool-2010/small-cool-2010-nicoles-perfect-pieces-little-division-26-114678 - but I dislike the animal hide on the floor, the blue and white china pieces, the skirted console table, the cutesy painted chairs with the harps on them (what is that style? duncan fife?). Is there any common thread between them that is worthy? Maybe I am just attracted to the velvet (particularly the tufted) sofa and metal and glass coffee table.
Rachel - I am sorry about that. I should have admitted this... when I saw this issue of House Beautiful on the newsstand, I bought it ON THE SPOT (even though I have a subscription and I could have just waited to get a copy). It's TOTALLY appealing. You SHOULD like it. But that feeling of "love it!" is like loving cake. Of course you fucking love cake. Sugar, chocolate, plastic circus animals on top... but then you eat the whole thing while you're wearing a Snuggie and you wash it down with YooHoo and you feel gross. This is the curse of crushing hard on trends (or many trends at once). So, I don't mean to shame people for loving the look. It's really a fun room to look at. I am just saying, before you order it all from C&B, Etsy, etc, etc, maybe just serve yourself a slice of the cake, not the whole thing. (This cake analogy is cracking me up because I never pass up cake... my ass will tell you this.)
I had a writing teacher who told me to re-read an essay, and pick out the thing I loved the most. I did. I said, "Now what?" And he said, "Throw it out." I think he meant... until you're a pro, be suspicious of how clever you are. I think this is a good lesson for decorating, too.
"I'm still suspicious about whether that's her real name" - made me laugh out loud.
Too much of anything is usually bad. Including trends - you're right!
And your cake analogy cracked me up! If you were to check out my ass, you'd know that I also am a big fan of cake (and cookies, and candy..I have the biggest sweet tooth).
Oh, and that table in the room is awesome! Totally classic.
I'm just enjoying the comments!! Decorno darn fine advice. Nothing is truly satisfying if you have it over & over again; like flogging a dead horse. That's why one night stands are so tempting, no? Love the room, but would most certainly get to sickly sweet after the first month or two. Such is life x
The basis of the room is bland to me, and then someone has overlaid little sugary shitbits. The furniture is nice but really, who places an ottoman next to a coffee table, who does that?
MFAMB, could you share with us the original post to which Decorno responded - I can't find it?
The biggest problem with the room is: Everything in it is new (or new-ish). It's too fresh-from-the-store. It needs a few older pieces, a little gentle wear and tear. Maybe a little more wood. A nice worn rug, like a silk Tibetan number with a quiet, subtle pattern, would help add maturity.
I can't get over the cake analogy - too true! Angie: my first response to this room is also LOVE LOVE LOVE, but then, 5 minutes later I think about living with it every single effing day and it makes me kind of nauseous. That's how I eliminated the gracy-esque wallpaper from my future bedroom plan, which I sadly still can't get over. Sometimes it hurts to be sensible.
jane: http://www.myfavoriteandmybest.com/mfamb-home/2010/4/26/goodbye-decorno-a-tribute.html in the comments section.
everyone: it's not the couch that bothers me or even the cutesy pillows, it's the rug, walls and curtainspelmetpuke..
i agree with anon...i feel like this room needs something a little beat up...
and i don't actually think it's heinous either...there are just too many trends here...i would even be somewhat satisfied to replace that garden stool with something wooden. and the rug with something kilim-ish.
oh yeah, and i wanted to say that i went and looked at the small cool apartment therapy place and LOVED it...but i think it's bc it is very similar to my own place.
I think maybe what makes Nicole's (AT) a little more palatable is the presence of natural wood (floors in the living area, armoire in the bedroom). That always tones down the sugar factor.
haha! All I can think about now is Stephen Drucker jacking it and that giant unicorn above the couch. Unicorn... jizz...unicorn... jizz. Maybe a little pearl necklace is exaclty what this room needs to take it down a notch from prim and proper saccharine cuteness. It's real pretty but that's exactly why I want to get it dirty.
The pillows and the art are bad. Dont like. i LOVE that couch. Tufted and skirted. I like.
If she just changed those things to something a little less trendy, I think the room would age a little better.
But then again, I have :Ikat, lucite, trellis and BLACK in my house. And i love it.
I like the tufted couch!!!! CHEERS! Michele
The art is the best part, in my opinion. It's the only thing that keeps the room from being "one note".
Subtract tripod lamp and garden stool and all but 2 of the pillows.
From your brain, subtract the Keep Calm and Carry On poster and mini antlers and metal bar cart with pimm's and chaing mai dragon....
Add something old and worn and hideously gorgeous to cover the floor - per Anon's "too much new" comment.
Add a dog that sheds a ton and someone's garanimals-clad 2 year old with his shitload of licensed characters and grimy hands to inject some life.
Peace.
I also feel compelled to add that her bedroom was the best part of this whole feature. I loved it. And also let's remember that this chick is like 30 (which is 3 years younger than me) and she's got a real live successful business while I'm still slumming it on Craigslist. So good for her.
"I think that room will date fast because everyone is crushing so hard on that look."
Everyone who has a white kitchen with granite or marble countertops and retro chrome hardware should quake. Or get ready to repaint your cabinets.
1 unicorn painting please. thanks.