stay true

A funny thing happened a week or so ago at the Hobby Lobby. I almost didn’t buy something in my favorite color because it was just too trendy. My daughter, who professes to hate my favorite color, insisted. She wasn’t being unreasonable. We were purchasing “wallpaper” for her dollhouse, and therefore, she claimed, what really mattered was whether she liked it, not whether I thought it too trendy. I simply couldn’t argue with that.

It’s possible that I was Barbie in a prior life. I don’t think of myself as your typical girly girl, for sure. If we are all being honest, some days I don’t even shower. But I do love me some pink. All the pinks. There is a pink color chart torn out of a recent J.Crew catalog pinned above my desk. And if you haven’t seen this fantastic townhouse from the September issue of House Beautiful, you are in for a treat. I’m a huge fan of green too, and navy, and grey, and I’m obviously a color whore who should get some help.

But you know how it is. Certain patterns (I’m looking at you, chevron) get over-played. Certain colors and layouts and images find their way into your social media feed and become so common that you don’t want to see them anymore. Unicorns or macaroons anyone? As I stood in the aisle of Hobby Lobby with my daughter, looking at copycat Rifle Paper patterns and flamingos and pineapples, I wondered if this overkill was also going to mean the end of my favorite color. Let’s be honest. Probably not. I mean, how fantastic is this pink dresser used as an entry table? The Roy Lichtenstein print – one of my favorites – doesn’t hurt. I wish this apartment was an Airbnb. I'd be on a plane to Los Angeles tomorrow. 

For a very long time, before I decided to go to design school, before I even thought becoming a designer was an option, I had this Slim Aarons photo and Billy Baldwin quote pinned to the wall in my craft shed:

Be faithful to your own taste because nothing you really like is ever out of style. Truth, people. 

As you think about change in your house, be true to yourself. Embrace what you love and get rid of the rest. Make it yours. If some blogger with 350,000 followers likes it, great. If she doesn’t? Who cares. It’s your house and you are the only person who truly needs to love it.

The dollhouse wallpaper looks great, by the way. The dollhouse owner is very pleased with it now that it is installed and reports that the occupants love it. Stay tuned for some photos of the dollhouse.