I like the Cote de Texas blog. It's a lot like.... me : ). Let me explain that. My mom is French. I was born in the states but my first language was french. When I was 6 we moved to France for my Dad's job and lived there for about 3 years. We then moved to Austin, TX where I lived for 8 years until I went to Houston for college. I attended grad school in the TMC and met my husband in Houston. In all I lived in the Houston area for 19 years until DH and I moved with the kids to the Carolinas in 2008. I'm French and I'm a Texan (thus the username "southernfrenchie".) I get that Joni's style is not for everyone. It is definitely french with over the top TX flair. She definitely works with the upper crust. While I appreciate her blog I myself prefer a lot more color. Those photos are eye candy for me - a glimpse into how the other half lives. I can get an idea here or there - and will figure out how to implement it on my Home Goods budget : ).

To me, the question is if "in style" is what you want your home to be? In clothing, there are a few styles that are beyond fashion -- the simple black cocktail dress, a strand of pearls. Beyond that, most of us find there are a few basic pieces and styles that work particularly well for us personally, and we may wear these styles, shapes or colors over and over again even though they're not in fashion -- just because they suit us so well. IMO, some chintzes fall into the 'strand of pearls' category. Not most -- not many even. But some. A typical Waverly chintz from the 1980's would not endure like a strand of pearls; but a block-printed toile de Jouy on linen from Scalamandre probably would. So if your chiltz is that good, don't worry about fashion. On a similar note, some houses can 'wear' chintz the way Sophia Loren can wear oversized sunglasses. It just works -- If your house is of the type that looks great in chintz, then go with your chintz despite what the home-fashion police are saying. If chintz works well in your home, it will look great even though it isn't in fashion. But a cheap chintz on a house without the right bones for it will not work -- now, or even when it was in fashion. It's a less glaring and more forgivable error when it's fashion-driven, but it's still like busty gals in camisoles --

Thanks for all the interesting feedback! I don't actually care at all about trends or "dated", I just like certain looks and don't like others. The current look of my 1980s bathrooms, I don't like it. It is very low quality workmanship and shoddy construction, cheap materials. I love very old things and traditional furniture etc, but they tend to be expensive because they are well made out of real wood. Do I have a style of decorating? I don't even know, I know what I like in other people's pictures and I am learning that means that I don't like "modern" design - I find it cold and unwelcoming - and I am not fond of country - too fussy and extreme in the other direction. I like rustic, transitional, cottage, and traditional styles. I am certainly not a trend follower, I have dressed in the same blue jeans and men's-cut T-shirts most of my life, and had the same all-one-length haircut, things that I think look decent on me. That's pretty much how I am with decorating - it needs to be functional first, and to feel right to me, second. Thanks for the compliment on the master bedroom color it is BM Wedgewood gray, I adore it. I just picked it a bit randomly from the chips so I am lucky I like it so much. When we closed on the home we were still selling our condo, and there were renters in the TH - we had to buy them out of their lease and in the next 2 weeks we sold the condo and lived in a temporary apartment... once the tenants moved out, I had 10 days to get the place move in ready before our 1 month temp lease was up, so I didn't have a lot of time to choose colors because I had to remove all the carpet tack strips and underpads, prep the floors, paint everything including ceilings (except the bathrooms which had been freshly painted by the PO and I left alone as functional) and lay the vinyl plank. Here is the "before" - this is the "style" I have to work with! This carpet was only 8 months old according to the PO, installed before it was rented out. and.. the master bedroom (doesn't it look tiny? I was not sure our king bed would fit based on my memory and the photos!) I was looking for a calm, spa-like color for the bedroom and was unsure based on all the chips (I was getting color overload)... but when I put it on the walls I was so happy with it! Sometimes I just lay on the bed and look at the walls, because I found the color so soothing. I do want to paint the bathroom a color that flows from this - I think the revere pewter chip looks great with the Wedgewood... but I am waiting to see if I keep the current floor and what I do with the vanity. The current floor has purple pink undertones and looks good with RP and family but nothing too blue. Pal, I don't think the current vanity is not really worth trying to work with - everything looks better in the photo than in real life, but there is some significant water damage to the interior and the false front drawer thing has swelling/bubbles in the MDF panel from water, the drawer slides are all broken so the drawers sit crooked and don't slide well, and it would be very difficult to configure this vanity for 2 sinks. It really was a very low quality item to begin with and by the time I replace all the parts and the damaged wood, it would be a lot of work and money into a poor quality item. I am considering giving up on the 2 sinks thing and instead replacing the door/drawer fronts on the existing cabinet, repairing the bottoms with damage, and removing the "makeup station" portion, then putting on a 70" top that stops after the drawer stack -leaving room between the vanity and wall for a linen cabinet, stool or something. However that's not what I really want... I priced out 2 single vanities and 2 tops, it works out to about the same as one double vanity... and would be much more difficult to do the plumbing (remember I am 100% DIY) since I have to use a split on the existing plumbing to 2 sinks, if it's contained within one cabinet it's much easier (and even easier with a simple cabinet built for the purpose). I have considered skim coating the cultured marble with concrete, but I am not sure how well it will adhere, and I still have to replace the rusty sinks which don't properly fit the countertops - and I haven't been able to find ones that fit the cutout shape and size. I'm not sure I like the idea of concrete in my bathroom for some reason... happy with it in the kitchen but it seems too hard and cold for the bathroom. HD prices for a replacement "stone effects" vanity top for even the 70" portion, rather than the full 109", was $675... not cheap for the countertop alone. Prefab laminate fake granite would be about $150 and could be used with top mount or vessel sinks, but might not stand up to high moisture. The DIY option would cost about $200 total for the vanity including the wood top, and sinks. Though I am taking into consideration the possible cleaning issues. Faucets will be extra either way - about another $150 for 2 decent sets. Vessel sinks I thought would offer me the ability for a DIY countertop and cabinet, I would not have to make it as rustic as the one pictured, different finished could be used. I could also install doors to cover the open area. At least the open space underneath is large enough to vacuum under (a lot of vanities available now have the annoying 2-4" toekick space as a dust bunny trap!) Here are some other DIY versions made from the same woodworking plan. these people plan to build boxes to hide the plumbing

We just had Lowe's install Curava countertops as part of our kitchen reno yesterday and they look great. Looking at the website I think we picked "Element" as the glass is predominantly green. We did a fair amount of reading and thinking about various types of counters and thought recycled glass was a cooler version of the now ubiquitous "quartz" surface, as both combine solid materials with a resin binder. We like that style because it gives a sleek modern vibe and doesn't require sealing. We're in Florida, so the "terrazzo" look resonates here as well. After the install I wiped them down and felt for pits or imperfections and did not find any. They're quite glossy and slick. I hope they're as durable as the company says -- the installer told us they're tough ("Use a cutting board, but you'll dull your knives before you damage these.") Ha -- probably an overstatement, but it's encouraging to hear. If they wear poorly, I'll amend this comment, but so far we're very pleased. They're obviously quite an improvement on our 31-yr-old laminate/MDF counters that were literally falling apart.