Patricia! Oh we should all get together and have a cup of matcha...See how current I am? NM...we’re gonna want wine right?

Yep, I loved my Baby Turtle. And my Red kitchen. In an amusing twist of irony, the galley kitchen I’m itching to paint in this Georgia house is the same shade of red as the shade I picked years ago—the rest of the House is a muddy sage-brown green-almost the Turtle! It sucks every drop of natural light out of a LR that has only one possible window. Cannot. Wait. To paint it.

My current favorite and the color that’s going to bring in light and happiness and make the wasps go somewhere else is Ben Moore’s Gray Owl. I used it in the house we built 2 years ago and I’m not at all tired of it. I have a gallon of BM Stonington Gray too. It may flow down the hall and into the guest bedroom. We shall see. One of my absolute favorite blog homes for paint colors and antiques and use of found objects, is Joan’s New Hampshire house in For The Love Of A House blog. I used her BM titanium in my MBR in California. Her Ashwood (same strip as Titanium) made a beautiful bedroom in my old home.

Whoa Nellie! Now who’s the Copycat? No one tell Joan, ok?

That sounds like a plan. I love Stonington Gray. I am contemplating taking that throughout my public area. I really LOVE that red. I had a similar red as you, but mine was a Glidden. I cannot remember the name now. I miss it so much. I think I had more happy in my home when I had red in it. Now everything is a wheat color and dry sage. Have stayed with that too long. I want happy red!! Here's to painting. I will have a BM Stonington Gray and Chardonnay.

Great old thread! I enjoyed the stories and can relate to some. I'm flattered when someone wants to copy something I've done related to decorating, but those who have done so have been gracious about it so it feels like a compliment. I've never had anyone try to recreate anything I've done to the extreme, but then my decor taste is not exactly "on trend" ;)

I do remember getting upset with my best friend growing up because most everything I got as a gift (for Christmas and birthdays), she would ask her mom for the exact same thing and get it. Even things she didn't seem to want or treasure, she just had to have. My mom's mantra through it all was, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Now I can appreciate that she just wanted to be like me, but as a kid it was hard to take sometimes. Thankfully, I don't have any friends nowadays who enjoy "flattering" me quite so much. Some of the more extreme stories on this thread brought to mind the creepy 90s movie, Single White Female.

Carla-- While les917's comment is a little blunt, I agree that life is too short... If some of your friendships are so competitive, maybe it's time to let them go. It sounds like you already recognize that the one you are hurting by hanging on to resentment is yourself. I'm sure it's not easy (especially if it's family), but I hope you can find peace.

patricianat I know who you mean and for the life of me her name escapes me - she moved to KY I think. She had a fabulous garden as well - is that the same person?

was it cattknap? or something like that. iam picturint green walls, a fireplace and some layerd paintings. I had saved the pic for inspiration but I cant find it on this computer. :)

Was it teacats?

I think it was catnap - teacats was in TX not CA

Wow! I remember so many of these names!

I joined in 2005 and was WonByHerWits (my greyhound's name, now gone, so I switched to DYHGarden for Houzz).

OH so THIS is the thread referenced by Polly in her other post. Yes- so nice to see so many of the names on here. I couldn't remember too many of them but once I saw the posts, I remembered right away. I very much remember that I thought that les917 was the be all and end all and when she liked something I was considering I knew I was gold.

How did all these gardenweb alumns get to this old thread? Did you get an email notification? I'm here every day and I can barely find my way around.

I'll have to read this entire thread. But, wow!!!!! I have thought about Les so much. There is NO ONE that has visual spatial skills like her. A true addition that gave so freely of her advice.

I started posting here in 2007 &perceived so much help with my old house. I have such fond memories of many that posted around that time.

Scrolling back up to read this post.......

:)

I'm in the process of building a semi custom home. I have had a series of appointments with the Design center to pick out cabinet style, cabinet color, paints, flooring, bathroom finishes, hardware etc. I also have had a series of appointments to pick out lighting at a lighting store. The builder is building several spec homes in this neighborhood we well. Imagine my surprise last weekend when I was browsing the MLS and pulled up one of the spec homes listed. This home had all my design choices. Double stacked cabinets, chimney hood in white shaker. All my lighting. etc etc etc the list goes on. Im pretty sure they took my choices and just transferred them to that house. They are such specific choices that I think it is too coincidental to think their designer just happened to choose exactly the same thing. Ill add the designer at the design showroom sat and wrote down those choices. She did not help or guide me. Oh and this home is 6 lots down from mine.

I would be sooooo annoyed designgroupsouth!

My husband said....."the least they could have done was pay you for the design LOL". Life goes on!

There is another poster I miss, can't remember her name. She lived in the South, I think, and was such a good writer, I always looked forward to her posts and thought she should write a book. She lived in a house on a small hill and bought a portrait of a man, gave him a name and hung him over her headboard. Can anyone remember her name?

I too have have thought of Les often and how threads would wait for Les to come around and give her thoughts. And yes Patricia, most of the designs were done on a more modest budget!

Funny story:

the SIL I posted about 10 years ago just built a new house. And she bought the EXACT same chandelier I've had in my house for the past 9 years, just in a different finish. Over the years she's inquired about it, never said she liked it but asked what company it was from and where I got it. When we walked in her new house, first thing my son said was, "look mom it's the same light as ours!" It was truly comical and such an obvious copy. And the truth is I don't even care anymore. If you read my thread on conversations you will know there are further worse things I'm dealing with and I honestly found it funny, especially since she pretended like it was a coincidence and I called her out on it. But, it really didn't bother me in the least the way it would have 10 years ago.

I should have said it is great to see old posters returning too! :)

peppapoodle you nailed it about Les and the spatial skills. Her ability to see a space and move things around made magic happen in a lot of threads and houses.

To les917/
Yes, you may be right that it’s shallow of me to dwell on this copying but when they continue to brag about their “copied room” & flaunt it to mutual friends, it’s bothersome, especially since my room transformation took us 2 months & hours & hours searching for the right ceiling, flooring, wall & furniture & paint combinations that suited us! But, I’ll get over it. Funny how something like this bothers women more than men.

I hate when someone comes over and never say they like something in your home but asks many questions, (who makes, what color, where did you buy?) and then it shows up in their home. I had a friend do that more then once. I don't care that they copied, but for crying out loud can't you even admit you liked it in my home?

You know what else is so funny about this whole thread?

Since the Wild popularity of Chip and Joanna's show fixer upper are all the decorating groups on Facebook and blogs decorating their homes in the same "farmhouse" style.

What about the legendary black and white "something's gotta give kitchen"?

Don't y'all remember over on kitchens all the black and white kitchens after that movie?

ALL COPIED!!!! Or used as inspiration. It's all in semantics right?

Anyhow, my point is, it used to bother me too. But I suppose no one is really truly original....unless if you're Les917 or redbazel the OGs of GW style. My relationship with my dear SIL means way more to me than any silly light fixture. Why get mad? Just know when you did something first you're probably forging the way for many after you. It's not worth getting upset over.

Gail, was it Trailrunner you're thinking of?

Hi Allison, Not Trailrunner, but I miss her too! She was so interesting and had such a lovely home.

I think I know who you are thinking of gail618, she lived in KY, a lovely home, gardens, porch, patio areas and acreage, in horse country or maybe she had horses? I think she was on the BAH forum same time I was, 2007, but maybe I'm conflating her with someone else.

Well said, Polly! Actually all of you make good points...even those steaming over the copying thing.

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but I can well imagine that if I spent grueling weeks or months carefully choosing cabinets and lighting, flooring and paint—then my neighbor or sister-in-law or Ex-husband’s new wife coming over to drop off the triplets, suddenly had the identical chandelier and wall color...or gray-green cabinets with hand-forged hardware and World Market counter stools...yep. Yes. Yeah. It would probably be pretty annoying. Yes. I believe it would. There are some things that might make sense that Louetta Mae and I might pick in common. Perhaps Southern Living had a big spread with Gray-green cabinets? Or Home Depot had those pendant lights and well...Crabapple Corners ONLY has a Home Depot! Makes sense. But we usually don’t get all twisted up over coincidence. Do we?

So, it may be too late for your particular copycat irritation, but if she does it again... Here’s what I’d do...(after I inwardly said “Oh No You Didn’t!!). I’d smile. A Big happy smile. Look around in wonder and awe. And say...

”Well, Louetta Mae, I LOVE my kitchen paint color in here! Oh...You found that teal sofa at Leroy’s Sofa House too? I hope you got as good a sale as I got! It all looks Yummy! Just Beautiful! You did a Great Job Girlfriend!”

You get to let her know You Know exactly where she learned her good taste. She gets the approbation and praise she hopefully wants from you since you do have good taste. Or...She has her nose out of joint because she thought she pulled it off without you or anyone else getting wise. You stay in a good mood because you kept your cool but made your point. And if by any wild chance YOU were heavily influenced by Southern Living or BHG or Domino Magazine or by the talented Mrs. Gaines and You aren’t as intuitive or original as you thought you were... you handled it with class and didn’t embarrass yourself or Louetta

And just sayin’...Sometimes when I’m really pretty impressed with another’s pendant lights or drapery...I Don’t say How Pretty! Sometimes instead, I ask...Where did you find those drapes? Not all of us immediately compliment.

Red (formerly in Ca)

So glad to see this old thread and all the old GWers. Les, where have you been?! Every time someone asks about spatial arrangement, I keep wishing you’d pop back in.

I live in a tract where there are a few other homes that are identical to mine. Not the same color, but same layout, same siding, etc. I painted my house last year and afterwards, I couldn't decide if I liked it, made a mistake, or what. So when the owner of one of the identical houses painted theirs almost the exact same color as mine (even the door!), I was pretty happy. For some reason, looking at that house, I could put it in perspective and say, "Hey, that looks pretty good." I'm still not able to say that about my own house, but now I have that other one right down the street that looks good so I know mine must look good, too! And if I'm completely wrong and mine really does look bad, at least I'm not alone in my bad taste. Misery loves company, it's true.

(redbazel, you crack me up so I do hope you hang out awhile).

This has been an interesting topic. Told a friend about it, what did she think, how would she react. Like me, she just couldn't decide!

So glad I read this topic! Hello all!

Design, normally I blow it off if a friend or someone else I know copied my designs, but your builder will be making money off of your work. I would confront him. That's just not cool.

Haha - not one of the 'old crowd' but an old G'webber all the same, and I am reminded of the school kids I work with in my arts & crafts classes. When a child gets upset that another child copied their colors or picture (which is a regular occurence), another child will inevitably point out that it should be taken as a compliment, and I usually ask if the offended child invented that color, or that subject.

Also, it is deeply ingrained in our nature to copy other people's behaviour. There have been a number of scientific studies proving this...

"Drawing power of crowds

Have you ever joined a crowd of people without knowing why, but just assumed something must be going on so it might be worth sticking around?

Milgram was fascinated by how people join crowds for no readily apparent reason. He tested this by having a group of people stop in a busy street and look up to the six-floor of an adjacent office block where nothing whatsoever was happening (Milgram et al., 1969).

What he found was that 4% of passersby would stop to join a single person gazing up, but 40% would stop if there were 15 people already there. On top of this fully 86% of passersby would at least look up to see what all the fuss was about...."

Nice trip down memory lane, so good to see some of you are indeed still around! :) Red,
you're still here, and in GA now?! I can still see your Baby Turtle living room in your CA home, loved
that room! We need to talk paint, lol, I really miss that.

@gail, is it Jane you're referring to? (Can't think of her screen name,
it's making me crazy.) She lived in a small town in AL, had moved there
from up north (MI, I think?). Her house was a quaint
Victorian or similar, and IIRC she had a front porch that I coveted.
Allison, I think she went to Birmingham once in awhile to shop and you
and she were talking about some of the same stores to score antique furniture? (Crazy the little details we remember.) She kept us posted about a blind date once, I
think. And she obtained a painted portrait of a man, I'm pretty sure he
was from a bygone era. She hung him above her bed, and gave him a name
(I think she made him a dashing Spaniard, lol), and she included him in
her witty stories.

ETA: What happened? My sentences got rearranged when I hit Submit, they were tidy paragraphs before I posted!

Yes, Moonshadow, it was Jane! I can't for the life of me remember her screen name. I miss her posts! They were always very funny, I always thought she should write a book. I wish she would come back. Hope she's doing well. I wish Trailrunner would come back too. I remember she popped in once not too long ago but hasn't been back again since.

That is strange, your post was formatted properly when I first read it too.

It was Catnap and she moved to Kentucky. I, too, had saved her pictures but as computers come and go, something always gets lost, even with the Cloud, I have had things so scrambled they might as well be lost.

Carol b-w-fl, I am an old garden webber, probably since 1990s. I was on the rose forums frequently. I had about 500 roses at one time. My husband, who had early Alzheimer's, sprayed them all with Round-Up, thinking it was Miracle Gro or something like that. They just kept dying, one by one. The county agent could not figure out what was going on with the soil. Finally, my gardener told me he thought he knew when he found all the Round-Up empty. I had some very lovely and rare roses. It has taken about a decade to get beyond it. C'est la vie.

Usually, if friends copy anything I did, it is minor, not the whole enchilada. I do not mind. I have friends in different circles and we each like what we do and like to think it original but someone will ask about the drapes, another about the paint, and maybe even another about the print, the dishes, the clocks. I do not mind. They do not copy the whole thing and when I give something to a DIL, usually furniture, I do not recognize it when they have "painted" or done whatever they do to things.

No, the poster I'm thinking of isn't catnap, I remember catnap. Moonshadow is right, it's Jane in Alabama that I'm talking about.

Yes, newdawn1895!

YES! Thank you Allison, it's been driving me nuts! I wish she would come back!

Yes! Jane = newdawn! Thanks Allison, that was making me crazy! :)

I have a lot of copycats in my family, they do everything we do, we purchased a new car like 4-5 years ago and a lot of people in my family went and purchased new cars, we have a projector/movie theater/family room and a 100in screen, they want to copy our movie theater idea, my neighbors as soon as they saw we purchased brand new stainless steel appliances, they went and purchased brand new appliances, they are lucky my husband and i love them and see them like family hahaha!

Now this one is on another level, i really got mad over the following events:

When i got engaged 6 years ago (I have been married for 5 years already) they all went and purchased similar rings to mine, and a girl that DH and i know COPIED my ring, YES, MY RING, SAME EXACT RING!!!! I was so upset!!!!

Marian, when my sister remarried she copied my wedding band (gold woven - had open holes - with diamond mounted) almost exactly. Would have been if my band if it was still being sold. So for my 40th bday, I designed a new ring. Recently she told DD1 she wants to start collecting stacked bands "like Allison's." :-/ She doesn't mean just stacked bands, but ones exactly like mine. Luckily, they are not made anymore either and she doesn't have the internet to find them as resales.

Copying someone else's jewelry should be verboten! Jewelry is such a personal item with a lot of thought going into each piece.

Same as DS1's name. :) DH and I spent months trying to find the perfect name for him and when I read the name for the first time, we knew it was the one. Classic and not used often, but is now gaining in popularity.

I mentioned this a few years ago, but a year after my son was born a good friend was pregnant and she asked me if it was a boy, could she give him the same name as my son. Uh, no. I was polite and told her I'd rather she didn't because our town was small and we worked very hard to find just the right name. She wasn't happy about it. I still can't wrap my brain around it.

Ahhhhhhhhhh. I didn't fully read this whole thread the other day. So nice to see you guys.

Hi Red! :)

Les - You found my bathroom rug back around 07ish or so and it still amazes me just how perfectly it ties everything in the room together. You helped with other things too but that one really stayed with me since I look at it daily.

(formerly sheesharee)

Wow wow wow!!! I remember this thread!!! What a delight to see so many familiar names popping in all at the same time!!! It’s like a little GW reunion party!

Shee, how old is your baby now? I remember when you were decorating the nursery.

Allisson, that is just wrong, like Oakley said, a piece of jewelry is something so personal, especially when it is an engagement ring or wedding band!!!!

I know! Thank you both for confirming. lol In her defense, she doesn't have a creative bone in her body. She likes my clothes too. DD1 helps her find/buy things, so she asks me if I mind if my sister gets it in a different color, etc.

I hate being copied so much. Ive built a few custom Homes only to have my design ideas replicated and duplicated by family and friends. After a while of going to other peoples homes that look JUST like mine i get the bug to sell and build again. With each build ive been going more and more unique with my designs. Eventually ill create something just outrageous enough that youd have to have great big brass balls to copy it. I like my space to be unique and mine alone. Personally i think people should put in their own work And find their own voice. Bahhhh sheeple