I just finished reading a nice article in the style section of the major newspaper in my area.

“Style???? You have got to be kidding. I’ll be the judge of that!”…is all that came to mind.

A published home and all I could see was…oh wait….”soooo chic”…”So now”…brown wood shelves, geometric fabrics with a 60’s flair and a bunch of white accessories stacked so stylishly in little neat piles, on the shelves. And the inevitable sunburst mirror and Aged Silver Sputnik chandelier. Of course, the typical book titles were evident and so discreetly aimed outward….Chanel Purses Through the Years….The Art of Napkin Folding as told in Vogue, 1920 to the Present…White Ceramic Accessories and How They Drove Me to Insanity”

The metro-mall, bought-it-all-on-Tuesday mediocrity of design has got to stop!

What happened to creative re-use of your mother’s weirdo Dunbar sideboard? Where is the repainting and re-knobbing of those strange 1940’s end tables?

The art of reworking, repainting and remounting an odd 1960’s table lamp has all but disappeared.

We have become the subjects in the Emperors new clothes….”ummmm…they say it’s chic and individual…so….I guess…it’s chic and individual and I guess I LOVE IT!!!”

Please, please, please…. re-use that old mirror!

If it’s gold…well, hell…repaint it bright, high-gloss yellow…or better yet, that soft, almost edible chiffon yellow.

(My “it” color prediction for winter…”Winter Yellow”…against soft, low luster black walls…. POW!!!)

…Anyway…I digress…imagine that old carved, gold framed mirror, painted a soft creamy yellow and edged in Black…. Eyeliner folks…. that’s eyeliner!

Oh, and where did the title for this entry come from…it has, from time to time, been my answer to the question (and my book title) “Mark, what would you do with this room?”

It came to mind when I was reading the article in the local city paper on the brown wood shelves, geometric fabrics and accessories that anyone in America can buy and are about as individual as a paperclip.