Sometimes the biggest risk in decorating is to go the safe, neutral, 'in-style', paint-color-of-the-year route. Now, there's nothing wrong in painting your living room the same beige as the model home you fell in love with when you bought your house. There's no harm in getting a microfiber couch that will stand up to the 4 kids and clean up well for company. There's no foul (yes, you know how I want to spell it...) in buying a beautiful painted rooster for your kitchen island because it ties in all the colors of the adjoining great room and you also have a set of chicken plates somewhere. There's not even a good reason to pull down your own mullioned, (as the case may or may not be!) ginormous mirror that just fills up that zooming wall in the entry and gives you that satisfied feeling that you found just the right piece for Your house, and looks very real since it's up way too high for your own visitors to suspect that it's anything but the real deal. Why? Because a risk for you may be entirely different than a risk for me. Painting a nerf football and using it as art would not be a risk for me. It would be an act of insanity. I can imagine visitors to the house of MV coming innocently close to the giclee-nerfe' and only thinking... "How cool is that sculpture?"--but in my own far more pedestrian/subdivision/cookie-cutter house setting saying... "What the hey?? What were you smoking when you painted a sponge football, Red?" And BTW, have you seen the football in question? Or the plastered table? Bet you could scroll through the photos fast in the link below and not spot it immediately. I've seen it before in the magazine and had a hard time picking out the makeshift art from the artist-painted. Fabulous. No, taking a decorating risk is not the sensible thing to do for everyone. And my risk might make you snicker. Your risk might make me shudder. Beauty is most assuredly in the eye of the beholder. And sometimes beauty is found more plentifully in areas where the shopping is more limited. I know for sure that my house in a small town in New Mexico, at the edge of the desert, next to a Walmart, had more interesting, 'found' items, than any place since. I had few options for furniture or accessories. Now, with stores surrounding me, and a truck to haul things with, I find myself bringing home a lot more cheese than I ever thought possible. Thankfully, most of mine comes with a return receipt and rarely makes it past the first few hours in my house. And interestingly enough, the things I find in the corner of a barn at an estate sale out in the country, are usually not risky buys at all. I know that old piece of rusted iron will work somewhere. The aging needlepoint with spider webs on the edge will make a great pillow. The chipped cobalt and white clay vase will be wonderful on the dresser. No risks and no regrets. It's the stuff I get the register receipts for that always prove to be the the question marks. Right now, I'm working on my own art project. I'm applying plaster and a coat of pink latex paint to a bottle of Nyquil. Then, when it's dry and perfect, I'm going to send it to a good home in Chicago. Watch for it next year in Expensive Home Magazine. Red Here is a link that might be useful: from Apartment Therapy

Wow Karen, your pictures are amazing! I am so sorry that we didn't get a chance to meet up, but I feel like I was there with this post. It is so neat to see my "home" from the eyes of a visitor. Right now it is 9am and it is still really foggy. I am heading down to San Juan this afternoon for my brothers wedding rehearsal and tomorrow for the wedding. They are getting married at El Adobe which is a restaurant within walking distance of the mission. Hoping to get there a little early so I can hit the antique mall before going in to the rehearsal. Glad you had a nice trip and made it home safely!

Sorry to be late in posting, but our computer crashed! I should have known it would happen sooner or later since it was 13 yrs. old. Going from Windows XP to Windows 10 is a big adjustment, but I'm just happy that all our pictures and documents were recovered. I did receive my nice big package of seeds. I think it was Sat., but have lost track of time due to the computer problem. It was a bright spot in my day to look through all the varieties of veggies and flowers and contemplate what to plant and where to plant it. Thank you so much to Tammy for all her work, and thank you to everyone who sent seeds for my themes. Wishing everyone a fantastic gardening season this year!

I have 4 chairs with the original cushions and the dining table. Email your offers to me at Yyasky@protonmail.com I am in southeast FLaDuh so also consider your pick-up or shipping options. 😎 Do note: my set has been stripped and is ready for its new finish.