You sound like me. Our home was filled will collected antiques, beautiful orientals and art work from around the world. Recently I sold all of it at auction and started all over with a more urban organic look. I was always a maximilist and now I've pared way way back using natural linens and softer colors. I feel much more calm and less distracted now. I was always looking at the items around me and now I just relax and enjoy the lack of items in the rooms. I think its just a growth process, one I'm with which I'm very happy.

yep, me too. It was "Fried Green Tomatoes", though. I only point it out because I idenitified with characters in both movies. :)

I think I needed outward stimulation in my early years to feel certain things. Now at 38, I feel and have experienced so much more than I was prepared to, I've felt a need to make my environment is calmer.

Age isn't the issue, only what you have experienced and how it has impacted what you want to feel in your surroundings.

I used to crave color around me, now I look for some semblence of serenity.

You do sound like me...I still enjoy my collections, but don't want them to "own" the space. I agree that it is a growth process. I am changing some things right now, and I can't say I miss what I've changed. I'll bet that your space is lovely!

And, did I say "Steel Magnolias" above? LOL...that was a perimenopausal moment in itself. I was thinking "Fried Green Tomatoes" while I was typing that! :)

Oh, great! So, you ladies are telling me that after all this time and effort finding my style and building my collections...I am going to want to purge it all???

Oh, no! ;)

Actually, this morning I am clearing out my main living area and kitchen because the painters are coming. I realized, while doing this, that the more I put away, the more I am liking my home.

Interesting thread!

I'm 51 and find that I have left some of my Imelda Marcos syndrome behind. I no longer worry as much about what others think (though I still do some).
Functionality tends to attract me now more than form.

I remember a friend of mine saying she was ready to get rid of all her nick nacks and items she had collected over the years. That was 20 years ago and I thought she was crazy, since I was attending auctions and antique shows every week, bringing home loads of stuff.
Now I feel exactly the same way. I don't feel any special attachment to most of the items I collected and am ready to take a more minimalist approach to decorating.

I've noticed the new trend is getting away from formal and into a more relaxed surrounding and more functionality.

I'm kind of bucking that trend, though. After a lifetime of raising kids and then trying to combine furnishings with DH #2, (think double hump-backed modern sofa, etc) we're having some fun finally having a more formal living and dining room. The back of our new house is very relaxed but I just bought my first new DR table.

DH used to want only white walls and after having him watch HGTV and showing him color, he now says he couldn't live without it. He does get tired of the minutia of decorating though, and that's why it's so great to have this forum. First thing in the morning, I'm always checking in to see what everyone is doing with their spaces.

When I was younger, I was all about dark colors: navy, forest green, etc. Now I'm all about light colors: on the walls, on the furniture. And since our house is very small, I really need, as southernheart said --although I believe it was Shirley MacLaine :)--"light and air."

My Dad told me when I was younger. "You spend the first half of your life getting things and the second half getting rid of them" We're at that point. lol

i'm 45, but not ready to let go of my favorite things. i probably decorate more to my own tastes than to current fAShion (as i did wen i was younger and had less confidence). form is key, function is a priority, but i won't choose function over form in my home (ie no lazy boys in this house).

when i was young...i copied decorating mags (county living was a fav) so lots of lace and crap (e gads i hate that now) but now, while i may find some inspiration in house porn, i'm not attemping to acheive the exact look. confidence, age and financial security are great boons for anyone's decorating style lol

i still do hAve a couple of treasured pieces though from those days. some things i just can't let go of (for instance A cobblers sample from the mid 1600's and a few of my most special antique canning jaRS and th yellow ware...that will never go!)

I'm new here and I hesitate to jump in since it sounds like you are all good online friends!

But here's a thought...as we get older we shed our thngs and live more in our minds than when we are younger. My mom is now 76 and she is paring down to nearly nothing in recent months. Has cleared out her store rooms completely of old stuff, piles of books, furniture. Kinda shocks me since we used to prowl antique shows every weekend, and I learned my love of collecting from her. She is loving a more Asian aesthetic nowadays...cleaner lines, one big plant instead of 5. Anyway, thanks for the thoughts.

And life does change. I am 66, DH 77, and we have just been "rethinking" about our plans to build again. We have spent time talking about "just what do we need in a house?"...and how much is just "stuff"!! Right now, I am leaning towards buying something older, doing some remodel work instead of that 2980 sq plan that he drew up for us. Oh yes, it has all the "bells and whistles" that I could ever wish for, but what I am asking myself now, "Do I NEED it?" Do we really want to invest all of that money in a "house" or would we rather buy something small for a "base" and spend that extra money to buy a small motor home and do some traveling and go south to a warmer climate in these cold Kansas winters that we have both started to really hate~~
Keep these thoughts coming....and especially if anyone else has shared these feelings. Good post~~

Oh, yes. I'm in my 30s, but in my 20s I felt obligated to keep every neat knick-knack that I was given as a gift (usually from travels abroad). . .not only did I have too much, but very little was what I picked. I passed almost all of that on to new homes. I also built my style around what my mom did or what I already owned.

Now, I have kept my general love of simplicity (with the exception of my children's books), but now try to buy only what I LOVE. I'm slowly moving away from the contemporary (which was just easier to buy) to antique, which I never have tired of-- I have admired antiques since I was about 9 or 10. I don't like formal "don't touch me" antiques, but rather those built with a family in mind . . .beautiful and yet very practical. I toured a restored 1890s farmhouse recently, and it was very inspiring. There was very little clutter, but the beauty was in the details, and it was so welcoming. That is exactly what I want the feeling of my home to have. It will be interesting to see how I change over the years.

I always did things backward! Neutrals, not really decorating in my early years. Now I am painting colors, decorating and trying to catch up.

However, I have found myself in a purge frenzie. My purge is all the sentimental things like greeting cards recieved, kids childhood t-shirts, outgrown outdated clothing, pretty much anything that clutters drawers and closets.

Honestly, I have a 22X14 walkin attic FULL of sentimental keepsakes that have no value and may not even be remembered by my poor kids who would have to clean it out when we are gone. That is my biggest purge project.

But in my 50s - while I am not going to start collecting, I want color and I want some style.

I'm 51 now. Yayagal's dad hit it right on the head. I see my daughter-in-law "nesting:" collecting little knick-knacks and mementos for their home, shopping, creating, decorating, collecting.

Me? I'm purging. The more I can give, sell, recycle the better. I hardly go into stores anymore. I really don't need a thing.

My latest room decorated was my 12 x 14' kitchen--done in ivory, buttercream and white with cobalt blue accents. Light and airy--what I crave in my years of dimming eyesight, diminishing skin elasticity and evaporating haircolor.

Maybe decorating should also have been addressed in Gail Sheehy's book, Passages.

Mine's sort of the opposite--now in my 50s, I like more color, more mixing, more modern designs mixed with the old stuff I laboriously found. I might even succumb to the lure of the catalogue room.

Welcome FlyingCarrot, Once you've been reading the threads for a while you get the feeling you know each other well. It's a great forum and I've enjoyed it so much. Nice to have you join us.

Flyingcarrot, yayagal beat me to it-welcome! Please don't hesitate to jump in. Everyone you are perceiving as part of an online family was a newcomer once. It's good to have fresh viewpoints, so don't be shy about sharing yours.

Oh, and I did want to say add me to the list of people paring as I age. I'm happily working on my living room now and finding that what makes me happy is more-or is that less-of what I've always liked: neutral, soothing, quiet and spare. I too am slowly getting rid of patterns and clutter and the more clean lined and lowkey my house gets, the happier I am.

Interesting how our tastes change and evolve.

Ann

We started out with very modern furniture and I kept accessories to a minimum, as we lived in a 3-bedroom, 2 bath apartment in New York with three children and I saw how unbearable life could be if it was really cluttered.

As we've moved into various houses of different styles, I've collected probably more than I should... we have a closet that I call the "decorative accessories graveyard." If my daughter doesn't want it when she gets her first apartment it will be tossed or given to charity.

We're now in our "forever" house, which is big and is on a fairly big property, and our style is very traditional. We've had the good fortune to inherit some nice pieces of furniture, and I love our home, but my secret wish is to turn the key in the front door lock, drive away and live in a tiny 2-bedroom cottage I pass almost every day.... tiny, perfect yard, historic restored house, quiet street with neighbors...

I am drawn more and more to happy colors than traditional decorating palettes. I have always loved clear, vivid pinks, purples, greens, yellows, blues, magentas together but rarely see them used except in children's rooms. So basically I am regressing to an 8 year old girl who loves purple. I'm usually annoyed when someone says "look at my purple room/house/chair!" and it's some gray mud brown.
Someday I will decorate the way I want and ignore all the taupes in the world.
And I still like traditional decorating though. Hate mod and most contemporary. I want a rock cottage with gables and a periwinkle door and an apple green sofa.

But for years I decorated like a grown up.

Absolutely! as probably everyone goes through these changes, we started our married life 46 yrs. ago in the NE with "early american"- some antiques until we built our first big home, then the living area went with "mediterranean" style furnishings, and downstairs family room went modern,but always darker warmer tones, hubby's midlife crises brought on the move to FL. and slowly got rid of darker colors and went with pastels or lighter cooler colors more popular in the hot south..in Traditional style mostly..

I have noticed several posters 50 and over that like myself are leaning toward the darker colors in thier homes.Two years ago we started doing a little cosmetic decorating, painting new tw etc. We have done a complete 180 in the greatroom fom dark wall paper (bottom of wall)and pastel furniture, to no wall paper, neutral painted walls and dark navy and red furniture. It continues to be that way with our current Dr from all over floral paper, to a graphic black, grey and copper paper only on one wall.

Choice of furniture has always been traditional/transitional, and a little lean on the accessories.I also seem to be throwing out more as heaven knows the younger generation does not want fine china and crystal anymore.

When we go away for the winter the house we rent is almost a quarter of the size of our home, and it seems so much simpler. Like others, I often ask myself do I really need all this stuff. Perhaps it should be like a piece of clothing, for every new piece you buy you get rid of an old one.Rather than spending more on the house I prefer to spend it travelling and having the big house ( which we do)just want to maintain it until the time we decide to downsize.

I'm in my early 50's and an empty nester (DD gets married this coming Friday!)and I find that I want to have less stuff around me these days. Now that I can indulge in activities of my own, as compared to the decades I spent (happily) supporting those of my kids, I don't want to spend my time cleaning and dusting knick knacks, etc.

I'm liking having fewer, but nicer things. Besides my wedding set of dinnerware, which was rarely used, I never owned good china for day-to-day. Now I'm collecting pieces of a set that I would never have chosen in my 20's when I married, and I enjoy eating from those plates and drinking my tea with a cup & saucer even when I have breakfast by myself.

I think every stage of life has its rewards, and that your true self unfolds as you age. It's fun and interesting to see how my daughter is feathering her first nest, but I wouldn't trade places with her. I love where I am right now.

When my mom and dad retired they sold their home, gave away most of their stuff and moved into an RV full-time. Mom still has her cherished knick-knacks, though. Every time they move she carefully packs them away in her two large Rubbermaid storage containers, then brings them back out once they're settled.

As for me, I'm turning 41 this year and I still love tons of color and detail. Maybe that's because I've lived in white-walled rentals most of my adult life. I don't have a lot of "knick-knacks" but that's more due to the fact that I've lost them throughout the years due to a not very stable home life.

"Maybe that's because I've lived in white-walled rentals most of my adult life."

That statement really resonates with me. Having purchased my first home at 35, i feel like i got a very late start on the whole process of caring for and feathering a nest. Prior to that, each apartment move was like a "forced purge," so i'm only really left with the things i cared enough about to keep track of.

Having said that, Good Will ended up with a few items i really wish i had right now. But mostly, i'm happy to live with minimal "clutter" around me.

bumblebeez,

You might enjoy the book, "The Illustrated Cottage" by Nina Williams. In the book, the colors are really the centerpiece of a world artfully created in a cottage in Provence. Lavenders, pinks, greens, & blues abound, & are used in the most creative, idiosyncratic manner I've ever seen. Your post brought it to mind. I checked it out from the library recently. It was such a feast for the eyes! Stinky

My kids must be swimming against the tide--they have lists of what they want from my vast arsenal of china, silver, and so on. I warn them (21 and 16) that they might find that what they like now won't be so desirable by the time they inherit it (at least another 50 years to go, right?) but they insist.

I think I was far more "correct" in my 20s and 30s, but I still have and enjoy things I bought back then.

Thanks Stinky! I'll look for it.

This is interesting. Some of what you all are describing as your current taste compared to what your "old" taste used to be really seems more in line with current trends in magazines, rather than your current age. And your "old" tastes are what used to be popular a decade (or whatever) ago.

I see myself collecting and attracted to some of the same "looks" that others are describing and we're at completely different life stages and ages.

My name is Kathy and I just had to chime in, cause after reading this post, I now know that I'm not alone in wanting to simplify my life by getting rid of 'stuff' that I've so happily collected over the years. As a garage sale and thrift store junkie, in the past I've bought things just because they were a good deal! Now I have a home and a basement full. Funny how the stuff gets so trivial the older we get...

I usually lurk here but wanted to get in on the action. So interesting hearing about everyone's transitions!

I'm 35, but I always thought I was weird because I would go into these beautiful houses full of interesting knick knacks or antiques, and while I admired them I knew if I lived there I would have to remove nearly everything in order to be able to "rest." Same with colors. I love all the deep rich shades people paint their rooms, but when I get home, all I crave is tone-on-tone or low contrast with lots empty spaces to rest my eyes.

The things I decorate with must have a significant story or be very compelling to me on one way or another. As a result, I've been in my house for nearly four years and have about six things on the walls. I get a lot of flack from friends and family about my "spec" house, but it's so calming to me, I can't imagine filling it up full of stuff to make it worthy for a House Beautiful spread.

Over time I plan to try to make it more decorated in it's simplicity, but since I don't know how to do that, I lurk here collecting tidbits. There's some amazing talent on this board!

I visit this forum rarely but always find one or another interesting post. I am 23, married, with 2 children. For the past 10 years I hated clutter and loved simplicity. Partly because I love cleanliness and order and less stuff makes that easier. I find that I enjoy going to people's home and admire them but always think to myself that I could not never live like that (even some things are expensive, antique, etc.) The only change I am aware of in myself so far - I've embraced color. So will I change over the years and embrace stuff? I don't think so - I think being a "minimalist" is part of my personality. I love the freedom of space. I think it's also important for children to have room to breath and roam.

Sometimes current trends point out things that I didn't know about years ago--although I can't think of any right off hand, but designers/innovators can bring something back. (Although avocado green isn't worth reviving.)

I didn't grow up with 50s blonde Heywood Wakefield furniture, but now I sort of like it. Twenty years ago, I might have turned up my nose, probably because it went with aqua Formica and poodle dogs.

When I first moved to California, yard sales were brimming with such great stuff! at such low prices! that I literally could not restrain myself. Now, I'm not quite as keen to jump into the car on Saturday mornings to paw over treasures from the 70s and 80s.

We've lived in 19 different houses so have had a lot of color schemes. In the 70's I chose intense and different colors for my first house. After that it was neutral for resale many times. About 12 years ago in my "dream" home I chose color again but have toned it down in the last few years to more neutral browns and greens but still color. I'm sure when I am planning the next color scheme it will be more color again.

I love looking at white or very pale neutral rooms, just don't think it's me. My closet looks the same - pretty much a rainbow with black and brown as well and very few pastels.

When I retired a few years back I tried to downsize/edit my possessions for a more streamlined look but found I didn't like it - fortunately hadn't thrown everything out. Guess I'm not in the second half of my life yet! LOL

Still love yardsaling and hope to buy a lot of treasures from those who are editting!

I enjoy looking at the objects which have such meaning to me, especially those that were my GM's and DH's GM's. That's what makes my house a home for me. Fortunately I've had the good sense to throw out the 60's - 80's junk which was not a great style period.

My decorating isn't finished yet even though we've been in our new home now 8 months. All of my walls are in shades of beige and white with burgandy carpet or white oak flooring. But I'm still using my g-ma's antique Singer as a desk because I can't find the hacienda type furniture I want for this library/office. I have no drapes yet or much in the way of wall hangings. What we have bought is very nice (to us anyway) like our leather sofas or the 7' hand made Mayan tapestry we got last year. Or kind of fun like my cow rockers or my 6' tall red rooster.

So, we had this block party (Lawnmower races and BBQ) this past weekend for 45 people. Since it was at my home on our portico I was on the busy side. I did have 2 neighbors that hadn't really seen the house yet so in the beginning I gave them a "tour". Later one of the women came up and said she had "shown" my home 4 more times to people we actually had never met before the party (friends or family of neighbors). I don't have a problem with that happening because all the doors were left open into the house and the neighbor who showed them around is a doll that doesn't have a bad bone in her body. Anyway, one of the compliments I received was "your home is perfect in it's simplicity" .... at least I'm taking it as a compliment!

After a "compliment" like that and after reading this thread I might want to rethink how busy I want to make things here......

I'll be 50 next year, and I am all about color. Cobalt blue kitchen, turquoise (bright) bathroom, teal green family room, lavender bedroom. This is my forever home, I've been in it 11 years, and just got around to finishing most of the painting.

I've been doing construction ever since I bought the property, doubled the size of the house, re-did the kitchen and bathrooms last year ... so didn't really paint much til those area's were done.

The other homes I had owned, I knew I wasn't going to be in them for all that long, so I did not paint the colors I love. They were mainly white, with color accents ...

I've also been luck to inherit a lot of antiques, so my style is mixed, eclectic .... modern kitchen with a danish modern kitchen table from the 50's ... antique desk from the 1800's next to a modern navy blue leather couch.

I am a person who does not like clutter, my younger sister is a slob ... she has no space that is free of clutter anywhere in her house, and it's not organized clutter, it's a mess. I get rid of things that have outlived their usefulness or are no longer interesting to me.

I've sold little antiquey things on ebay, and given away things on freecycle.

People always tell me they feel very comfortable in my home, that's the best compliment I could get.

At 58 I've found myself at exactly the same stage that many of you are talking about. Still love to antique and junk shop, but just don't bring nearly as much home as I used to! Also, when I bring things in I try to get things out - right away.

Am sure enjoying our bedroom - cream and white panels on the windows, old furniture all painted white. Quilt is a white one that my mom made for me 10 years ago. It's a cool and quiet looking haven.

Now with my kitchen...I still haven't gotten there yet! LOL

What an interesting thread!

I'm another one of those embracing color (I hesitate to add "late in life" - I'll soon be 46, but I think I've still got some mileage left in me!) -- and often, the bolder and more vivid, the better. My little Tudor-inspired cottage's exterior doesn't give away what lies inside, and that's a colorful feast for the eyes. Well, I think so anyway. ;-)

I lived for quite a few years in a big house that was decorated in browns and terra cottas and other earthy "dirt" shades. I think I was trying to capture the essence of the desert southwest, the redrock country of southeastern Utah, where my father and I spent many hours backpacking together over the years. It ended up more like monochromatic dullsville, and got to the point that I actually felt depressed in that house. It should be added that at the time, I was married to someone who strictly outlawed freedom of expression in many ways, and he limited my decorating choices by putting his foot down and stating that we just weren't having this or that.

OK, so I divorced him. ;-)

Fast forward a few years, and now I'm in this little old cottage that I adore, with a wonderful new hubby who makes me so happy, and I've infused our home (and our life) with color. Bright, bold, and beautiful -- it makes my heart sing to live inside a little jewelbox now, and is somehow reflective of the changes I've made in my lifestyle over the past several years.

I hope to never lose my craving for creativity and art and a sort of bohemian expressiveness in my home, although I'm sure that the way I demonstrate such things will continue to evolve. It is very interesting to me that all of the homes I've lived in have reflected, more or less, what's been going on in my own psyche at any given point in time. I guess "who I am" just naturally comes out in my surroundings. (So I'd better just decide to be as happy as possible, right? ;-))

I've loved reading everyone's responses! You know, the one thing we all seem to have in common is that we're all evolving, and tweaking things so that they reflect the true "us" (at least, who we are at this moment ;). That is what decorating should be, in my mind...and expression of the people who live there.

I didn't mean to lead you all to believe that I'm now a minimalist (I'm from the South, you know! :). I guess I'm just clearing out the things that I'm not in love with, or that hold little meaning for me. And, I still love my touches of color.

Once again, I enjoyed reading each and every post!

Hi,

I'm almost 49, and we just moved into a new home. We took the opportunity to pare WAY down, because we moved from a large house to a relatively small house. We chose to incorporate things we want (exercise room, office, big porches) rather than things that other people think we should want (formal dining and living areas, huge master bedroom suite, etc.).

Many friends and family members have thought our choices "strange", as they seem to be more impressed with lots of space and lots of stuff. I'm done with that. I've been working very hard to decorate simply and to get rid of clutter and things. It is very liberating!

I've been a regular reader of this forum, as I try to find ideas for decorating my small rooms. Now I'm looking for SIMPLE wall art/decor. Glad to hear that there are others out there like me.

PennyLaney

At 37 I think I'm probably hitting the "paring" stage a bit early, although I've always been pretty brutal about getting rid of extraneous things because I've moved SO many times. I'm also just not a terribly sentimental person when it comes to material items, just because someone gave something to me or I made it in kindergarten doesn't mean I have to lug it around forever, it's like a millstone around my neck. When we started packing for this latest move last year and realized that the smallest bedroom, which we had been using for storage, was mostly boxes which had not been opened since we moved there in early 2004, and some of which had not been opened since the move before that in 2002 I said "to h*ll with this" and got rid of 90% of it. We ended up getting a very nice tax refund because of how much we donated to charity.

A few weeks ago we cleared out the guest room which had been the repository for the boxes we didn't know what to do with yet. Lots of "why did we move this?" and another two station-wagon-loads off to Goodwill! With a 1250sf house (the RE agent had calculated it wrong) there just isn't room for any dumping grounds.

I too spent a great deal of my life in white-walled-rentals, urk. I am looking forward to getting some of the wall work done so I can paint the PO's dull white walls. While I respect others' need for restful, serene, airy interiors I just get bored and a little depressed, and always have, although I did try it in a couple of apartments because I thought that was what I was "supposed to do"; being very much a homebody I need the stimulation of color, judicious mixture of pattern, and some interesting objects I've chosen because I love them. Sort of a medium level of busy-ness and lots of cozy feeling (my rooms are small and conducive to "nesting"). :-) Almost all of my accessories are still packed away and I do miss them, my rooms feel naked and dull.

BTW, my mom is 61 and my grandmother 85 and I don't think either one of them would give up their tchotchkes in favor of "serenity". Mom's very much like me, has to have color and fun things to look at, although her decorating taste is completely different from mine - she's English country/cabbage roses/Laura Ashley/distressed painted furniture, I'm quartersawn oak/William Morris prints/melange of antiques.

Very cool post.
I'll be 50 in the Fall. Used to cling to neutrals. I now love color. I've got yellows, oranges, greens, autum rusts and baby baby baby....
RED GRANITE.

Now I don't cling to anything. I embrace. In one room, I have traditional furniture. Downstairs in the rec room, I'm working on pure funk and fun. In this phase of life, not everything has to match. It needs to be of quality and most of all, I have to love it.

I am less inclined to buy things. There is a Proverb that asks why we chase that which is not bread. I take it to heart and "chase" far less than I use to.

Thanks for post.

Fried Green Magnolias?

Steel Tomatoes?

The most prominent way my tastes have changed is from wanting black as the dark grounding color to browns and greys. Many of the pieces I left back on the east coast would fit in today, with that one little change. Industrial age deco to organic modernist (way before it was popular, btw, texashottie :)).

"being very much a homebody I need the stimulation of color, judicious mixture of pattern, and some interesting objects I've chosen because I love them. Sort of a medium level of busy-ness"

That may be part of the appeal for me of a quiet, neutral restful home...I am not a homebody; I work at a job I could not love more but which is busy, full of variety and jammed to bursting with dealing with people all day, every day. And dealing with them in a counseling/advising framework at that.

By the time I get home I do NOT want any busyness anywhere.

This actually came up once with my sister in law. She is a SAH married to an engineer with a civil service job. They really enjoy having people over on the weekend, and she was drilling me about why my husband (who also deals with people all the time and teaches on the side to boot) and I don't have a very active social life outside of work. My response was that if I was sitting at home alone all week, and my husband was sitting alone communing with a terminal at the office all week...we might love to see people on the weekend. As it is, we cherish peace, quiet and no company!

I also cherish a house that makes me feel relaxed, at ease and not obligated to deal with a lot of details. I find a lot of 'stuff' makes me feel jangly and not placid, to say the least.

As the sayings go, just my .02, your mileage may vary yada yada yada...:).

Ann

Ya'll got me hungry for fried green tomotoes. The restaurant that the movie was taken from is about 15 miles away. Not the actual restaurant they used in the movie.

It's sort of a greasy spoon but I like their green tomotoes and fried chicken. And I love to watch the trains go by.

Fanny Flag's autographed picture's hang every where when you walk in.

Has nothing to do with the decorating change subject. I just thought I would gab for a second. Incidentally the restaurant is not called The Whistle Stop it is called the Irondale Cafe. There never was a Whistle Stop, only in the book and movie.

.....Jane