Bright Bazaar’s Dream Décor: Styling a Cool, Creative, and Comfortable Home, Wherever You Live, by Will Taylor. Jacqui Small LLP, 2016

Taylor wants your home to make you smile, to be personalized to suit your taste, which is as it should be. I always find it bizarre when someone has a decorator bring in every detail of a room from stores. He has a definite touch, and even though he presents eleven different styles, they all have similarities. He really loves white and blue. It’s a common element in several styles. He’s big on texture, especially on walls. There are lots of industrial touches, especially in the lighting fixtures. He’s big on furniture from the mid-century. All the houses are perfectly neat and tidy- despite the emphasis on displaying things that you love, the homes are all rather spare.

The first part of the book presents Taylor’s seven parts of design: color, pattern, texture, furniture, lighting, storage, and display. Photos of the eleven houses illustrate each element. Then we are presented with the eleven styles and homes.

The book is extremely well put together. It’s physically a joy to hold, with the heavy covers and thick paper. The photography is wonderful. It’s laid out well. It’s a great book- but most of it isn’t to my taste. I like more color on my walls and more ‘stuff’. His displays are, as he says, ‘curated’ (is anyone else really tired of that term?!) and mine aren’t so much. To me, the book is a great starting point- I’d just pile more color and stuff into the houses.

  

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Halloween decor

Since I've been too busy and lazy to create, other than writing, I decided to take pictures of my holiday lights.

Cheesy skull lights draped over vintage mirror. I mean really cheesy!

Plastic skull and bones candelabra with flicker bulbs in it. I love this thing!

Purple paper lanterns with bats on them! Perfect in the bedroom, which is purple with a dark blue ceiling.

 Little brass lantern shades with stars punched through them. Got them at a yard sale; how could anyone toss these out?!? Hung them over the Nepalese banner. These will definitely be year round decor.

Things Accomplished

Spent the day getting 'stuff' put up on the walls, after letting it sit about for some time. It's migrated into my life over the course of at least a year. Time to make floor space!

This is a crappy resin thing. I found it at a yard sale; it had a wood grain finish that was truly dreadful. I painted it low sheen off white, antiqued it, filled a hole with JB Weld, and here we go. I do need to move the flower thing down.

A fabric banner, probably from Nepal, that Colin got rid of. Natasha has already been up there, playing with it. *sigh*

Added to the collection of plates over the wood stove, which ranges from Middle Eastern brass, Japanese (fake) Imari, resin knockoffs, and the Simpsons.

Two Brazilian embroidery pieces by my former SIL, which dont' fit the scheme of the room, but it's the only room with blue in it. And I'm not sure what that wood thing is- it's lovely, carved and inlaid and pierced, but it's useless as a plate or bowl. So it's a wall ornament that makes pretty shadows.

And there are still more things to put up. Maybe tomorrow, if I get the giant pile of laundry put away. It was finally dry out, and I could hang laundry to dry.