Confession

I spent the past week painting the guest room navy. "Peaceful Night," actually, which seemed very fitting for a bedroom. It took four coats. FOUR. One coat of tinted primer and three coats of paint, and by the fourth pass on the fourth wall, I found myself cursing Behr and feeling a little persecuted for forsaking my main man Benjamin Moore.

But it's done. As we were moving the furniture back in, I made a confession to my husband. He was helping me hang this mirror, seen here "before,"



and I said: "You know, this mirror is the real reason I wanted to paint this room navy." (bleached wood on khaki wall = sad beige world. As if it needed explanation).

There was a slightly stunned silence. I had, after all, just painted for three days, culminating in a 2-coat marathon that ended at 1 am.

And then he asked, "How much did this mirror cost?"

And I told him. It was on clearance at Home Goods and cost $29. Except I had a gift card, so I actually didn't pay real money for it.

"And how much did the paint cost?" He asked.

"Well," I said. "Seventy-five dollars. But that's not the point."

And then he looked at me like I had finally, truly, gone insane.

Of course, this is not a simple equation, and in the end I didn't paint an entire room to make a "free" mirror work; it's more that the mirror inspired the next step in the room. We all know that this decorating madness is like dominoes. So I wonder: what was your craziest reason for a major decorating endeavor? Do tell. Please.

And speaking of dominoes, when I finished the room, my four year old walked in and asked, "Mommy, why didn't you paint the ceiling?"

Indeed.

The point of no return

Correction: Rust!

Just saw this post on the lonnyblog. Turns out, it was their editor who made the Nate Berkus show prediction about orange only, really, it was rust. Check out her other predictions here.

But since orange got some lovin, I will add two cents worth:

Amy, here's a look at the burnt orange shade I mentioned, circa Brooklyn 2007.


And Renee, I have always wanted an orange couch, preferably a corduroy chesterfield like the pair that designer Muriel Brandolini once had in her Manhattan study.

[via New York Living]

But then I went and bought an orange rug and, well, the dream of the orange couch was shelved. I'll live vicariously through you. Enjoy it!