Sunny Cottage, I'm still giggling over your 'impaled in her sleep' comment!

Elephants!!?? Waiiittt a minute!! It's college football season in the SEC and I'm a huge Bama fan, Roll Tide. Y'all have to forgive me my elephant mascot, Big Al, this time of year.

I managed to survive without the geese with bonnets, strawberries on vines wallpaper, mushrooms, ducks (although ex-DH did have a couple of carved decoys), and a few other things mentioned. I do, however, confess to having a handsome rooster residing on a piece of furniture in our breakfast room. He may be due for replacement soon, but we've enjoyed him. I must also confess to being a member (there are 3 of us) of the pink flamingo trio; a group who exchanges, on an un-regular basis, a pair of truly ugly pink flamingos. You never know when they will show up in your yard (birthdays, un-holidays, Christmas, etc).

Re: Keep Calm and Carry On

"Keep Calm and Carry On was a propaganda poster produced by the Government of the United Kingdom in 1939 during the beginning of the Second World War, intended to raise the morale of the British public in the event of a Nazi invasion of Britain. It had only limited distribution, and thus was little known. The poster was rediscovered in 2000 and has been re-issued by a number of private companies, and used as the decorative theme for a range of products. "

Here is a link that might be useful: Keep Calm and Carry On Wiki

>I actually don't know what the Keep Calm and Carry On is in reference to, can someone clarify?

Britain, WWII, air raids, blitz, etc.

Those make me uncomfortable, too. It seems somehow disrespectful to what people endured then.

I had actually forgotten all about my little "Keep Calm" sign. I bought it because it reminds me of the Cornish cottage where I stayed earlier this year, where the same sign hung in the breakfast room. Interesting stuff from Wiki ... I completely agree with the first statement, about how the phrase is reminiscent of the country's image - mythic or not.

The poster's popularity has been attributed to a "nostalgia for a certain British character, an outlook" according to the Bagehot column in The Economist, that it "taps directly into the country's mythic image of itself: unshowily brave and just a little stiff, brewing tea as the bombs fall."[11] Its message has also been felt relevant to the late-2000s recession and has been adopted as an unofficial motto by British nurses, the poster appearing in staff rooms on hospital wards with increasing frequency throughout the 2000s.[8] Merchandise with the image has been ordered in bulk by American financial firms and advertising agencies, and it is also popular in Germany.[10]

The poster has appeared on the walls of places as diverse as the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit at 10 Downing Street, the Lord Chamberlain's office at Buckingham Palace, and the United States embassy in Belgium. The Manleys sold some 41,000 facsimile posters between 2001 and 2009.[8]

I think the sign is a testament to stoicism, resilience and resourcefulness. All three are pretty lacking in today's society.

Thanks for clarifying. I never knew that. And to think I had a little pillow on my rocker in my daughter's nursery years ago with the saying. I bought it after weeks of no sleep with a colicky baby and thought it quite befitting for what I was going through with her at the time. I don't have it anymore.

But I agree, it makes me uncomfortable as well, knowing all they endured. And it makes my sleepless nights with a cranky infant seem so insignificant.

On a lighter note.....I like the little elephants you posted Sunny.

Pal, I don't know what year that was but my MIL is 87, she wasn't born yet. I did find that the definition of abortion includes this. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage. Also wonder if they could be referring to a stillbirth as an abortion.

My apologies people, I know this is OT. Don't know how to send PM's

"Keep Calm and Carry On" per Wikipedia:
"was a propaganda poster produced by the Government of the United Kingdom in 1939 during the beginning of the Second World War, intended to raise the morale of the British public in the event of a Nazi invasion of Britain. It had only limited distribution, and thus was little known. The poster was rediscovered in 2000 and has been re-issued by a number of private companies, and used as the decorative theme for a range of products. It was believed there were only two known surviving examples of the poster outside government archive until a collection of 15 originals was brought in to the Antiques Roadshow in 2012 by the daughter of an ex-Royal Observer Corps member."

I recently found a realistic statue of a reclining giraffe in an "antique" shop for $50. He is about 40" tall. DH named him Sid, for Sidhartha, after the man who studied and meditated to reach enlightenment and was later called The Buddha. DH said the giraffe just has that air about him. I sure hope that giraffes do not follow 'effalunts' and owls as the fad animal figures to collect. Sid just looks so serene on my brown 1978 brick and brass hearth!

Annie, thanks for correcting my abysmal French.
Chanticleer is perfect. He looked so haughty - I couldn't resist him.

I agree about sayings on walls, particularly the ones that tell you how to be. I loved the "Keep Calm..." poster when first I saw it, but then it went all viral, and is spoiled.

We did get our house number from WallWords, and were very pleased. We wanted to put it on the transom over the front door, and to have it painted in the traditional gold with black shadow would have been too expensive.

Oh, I forgot, I do have a Christmas sign I made a few years ago.

I get you on the beachy stuff. I love blogs but have noticed a beachy theme on several of them. Most of these bloggers live no where near the beach, so this I do not understand. I love the beach myself, but I don't decorate my house beachy.

Animals on a stick? That's just wrong. LOL Fishstick!! And flamingos - we also have some friends who swap out putting them in other's yards, which is a fun thing, but I wouldn't want them for yard decoration. I wouldn't want gnomes or mushrooms either, but that's me. If someone else likes that - more power to them!

I think it's like others have mentioned here - some things seem really great until you start seeing them everywhere. I don't want that in my own home. Whoever mentioned wanting their home to reflect them and having things with meaning - that is us. I like unique items and things that have meaning to us. A fish on a stick or a rooster has no meaning to me. Other than my pappaw raised chickens and I never liked them and remember how mean some of the roosters were! LOL

I like whimsy and I don't like things to be formal, but I do not like cute. I think that's one reason I don't like many of the things mentioned - they are cutesy.

Ye gads, I do remember the poufed valances that people stuffed with tissue paper, etc.!

tina

Sorry, I've missed the link between the keep calm sign and abortion?

MIL was all about appropriate and the old house was their "country" house so she did have a number of ducks....duck silhouettes on the wall, duck figurines...I guess that was the precursor to the goose thing....but her ducks didn't have bonnets.

On my honeymoon, we stopped at a lot of lighthouses on the east coast. I bought a few unique, hand made lighthouses from the lighthouse's gift store/museum. My kids, sisters and mother immediately started giving me lighthouse stuff for every birthday and Christmas. I saved a few, including the handmade ones, but the rest went to Goodwill. Too much is not a good thing!
Diane

The physician's price list has abortion on it.

I've had such a great time reading this thread, thank you, everyone! I like that everyone takes it in good humor (and I've had almost everything listed here, sigh). ;-D

My list for upcoming cliches (and again, some of these I have/had) I'm in Texas, and all of these things are overused here:

Resin and gilded decor
Cheap tin wall art
Paris everything
Burlap pillows/upholstery with writing
Feather boas glued on items
Cheesy, silly cowboy decor--not classic western style (the word "y'all" is required)
Cowhide on EVERYTHING, including the drawers and tops of dressers
Everything on Cote de Texas last year
Every. Single. Thing. Donna Moss. Does.

I saw you mention vultures, Palimpsest. I found the cutest little guy at Michael's the other day, and couldn't not bring him home. He has real feathers! My excuse was Halloween, but I'm actually thinking of leaving him out all year. Second pic, he's on top of our TV. :-D

Annie, I guess you could say your MIL had her ducks all in a row!

Miz, I love cowhide (been around for hundreds of years and stood the test of time) and I think Code de Texas is a smart cookie and will stay on the cutting edge of top design.

Caminnc, I love cowhide, too. I have two of them in my home. But many furniture stores down here go too far with it, tacking it onto everything, or dying it silly colors (pink, lime, etc).

I also am a fan of Cote de Texas, but last year, her inspiration pictures were making my eyes glaze over with excessive "Belgian" styles. (I'm exaggerating, I didn't see every single post made.) I'm glad to see that lately, she's posting more variety. I love her taste and talent.

Deedee, love the Auden quotation-my mother studied under him at Swarthmore College.

Miz M, I have been drooling over a $1,8??.00 cowhide bench at a beautiful designer shop here. I want it so bad but problem is I can't find any place to put it. I would re-design my house around it if I could.

About Cote, everybody can't have a stellar year after year. I think she might have fallen a little under RH influence too much but that's ok. She still rocks in my world!

cyn427 - I think by quoting Auden, I sounded smarter than I am. I stumbled across the quote looking for something for dd and it stuck with me. Your mom studied poetry at Oxford? So cool!

Has anybody mentioned the peacock phenomena yet? My dm had a beautiful peacock wall piece in gold back in the 60's. I've seen them on everything in the past few years.

No deedee, Auden taught at Swarthmore College outside Philadelphia for several years in the early 40s. Now, how cool would it have been to study at Oxford! My mother always said he looked rather like an idiot as he walked around campus, but that he certainly wasn't (an idiot that is).

cyn - ignore the Oxford comment. Duh me!

Haha Miz M! Your vulture reminds me of Snoopy!

Hah! Pal, I didn't read the whole sign. What's more mysterious is the women's exam that is priced per vaginum....did women have more than one in those days?!?!?!

I am crying as I read this thread because I misunderstood this:

" I walk into one person's house (& this person tells me that she has a house "right out of a magazine!") and am hit over the head (not literally, but almost) with wood plaques over the sofa that read: FAMILY, DREAM, HOPE. UGH!"

I pictured a wooden sign with all 4 capitalized words on it (including the UGH!) and just lost it. Now I want a sign like that - complete with the UGH! - in my house. This was a good laugh today :)

LOL, EC. And Annie, good catch!

Am I the only one who remembers those sleek, shiny black panthers lying in the big picture windows in the 50's? I was a kid but remember those things were kinda scary.

They still make the panthers, they are Haegar Potteries.

EngineerChic, you gave me my first genuine "LOL" moment of the day!

Outsideplaying, I remember the black sleek panther, ours resided on top of the tv, then later on the Stereo cabinet, those long units that looked like coffins. I'm a child of the 50's so definitely the black panther was right in my life.

Oh, yes, the black panther!

Wasn't that particular image also part of Art Deco style? I seem to remember seeing panthers with diamond collars in Erte drawings, among other places.

"FAMILY, DREAM, HOPE, UGH" That is too funny. A passive-aggressive statement against all those word signs. I want one.

A relative who visits my home gave me one of those wood Live, Laugh, Love signs for Christmas a few years ago.
At a loss of what to do with the irritating thing, I put it on the mantel.
That night when my husband noticed it, he said, "Uh, do you LIKE this?"
I said no, so he put it right into the fireplace atop the burning logs.

How's this?

Coming out of lurking mood to say how funny this topic is. I've been laughing out loud reading some of these. My vote for new "geese with bonnets" goes to Annie Sloan chalk paint on everything you see on blogs now.

terriks- LOL Thank-you

Terriks, too funny!

We have a tradition in my family of sending one really drippy goopy tacky Mother's Day or birthday card with the worst possible verse on it among the usual silly ones...my mother usually signs hers "Slurrrp!" or "Bleahhh!" or something similar.

"Ugh!" is a fine one!

Terriks - perfect! Hahahaha!

I know it's not even the same thing, but your little "sign" reminds me of this photo that I saved from someone's blog a couple of years ago. These sweet little monogrammed towels ... and then somebody had to go and arrange them thusly:

Oh yes, the sleek shiny black panther with green eyes! Ours sat (crouched) on the laminate coffee table in the newly decorated LR in the late 40's or early 50's - not sure when he first appeared. Every time I saw one in a yard sale I wondered if I should buy it as a momento of my childhood. Fortunately, I resisted! LOL

SunnyCottage, that must have been the work of a bored husband who accompanied his wife into that store!

Full disclosure on geese. :)

Trying again for the photo....

What do we see everywhere in decorating???

A bowl of green apples in the kitchen! LOL Could we use red, just for a change...or maybe pears?

Family, Dream, Hope, Ugh....Brilliant!

And the monogrammed towels....I think my DH may have been there.

SunnyCottage, the guest towel arrangement is priceless...LOL!

The geese in bonnets thing was bad, but to me this was the Worst. Fad. Ever.

I have two dozen of those, that one included :)

LOL, At least you're doing it with aplomb!

I think it is the painted animal skulls. Seriously, how can anyone look at those everyday?

What's next, Pal?
These...???

Pal, that room is just plain scary! ;)

Pal, I can't think of an answer because I can't quit chuckling. It just figures if I posted that someone would post what you did. LOL. Didn't mean to offend but everyone has different taste and I always hated those pictures with a passion. Tell you what -- if someone ever gives me one I'll be more than happy to send it to you with my best wishes.