I watched part of an episode of the Vanilla Ice Project after seeing an ad and becoming intrigued.  Below is the letter I wrote to DIY Network when the show was over.  I wish I had pictures to go along with the text!  I’m not trying to disrespect DIY or Vanilla Ice (Rob Van Winkle), I’m only making a point that a designer can bring invaluable talent, including continuity, to any project.

I saw a trailer and was curious about the Vanilla Ice Project show so I recorded the Master Suite episode. Having just watched it, I felt compelled to send an email.

At first, it seemed like a very real look into a remodel. The wrong tub arrived, they showed the ups and downs of remodeling, and set-backs to the schedule. It didn’t seem like the 1 day “magical” transformation that a lot of shows portray. But, during the reveal I wanted to contact Willy Wonka and have him use his TV transporter to transport me into the episode so I could point out all the design mistakes.

The shower hardware was traditional, fitting very well with the bones of the master bath suite. Starting with the shower door handle; it is the most basic C.R. Laurence handle on the market. Does that scream “bling”?!?!?!? Moving to the tub and sink faucets: Did he buy those on a separate trip and forget he was working on a traditional style bath? Can we say modern? Maybe he should tattoo a reminder before heading out to order his materials. The final thing (there are others) is that he used $0.23 BRIGHT WHITE light and outlet covers. After spending $2,000 on wallpaper, he leaves the cover plates bright white!??!?!? Maybe wallpaper them (not exactly my first choice for this situation, but better than white) or at the very least why not use a muted decorative plate. Or maybe Rob thinks that cheap glossy white cover plates add “bling“? They certainly do draw attention in a warm toned room.

RVW’s bio says he has had 15 years of renovating experience. I hope there isn’t a 15 year long trail of design mistakes strung thru Palm Beach! With all that experience, it seems like he would have added an interior designer to his posse.

Keep the entertainment coming!

Thanks,

Jenny

Growing up in the south, attending Ole Miss, and now being married to a Bama boy, I have seen how much football can affect daily life. A football weekend in the SEC can make or break your week, it make planning holiday parties harder (while you wait to see if your team will play in the championship game!), and believe it or not I have seen it influence home décor decisions.

I have casually had this come into play on color choices alone. The color combinations of the SEC and ACC are so ingrained into our heads that we have trouble disassociating them in other areas of life. Let’s take what could be a fun movie room couch in red. Black toss pillows are not an option, because people would immediately think you were a Georgia Bulldogs fan. Or if you paint your walls in blue, there is no way you would use any orange accents otherwise a you might seem like a Florida Gator! The colors would look good together if used in different hues than the schools themselves use, but again the connotation is still there.

This especially comes to light if you try to use what could be a great color combination in the home of client and it turns out to be the colors of their schools biggest rival! I had this come to light recently with a school’s mascot (believe it or not) while working on a client’s daughter’s bedroom. I found the cutest Kelly Rightsell pillow with a frog embroidered (same image as shown). Now this client loves frogs, there are darling frog paintings over the little girls bed, so I figured she would love this pillow for her daughter’s bed. I received an email back telling me that under no circumstances would the husband allow an elephant in the house. They both graduated from Auburn. For those of you outside the SEC, Auburn and Alabama are huge (in state) rivals and Auburns mascot is the Tiger and Alabama’s is the elephant. Keep in mind that this elephant is about the size of a nickel on the pillow! But that is just how serious we are about football in the south.   I did try to convince the husband that the frog was strangling the elephant, but that didn’t work!

And there is always the “house divided”, where the husband and wife went to different schools. My house is an Ole Miss/Alabama house and even though Ole Miss isn’t a football powerhouse (this could be a WHOLE other post!), I have had to put the kibosh on having Daniel Moore prints and hounds tooth throughout our house. There are attractive ways to show your “house divided” school spirit. For example, we picked the (almost same) red from the University of Georgia and Ole Miss to paint the mudroom lockers (pictured) . Then we added the vinyl cushions to show the two teams logo and slogan. It was a fun way to incorporate the two schools.

Hopefully you will find your own ways to work out any design challenges that arise from having so much school pride!

Ok, it has been awhile since my original post. The reason is because I am a terrible writer! I want to post more, hopefully offering you interesting design tips, but I want you to know the following: I’m a terrible speller, I have poor sentence structure, and punctuation! I firmly believe that is also what makes me very creative (the ole right brain left brain). I’m going to let my artistic juices flow from my head right out onto the page. So if you choose to read on please don’t tell me about my writing. Happy designing!

Add some new toss pillows to your interior or exterior living area.  You can find great inexpensive pillows at several discount stores (Marshall’s, Homegoods, Stein Mart, etc) or at already affordable places (World Market, Pier 1).   If you are crafty, you can get your own fabric and sew up some easy to make square pillows that will add new life to an area that you see everyday!

Add a great new vase to a coffee table, dining table, or kitchen area.  Treat yourself to fresh flowers (or pick some from your yard!).  It will add so much color to a place you pass by several times a day, bringing enjoyment to an old space!

Recover your dining chair seats.  If you have chairs that the bottoms easily unscrew, you can get some new fun fabric (should be able to get 2 seats from ¾ yard of fabric unless you are trying to use the same part of a large pattern for each chair) and recover the chair seat.  All you need is a heavy duty staple gun, staples, new or vintage fabric, and a screwdriver.  Cut enough fabric to be able to wrap around the back of the seat and then staple all along one side.  Pull the opposite side tight and staple it underneath.  Repeat with the other two sides.

Keep in mind that even though you are watching your budget, hiring a designer can save you money in the long run.  You might want to consider hiring a designer for an initial consultation.  That would provide you a list of things to work on in your home.  You can work on them (with or without a designers help) one by one until over a period of time.  You don’t always have to do all projects at one time!

Decorating a space in terms of color is as easy as 60-30-10. Don’t believe me? Take a look at some rooms in magazines or in Designers’ Portfolio. You’ll notice that the rooms you like the most are almost invariably divided into percentages of 60-30-10.

Thanks for dropping by! Feel free to join the discussion by leaving comments or sharing your own ideas!