COOL OR NOT COOL: Wall-to-Wall Carpet?

You know, I used to hate the shit outta wall-to-wall carpet, but I'm seriously coming around.

Now, I still don't like it throughout an ENTIRE space, but in a bedroom or a den, I think I officially dig it!

I think I finally figured out what the trick is: your carpet has to be bangin. If it's interesting enough, or the color combos are bold enough, the wall-to-wall thing can look kinda luxe and chic.

I don't know, maybe it reminds me of a fab hotel? Or maybe I'm an idiot?

Whaddya think?

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[COOL OR NOT COOL] Fake fireplaces

The way I feel about fireplaces is the way I feel about wicker furniture.

If I'm at a beach house, wicker furniture is fine and pretty much expected.  Fireplaces are great if I'm in a cabin or in a ski lodge.

But if I'm in someone's apartment in New York City and they turn on a gas fireplace, I'm wondering two things:

1. Do you really think this is romantic?

2. Am I going to asphyxiate and die? 

3. In NYC's housing market, having a "window" is a selling point that is included on actual real estate listings, so a fireplace has got to equal BIG MONEY.  How much are you paying for this stupid fireplace?

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[COOL OR NOT COOL] Turning your house into a Winter Wonderland

My mother was not a Kool-Aid mom, greeting me at the door after school with a tray of wholesome snacks, or welcoming the neighborhood kids over for slumber parties and rice krispie squares. 

She's not overly sentimental, and her attitude when I was growing up was, decidedly, "do it yourself." 

All of this is fine—it made me independent and self-sufficient and blahblahblah rationalization—BUT, it makes it very confusing when Christmas time rolls around and she suddenly transforms into Mrs. Claus. 

Our kitchen—the one that she barely uses the other 11 months of the year—is turned into a 24-hour cookie-baking factory.  All of the door knobs in the house are adorned with plush Rudolph faces which makes it fucking IMPOSSIBLE to enter or exit a room.  Every flat surface is covered with cotton and other forms of fake snow.  It is a straight-up, motherfucking winter wonderland in there, and it's CRAZY.

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[COOL OR NOT COOL] Canopy Beds?

I came across this post on Coco + Kelley about Canopy beds.

True confessions: when I was like 8, I had one of those silly, little girl white canopy beds, with the over-exxagerated white canopy and the frilly lace, and yes: I did love the shit of it. I kind of get it for little girls, and for some reason it makes sense in my brain more than it does for adults. The adult versions of canopy beds always end up seeming a bit overdone to me...like the person is trying just a leetle too hard or something.

But in thinking about it, it occurred to me that as much as I see pics of canopy beds in mags and on blogs now, I've NEVER actually *seen* one in a real life apt or house. Maybe I'm just rolling with a lame-o, non-canopy crowd (which is very possible), but do these things actually exist??

And if so, where?

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[COOL OR NOT COOL] Vintage Rotary Phones

I know that landlines are going the way of the dinosaur, and that if there's a chance for them to hang around, it's not going to be connected to a rotary phone from 1960. 

BUT: let me just say after about 595849485 dropped calls from my fancy, expensive, and USELESS (yet still somehow precious) iPhone, I'm ready to hang up and just get a goddamned landline that connects to a rotary phone.

It's vintage, so I will look kitschy and unique, something I strive for but almost always self-sabotage with snap judgements and intolerant declarations ("Organic food is for rich people who hate themselves," "Adults who sleep in twin beds are serial killers, etc etc). 

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[COOL OR NOT COOL] Wall Decals

To be honest, the very idea of "wall decals" suggests to me, "Hey, I'm in college and I can't afford real artwork!"  I mean, really, why don't you just hang up a crooked poster of Sex & the City or something?

But then I see something like the photo to the left, and I think that in the right hands, wall decals could end up looking sophisticated.   

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[COOL OR NOT COOL] Baby, You've Got Me Over a Barrel

I often wonder how I can combine my love of typography and booze into a semi-classy decor idea, and BAM: here it is.

McKay, a Scottish flooring company takes old whiskey casks, disassembles them, and turns them into reclaimned flooring. 

I vote cool, but I'm probably an alcoholic, so I'm not sure that I count.  What do you think?

[Via Details Magazine]

[COOL OR NOT COOL?] Girls Who Buy Stuff Meant For Guys

My mother will cry approximately 1,000 tears if she ever reads this, but let me say it: I am drawn to things that are designed for men. 

This happens whenever I'm shopping for clothes.  I will spend exactly 5 seconds breezing through the silky, flowery bullshit in the women's department before sailing right on over to the men's section.  I never actually buy any men's clothing, but I appreciate the designs.  This is probably why I live in preppy polos and button-down shirts, because they're essentially unisex. 

I think the issue here is that I like clean lines.  Things that are simple.  This goes from my clothes to my home decor.  Like, honestly, the shoes I'm wearing right now are men's because all of the female variations of them are topped with a seashell or gold chain or glitter or some other bullshit that screams "I AM A LADY!  DONT YOU EVER FORGET IT!"

It's like the parents that have girl babies and force them to wear those big, brain-crushing headbands because GOD FORBID some idiot at the grocery store or airport mistakes her for a boy.  Hey, guys, the reason why no one can tell what sex your baby is is because it is a BABY and it doesn't matter yet. 

So is it totally Boys Don't Cry-sexual confusion-weird to have masculine tastes when it comes to design? 

I'm not talking about hanging up a huge, framed version of that stupid Girls Kissing poster, I'm saying no patterns, and definitely, definitely nothing floral.  What do you think?