sophiahelix's Profile

Not enough of my friends in one place. At most I could rustle up maybe three couples in the current town, none of whom know each other and none of whom would get along with each other anyhow. Also, none of my friends are at all given to formal entertaining, and the fact that I do any decorating at all is always looked at askance, like I'm trying too hard. My coworker gives constant dinner parties (I've been to one; most of them are church-based), and I sometimes feel a little jealous, but everyone I know is still living like they're in college, despite pushing 30.

I live in Roseville myself, so of course I was excited to see this house tour -- especially since I grew up in Sonoma County in houses built in the 1920s or earlier, and have been grinding my teeth over needing to buy a tract home if I stay here (somehow it's not so bad to be in a modern apartment you're just renting). I love the weathered wood and soft colors, which work so well with the landscape around here in the summer, which is all the yellow grassy hills and oak trees. I especially love that oak photo over the bed -- maybe I should check out Ellie's site for a print! Also, it's making me want to spray paint my black metal four-poster white more than ever.

Lovely! I especially adore the touches of strong color or pattern, like that red dresser or the great large-print houndstooth cushion.

And I saved all the pictures of the bedroom to my "inspiration" file because I love what you did with the layout for a small room -- I've been struggling to fit bookcases and a sewing table in with the bed and dressers. Looks like what I really need to do is lose at least one nightstand.

Lovely neutrals here! I would happily crawl into that shipshape guest bedroom with those great striped pillows and never come out. And those white ceramics against the brown wall are really stunning.

I actually love this. I hate the stupid cow hides and fake zebra hides you see everywhere, but admit that the shape is an interesting contrast to the usual rectangle. Pairing that shape with a rug which happens to resemble my own red, black and tan living room rug would be perfect. However, I agree that chopping up an actual vintage Persian carpet is kinda sad -- wish I could send my own rug to the artist to have one made.

Cost-Plus sells mats which are almost identical in color and style to the Pottery Barn ones for around $14, if anyone's looking at those. I loved the orange one I used to have.

This is the first place I've ever seen where a zebra skin rug fits perfectly. More importantly, I suspect theirs is real.

Also, any place where a resident can be out shopping and reasonably think, "Hm, I need to pick up a few more pith helmets" is OK by me.

I also have to shower love on those vintage toys -- the FP parking garage was my favorite as a kid. And I do love how the blue and turquoise rooms anchor the whole place into a peaceful whole. Definitely no rental feel. Also love the mismatched bar chairs.

Does anyone else have throw pillow battles with their co-habitants? I know exactly how I like the four on our couch to be arranged (a large and a small in each corner), and someone who shall go unnamed frequently pulls them all off and puts them back haphazardly. Also, I think pillows look nice in the middle, but are impractical -- I smoosh mine in the corner so I have something to relax against.

Yeah, Patrick, I know there's a whole other set of issues in light of gay men being stereotyped as "girly" decorators, so pointing out that a place is still masculine can make sense... it's just that of my friends recently noticed that on AT (and most design blogs), after the attractive qualities of a space are described, the sentence will sometimes end with "yet still masculine!" in a way that makes it sound like "phew, not too many girl-cooties all over this one." That ends up giving the impression that a space being "masculine" is the highest compliment, as if good design is somehow inherently female and that's a bad thing.

Not that writers/commenters actually believe that; it's just a quirk of language that can leave a bad taste in my mouth. And again, I think it's too bad that we always naturally link up gender with certain styles.