who is, you'll love Jennifer Traig's Well Enough Alone.
She's a hypochondriac, too. When you worry about
your health, it's fun to read about someone who shares your
affliction.
I was talking to my best friend Eve yesterday. She's an interior
designer. She was warning me about Big
Decorating Mistakes. (Her exact words were, "If you feel yourself going towards any
of these things, STOP!")
So remove these things from your house at
once:
-Linoleum
-Fish decor in your bathroom (I have this)
-The color aqua
-Dried flowers
Then do this:
•Update your lamps. Get rid of old lamps or change
the lampshades. Put a lamp in your laundry room, and a small lamp
on your kitchen counter. If you've got a lamp that looks dowdy,
add a riser--a little screw-on piece--
beneath the finial at the top of the lamp. It will 'raise the hemline' of your lampshade
just a tiny bit--and that can make all the difference.
•Simple bedding and fewer pillows.
•Paint your front door hot pink. Add a door knocker. "It's like
your house took a shower."
• Replace your dog's ratty bed with a new one that matches your
decor. (Eve buys her dog beds at COSTCO; I've seen cute ones at Target and TJMaxx.)
• Buy fun colorful dishes--a few solids, a few prints.
• Always use bone china teacups--"so it feels like
tea at The Plaza."
• Split up your dining-room set: Put the formal chairs in the
kitchen; buy wicker chairs for the dining room. Or mingle fun
chairs around the table, with two upholstered armless chairs for the host and hostess. "No matchy-matchy,"
warns Eve. (She's so bossy.)
• Paint your hutch or breakfront white and use it as a guest room wall
unit. Or wallpaper the inside and use it in your bedroom.
• Buy a funky chair for your living room, to shake things up.
• Add something black to every room as an exclamation point.
Eve has bare wooden stairs, and painted the banisters,
balusters, and railings black. "Make it bold and make it a focal point."
• Toss dead plants that drop their leaves; they're a downer. Buy a quality silk tree 6-feet high from NSI or some other good company.
• Eve says red living rooms and jewel-tone rooms are OUT!
Instead, "use soft soothing pale colors."
(Eve decorated her bedroom in black patent leather when she was a teenager.)
Eve's lipstick: Anything from NARS.
I just bought Edgar Sawtelle for my mom for her birthday;
I hope it's as good as everyone says.
My lipstick today is "Glaze"
by Club Monaco--not even made anymore. Could be the Monica
Lewinsky lipstick, I'm not sure. Vote Obama and let's head
for a new future! Miss Thompson signing off.
