Blind Spots — by Guest Mom Rosalynde Welch
There are probably some readers out there who enjoy perfect instincts on every design question, but I am certainly not among them. I do a few things well: I’m good with furniture, I think; I could dress well if I had money to play with; I’m not bad with wall dressings. But I have a few blind spots, and tonight it’s confession time.
Hair. I’m hopeless with hair. Color, cut, style: it’s like a different language to me, and no matter how much I study I’ll never become fluent. It’s my daughter who pays the real price, though: her hair is completely different from mine in every way, and I have no earthly idea what to do with it. Forget math and reading tutors; are there hair tutors I can hire?
Gift wrapping. I just don’t get it — and worse, I don’t really care about it. My friend Laura hand paints exquisite little gift tags and cards; they’re gorgeous, and I treasure the ones I’ve received from her. But when it comes time for me to wrap up — eh, I’ll grab something at Big Lots.
Wall Color. Our house was rehabbed right before we moved in, and the previous owner did most of the walls in an ivory eggshell with white moldings and ceilings. I like a clean white wall, so it wasn’t until this past summer when I finally got around to painting something. I decided to put some color up in my nursery. I knew generally what I was looking for, and after studying the paint chips at Lowe’s, I selected Laura Ashley’s Green Glass. I knew after the first roller stroke that the color was too intense — but it was too late. I’ve made my peace with the hue now — but I’ve lost a lot of confidence in my ability to choose the right shade!
I could go on, but I’ll stop there in the hope of retaining at least a little credibility with this crowd. Care to share your blind spots?
posted by Gabrielle of Design Mom at Wednesday, October 04, 2006
14 Comments:
I look at your site several times a week and love it!! It is my little break in the morning when the kids are at school and it is my all about ME time!
Thanks for including me.
I have a foolproof way to choose paint colors.
I have a blind spot for technologically outdated stuff. I might put a totally current outfit together but if you see me pull out my cell phone you'll notice that it's 3 (or more?) years old and doesn't even have a silent/vibrate mode. This is true throughout my house. Old TV, old iMac.
Another blind spot for me is in the kitchen. I can set a beautiful table, but I'm not a great cook and many of my kitchen tools are pretty of pathetic.
Also, I have a very selective blind eye for clutter. Toys must be put away, but the pile of mail/school papers/grocery lists/catalogs manage to stay on the counter for weeks.
I share Gabby's blind spot for technology. My old tv, old imac, and, what cell phone?
I have a blind spot for sewing. I have all these ideas of what to sew--or what I'd like--but have no sewing talent/knowledge whatsoever. One of my sister's is an expert quilter, the other one makes her own patterns and designs clothes, and I can't thread the machine without swearing.
I feel like my whole life is a blind spot. I can echo the hair thing--TOTALLY. I'm just waiting for the day when someone from one of those tv shows ambushes me and forces me to get a makeover. (Not that I would really object...)
Lindsey, what are you talking about? You are such a little techie, computer wizard. Plus you have good hair and perfect skin. And you are a great cook. Does everyone know that Lindsey did her own wedding cake? It was beautiful.
I'm accessories impared. This month I'm lugging my things around in a plastic Halloween bag from Old Navy.
(Son was waking so I thought I had to go -- but he fell back asleep -- yes!) Also, I don't know html and can't make my blog pretty like this one. In fact, I can't even get the spacing even in the side column. I'm so impressed with what everyone else does with their blogs!
Jordan---how very handy! Yes, it was definitely the overwhelming array of colors---and the way they were grouped in different shades of the same hue, which can be deceptive---that was my problem.
design mom---YES! about the clutter. My kids' school papers, my husband's magazines, old mail---they all drive my INSANE and must be filed/discarded before I can sleep. But my stuff on the computer desk? I don't bat an eye.
Lisa---I have a relatively nice machine, but I lack the patience for sewing anything complex. I've done simple quilts and window treatments, the occasional Halloween costume,oh, and I made new seats for my kids' doll strollers. But I still can't thread the thing without looking at the diagram!
Lindsey---Here's my solution for hair disability: get really good with headscarves.
Adriana---LOL! Hey, could be a bag from PierOne, which would be worse! ;)
Through MUCH trial and probably more error, I've developed a few tactics in choosing paint colors: I bring a magazine with the room color I want with me to home depot and match it, or I go to the Parade of Homes and find my favorite colors (a designer is usually on hand to give you the exact brand and color name--at least in Utah).
Oh my gosh. So weird that you wrote about this. Because I was thinking about how I wished I had your advice on something earlier today. My husband asked me earlier what color I wanted the bathroom to be because he was going to repaint it (He fixed an accidental hole that we gained when we replaced a towel rack. And the fixing of the small area has caused us to need to repaint the entire bathroom.) Anyyyywwwwaaaay. I have no idea what color I want to paint it.
It currently is a minty Restoration Hardware green. Very cool. But I'm always up for change. So a new color, why not. But I have no idea which new color. The bathroom is white tile everything, so I can do anything. Anyway, I was going to pose this question on my blog hoping you'd answer (since you are THE Design Mom and all). But now you've talked about this very topic, I can simply hijack your blog.
And I think I'm going to take Jordan's advice and check out Martha Stewart.
But if anyone wants to share their great color ideas, by all means.
And. Thank you for letting me write a novel. The end.
My sister-in-law just filled me in on another fool proof way for choosing paint colors . . .Pottery Barn now gives you all their paint colors on their website. Go to www.potterybarn.com and search "paint color." They use a specialty paint store so it's more expensive, but you can have the beloved Home Depot match any color.
Heidi, I'm so happy you're reading. Blogging is all about ME time for me too.
Kaila, I love the paint picking ideas. If you find someone cool at the paint store they'll match pretty much anything for you. I remember bringing in a skirt once that was a perfect grey/blue and I wanted to paint a side table in the same shade.
GcQ, lucky you that you have an all white bathroom so that color choices are unlimited. My sister-in-law just painted her kitchen in "milk-pail" and it looks amazing against white. (http://ekstanley.blogspot.com/2006/10/milk-pail.html)
In my kid's bathroom, I have white tile and fixtures and I put pale yellow on the walls. Then I assigned each child a bright towel (from Target: red/orange, bright yellow, lime green, turquoise and light (but not pastel) purple. I use orange for the hand towels and bathmat. The whole color scheme is bright and happy and rainbowy-kid-like without being cheesy.
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