People have emotions.
Big ol' freakin' deal.

emotional reaction to fake flowers." People are within perfectly normal parameters, however, in having an "emotional reaction" to some self-appointed "authority" dictating what's right and wrong in the decorating world that's among the most highly subjective and personal that one can imagine.

HGTV should concern itself more with fake designers than with fake flowers.

"Toilet rug" is not the same thing as a bath mat. After reading the piece,(no television reception here), I don't think that's what they meant at all. A toilet rug has that little cut out so it will fit snug against the toilet; I suppose the idea is that it's nice to have a soft, fuzzy place to put your feet once you sit down, but they're notorious for catching drips, as others have noted. The website shows a picture of a raspberry/pink toilet rug.

A bath mat is a small throw rug that sits on the floor in front of the sink, tub or shower. Well chosen, they add texture, warmth and color. I don't think those are "out" at all.

Your are right there is a difference between toilet rug and bath mat. That portion was headlined by the contour toilet rug. However, during that portion the designers also discussed bath rug/mat. Only one designer said it was OK to have a bath carpet. The rest all were very vocal about the socalled need to keep your feet warm while on the toilet or in the bathroom. There were not in favor of them except for one.

I think you're taking 'emotional reaction' to 'fake flowers' a bit too seriously.

Fake flowers ... ewwww!

Silk flowers ... pretty! or, in your case and HGTV's, eww!

Real flowers ... I sure hope you get an emotional reaction there. Check with Dr. Weil on that one.

That is an emotional reaction. And I think many people, dare I say most, do react to things they see in the world around them. How could you even decorate if you don't react to what you see and feel around you. That makes no sense. If you don't experience your environment, well then, you sure miss a lot! It's a beautiful world to explore! Fill your senses. Enjoy :)

I guess it's hard to understand your attachment to HGTV and what a few designers on some tv show say. If you read along here, I think most people have said they prefer something for their feet when they get out of a wet bath or shower. Function comes first in any design. And the rug doesn't have to stay on the floor. Did they store it somewhere else when done?

You sure sound like that Kimcoco kid who was around here a bit ago.

There sure is a high *emotional* reaction to what hgtv says is in or out going on here.

I find that ironic considering when a "tacky decorating" thread pops up here, there's never a lack of participants eager to tout what he/she considers outdated.

For that matter, you can find other designers (never mind the comedians), even on HGTV, who advise the opposite.

What is wrong is being doctrinaire about it. Honestly, I don't see what is so terrible about having a Miami Beach-style room in Alaska. What are you supposed to do, decorate with bearskins? The real issue is themes, not regions - even a theme that is "appropriate" to the region can be taken too far.

Apparently I should pull all the furniture in my living room away from the walls! The living room is twelve feet wide and the distance between the sofa and the chairs is just over five feet. But hey, if that's what the experts (or the comedians, I forget which) said, I guess I should do it.

"I think you're taking 'emotional reaction' to 'fake flowers' a bit too seriously."

The comments on the fake flower thread were clearly emotional.

HGTV is not the only place to come up with a list of decorating mistakes. A quick internet search will pop up a number of lists...and fake flowers do happen to be on all the ones I saw.

Putting aside the fake flowers, I agree with their entire list. Even though I would add some more mistakes, I can't dispute anything on their list and I don't see how anyone can mock their list. We just had two threads recently with to many pillows on beds. One of the designers mentioned something I asked on the guest bedroom thread. Where does a guest put all this stuff? Why are all these pillows there? It becomes a project to get into bed. Talk about function before design. Or end tables cluttered with stuff so the table top can't be used by a person. Or a clutter of personal photos.

As far as having a mat for your feet when getting out of the shower, the designers said if you need one fine use it and pick it up and put it away out of sight. They even discussed the group of people who claim they need a rug to keep their feet warm while on the toilet. That got lots of laughs.

I thought it was a very practical list. Nothing on it in and of itself was newsbreaking as it has been said before and its true. Many things that were said have even been said on this forum.

If you only looked at the list on the website, you don't get a full flavor of what they really said on each topic. There were 25 things on the list and only the fake flowers and toilet rugs seem to be discussed.

I have a little NDI arrangement that I have had for years and it still looks good. It is on the corner of my bathtub decking, just a small base of roses with hydrangea, but it fits me and I just put it in the shower about once a month, give it a bath and it looks great all over again. I used it at a work-place shower once and had several people ask the names of the roses. I was very embarrassed because they knew I was the rose person and they were serious. (Insert red face here).

I'm with you Joann.

BTW, this was a rerun from maybe 6 months ago - I posted a thread on it back then.

I think HGTV has gone so down hill with its shows that people really just think it's a joke to hear them touting what's right, wrong, in, or out. We all have our likes and dislikes. I think 'tacky' is usually something that looks cheap; just kind of tacked together? I would think most of us agree that, when something is well done or of good quality, it's not tacky, right? Whether we like it or not for ourselves?

I usually describe things as cheap or nice quality, beautiful or not, dated looking or not, and don't even use the term 'tacky.'

Now, Donald Trump has expensive things made with quality materials, but I think his stuff would probably be called tacky, as in lacking any refined taste because it's so darn gaudy and over the top. He's in a class all his own, I guess. Maybe he has some attractive stuff out there, I don't really follow the guy :)

What was the last thread like? Everyone appalled or just following along?

Well, I am going to stop reading and posting for the night. I think I can take HGTV better than the Pepperidge Farm ads.

I wasn't offended reading the HGTV piece, but then, the website didn't include comments from comedians, so maybe I'm missing the really bad parts? Still, I get the impression people are taking this too seriously. Most of what I saw is just common sense.

Look at how many people disagree with the declaration that toilet rugs are out. And then look at how many people mention how nasty a real toilet rug can be. But a toilet rug is not a bath mat. To me, it's obvious the *powers that be* think bath mats are fine, as they write "go for a regular rectangular-shaped rug away from the base of the toilet or wear slippers." FWIW, I don't consider a bathroom "carpet" to be the same as a bath mat. I've been in homes with wall to wall carpet in the bathroom, in no time at all, it's moldy and funky in ways in which an ordinary toilet rug can't begin to compare. The carpeted bathroom was popular for a number of years, though it's been hopelessly outdated um, forever. (which was probably about five minutes after the first homeowner had to pull one up after the toilet overflowed...)

Or the part about pulling the furniture out from the walls; in the picture, they show a huge room with the furniture lined up around the edges like nervous 14 year olds at their first Junior High School dance. Of course it looks silly, not utilizing all that space. But I don't think the idea is that *every* room has to have the baseboards showing on all four walls.

And oh-my-goodness, the whole fake flowers brouhaha. Quoting from the website again;"...fake flowers (and plants) are a mistake. They gather dust and don't bring life into your home like real flowers do, which look and smell better." Setting aside the fact that *everything* in your home gathers dust, I don't think the designers realize that not everyone is trying to bring "life" into their home. Some people are just looking for color or texture. If you could get a similar visual "weight" from a basket of rags, that's what they'd put on the table.

Addressing the argument of "smell", it's been my experience that very, very few cut flowers are fragrant enough to make a differance in the overall ambiance of a room. Paperwhites, freesias, lilacs, and some, (but not all) roses come to mind, but most flowers, especially the ones sold by florists, require you to shove your nose deep into the bloosom to detect any fragrance. If I want a fresh scent in my home, I open the windows and let in the breeze blowing in from the orchard. If it's too chilly for that, I toss a small chunk of fragrant wood in the stove, or light a candle. I suspect most people reach for the Glade or plug something into an outlet that's designed to waft a pleasent odor throughout their home.

I also figure that television designers probably don't live in towns so small the dot on the mapis about actual size, they live in a thriving Metropolis, someplace with yellow book pages full of florists and open air vendors selling flowers. If I lived in the middle of New York City, or Boston, or San Francisco, or someplace where the sheer size of the market would dictate that a wonderful variety of fresh flowers be available, then I'd definately favor real cut flowers over artificial ones every time too. But the reality is that I don't, and I suspect that quite a lot of other folks don't either. That's probably why silk flowers are so popular, and why the air freshener section of the home care aisle is full. ;^)

All things considered, the article wasn't bad, but it's more useful to think of as a general guideline rather than as the Decorating Commandments.

Well, I'm not offended by do's and don'ts. I would just take it for what it's worth. I don't really think that's what people are emotional about here, anyway :) I'm not too sure they're all that emotional, either.

The fact is some of the things they call mistakes are used by top designers and if they were mistakes they wouldn't be used or paid for by those who can afford the "best" of the "best."

I'm still trying to figure out that one about "everything one color." That's a monochramatic color scheme. They have designers on their shows designing rooms using this scheme. So what the heck are they saying? Do as we say, not as we do. I think the list is a joke in some respects. What really bothers me is that some people who don't know any better, but want to decorate, will take it to heart and that's a shame.

That one about moving all the furniture from the walls cracked me up also. They don't specify to do it if you have a huge room. If I moved all my living room furniture away from the walls we'd be sitting about 12" from the TV and each other. LOL

Shame on HGTV for being so wrong on so many things and expecting people to believe it.

The designers on HGTV are also the ones that tell people how to tear pages out of botanical books or calendars, and frame them for art on their walls.Having seen this done nunerous times, I dont think I would take what they say as gospel. Regards these pictures some of them look very good, but I dont see why that is more acceptable than "Faux Silk?" Anyone know the difference?

...And what the heck is so wrong with being "emotional", anyway? Jeez. Remind me to switch over to robot-mode the next time I actually start to feel something.
;-)~

I don't give a rodent's posterior what a bunch of design geeks on HGTV think of toilet rugs. When I get up at 3:00am to use the toilet, I don't want to feel cold cereamic tile under my feet. Perhaps they can all afford heated floors. Or maybe they consider using the bathroom at 3:00am tacky too!

Littledog, I want to (at the risk of being blasted here) respond to your comments about florist flowers and flowers with fragrance.

Now, anyone can take this for what it's worth, JMHO. Florist roses do NOT have fragrance, by design. Why? Because the roses that smell fragrant have a short shelf life. Why is that? JMHO, again, of course.

You ever notice when fruit start smelling in your room, it's just about reached the point of no return? I think flowers the same. I can afford to cut roses to have in my house, in every room, everyday that are fragrant. I can also afford to cut roses that last in the vase. Few people can do that, but with 250-300 roses in my garden, I have chosen roses that are fragrant and make the garden or room smell great, but I know those roses have to be removed after 2 days because they start shattering. The roses that do not smell will last a week and sometimes up to 10-14 days.

There is something in that "fragrance" gene that makes them "rot" more quickly. I am sure that no one cares about that but me, but I do choose roses for cutting and roses for fragrance and not everyone can do that, and florist roses are meant to last because if they shattered within a day or 2, their sales would be almost zilch.

Actually, it is not that roses with fragrance have a gene that makes them rot more quickly. What it is, is that the rose can't put energy into producing fragrance and long life at the same time. So, breeders for the rose markets have bred out fragrance in favor of long market and vase life.

Patricia, and others, you might enjoy a book that came out this year called "Flower Confidential" by Amy Stewart. It is an inside look at the flower growing and florist business. Fascinating!

OT - I read in a recent fashion magazine that there's a new rose fragrance out that "perfectly" captures the true, delicate essence of the rose, and is not that "cartoony" rose smell that the vast majority of rose fragrances have. I've got to find that mag and re-read that ... I'd love to find a rose perfume that truly smells like a rose.

Les, thank you. I have not read that book but have read several by several good British authors/gardeners who are saying the same thing you are saying, and it is genetics/hybridization, and we accept the differences, because we want both -- the ones that spend their energy on their form and high bloom centers, and those floppy old trusted roses that have a lot of European, Persian and Chinese in their genetics for fragrance that smell so wonderful. Of course all roses we buy in the big box stores are hybrids, and most that we buy from the boutique stores. I am unable to have the old European roses since they do not get enough chill to bloom. They will grow, just not bloom for me.

Of course, in the European and Persian gardens, any roses lasts longer than it will in the hot humid south, since the drier cooler night air promotes the longevity of roses. Nothing smells better than the old Damask rosess!

In the south, we have found noisettes and some polyanthas that I suspect have musk and noisette in their blood line, to be among the most fragrant.

Auntjen, go to your local health food store or shop that sells pure, ideally organic, essential oils (real ones, not that fragrance-oil crapola) and buy yourself a tiny 1-2ml. vial of true "rose absolute" and a 4 ounce bottle of jojoba oil. Combine A with B, pour into a brown, green, or cobalt glass bottle, and keep in a cool-but-not-cold, dark place. A little dab'll do ya, it's strong, but since it's the purest distillation of roses, you can't get much rosier-smelling than that. I warn you that undiluted rose oil can smell downright nasty when sniffed "straight up", because it simply overpowers the nose. It will smell good once diluted. You can often get it pre-diluted in fractionated coconut oil (which is just a scentless coconut oil that does not go rancid) or jojoba, if you're not going to use it quickly it's a sensible way of purchasing it. Aura Cacia, Frontier's aromatherapy line, is reasonably reliable, if an eensy bit of a ripoff. Rose absolute is better for perfumery, rose otto (the true essential oil and viciously expensive) is better for therapeutic use. Rose hydrosol, a particularly nice version rosewater, is lovely to use in the summertime - I sometimes keep a spray bottle with 10% rose hydrosol, 10% neroli (orange flower) hydrosol, 20% French lavender hydrosol and the rest distilled water in the fridge and spritz it on when I'm hot and miserable. Rose Maroc, Rose de Mai, Rosa Alba, Bulgarian or Turkish (Damascena) rose all have slightly different fragrances; a mail order source called NaturesGift.com carries them all at reasonably good prices.

If you're short on cash, a little bottle of rose geranium or palmarosa essential oil gets you close. Most people can't tell the difference, although both lack the complexity of the true roses.

Thanks so much, Mari! I'll definitely check into this. Your version is doubtless less expensive than a fancy-schmancy perfume, and healthier for putting on one's skin. The rose hydrosol sounds lovely ... I'm off to check out the site you mentioned now. :-)

Patricia, who is going to blast you for stating a fact? I thought everyone knew florist's roses (and most other flowers bred for cut stem trade) are not fragrant. Where the plant's natural emphasis would be on attracting a pollinator via scent and a wide open blossom, the breeder's empahsis is on looking good (i.e. remaining in a semi open bud stage as long as possible), and being able to survive the trip from Ecuador or Columbia in one piece. Most live plants sold to landscapers and home gardeners are the same way, sacrificing fragrance and overall longetivity for spectacular bloom and neon colors.

I have about half as many roses in my yard as you, so I know what you mean about variety. My own yard is heavy on the bourbons and noisettes for fragrance, plenty of florabundas and chinas for color, and a sprinkling of teas for stems when I want something fancy. I don't know where you're located, but in central Oklahoma, I can have roses blooming right up until December if I cover them through a couple of freezes in November. I also have a lilac that blooms at least three times a year; year before last, we had fresh, home grown flowers on the table for New Year's day. It just doesn't get any better than that. But still, I don't automatically disdain artificial plants and flowers. We have hundreds of evergreens on our farm, but I won't have a "real" tree in my home at Christmas, even though I could walk out and cut it myself.

At any rate, my point about the relevance of telling folks to only use real flowers is that it depends on where you are. I have a feeling the folks at HGTV have access to a better selection and better quality than the bruised, exhausted roses and neon colored "daisy" boquets sold at Walmart or taking up space in a cooler at the local grocery store that are available to their viewers in less populated areas.

To me, decorating isn't about making something perfect with the latest, most fashionable colors, fabrics and accessories, it's about making a place reflect you. I don't want guests to be sitting there amazed by the window treatments, or the fresh floral arrangements, or the crystal chandelier. While those things are nice, I'm not out to impress anyone. Instead, I want the rooms in my home to be so relaxing that people don't want to leave. So, if a basket of artificial flowers in the corner adds a note of subtle warmth and color, and then it stays. If it doesn't, it goes. No big deal.

Afterall, to paraphrase Emerson, the real ornaments of a home are the friends who frequent it. ;^)

When I saw the first go-round of the show, I thought of it as a temporary filler until a show with more substance could be 'thought up' by someone with a little intelligence.

I don't think ANY of it should be taken as gospel. Do whatever it is you love and enjoy!

I agree with many of you that plastic flowers are bad and silk flowers can be beautiful. My husband loved the part about too many pillows (no, he wasn't watching HGTV, just walking through the room when he heard "too many pillows" because that's his pet peeve!) And, yes, we have a lot of pillows on our bed, but my DH doesn't get the whole pillow thing. Most men don't.
Wanna bet in a couple of years all the "no-nos" will be back in style?

Eh maybe, but I don't think those toilet rugs are *evah* comin' back. LOL

Littledog, those bourbons and noisettes are wonderful for their fragrance, Madame Isiaac Perriere, the most famous for fragrance, supposedly the most fragrant in the world, is wonderful but not many (again MHO) outsmells Blush Noisette, Champney's Pink Cluster and Marie Pavie (which I believe is part musk, regardless of its classification as a polyantha). JMHO, but Duchesse de Brabant smells wonderful also, and she is a tea.

www.patsroses.com

Do you think it's possible that florists prefer unscented roses because florists often sell centerpieces for dining tables and scented flowers are a no-no with food?

I don't think so, Kitchendetective. From what I read in the aforementioned book, it really is about the life of the rose and breeding for size and hardiness. When you read and realize how the roses travel from South American, etc to the states, and how long they are out of water, etc you know that long life is the concern.

You are right about scented flowers on the table, of course. But florists sell an awful lot of flowers for vases and weddings, etc. and scent certainly is desirable in those situations.

For an important message from one Obsessed Gardener to another:

Pat, LOVE your photos, is that Double Delight on the first page of the gallery? Although it's a bit of a black spot magnet everytime it rains, I keep that one around because a single bloom can perfume one of these little rooms. And I see you're also a fan of my all time favorite; Reine des Violettes. (Long live the Queen.) IMHO, she's got it all; beautiful form, fragrance, repeat bloom, NO thorns and oh-my-goodness, the color is amazing. I have a pair planted on either side of the main walkway, and another out by the swing on the "peach side" of the main bed with Tahitian Sunset, and several varieties of Echnichea underfoot.

>We'll now be returning to our regularly scheduled programing.Kat, I was going to say that my DH didn't get the pillow thing either, until he found they're terribly useful when you want to put them behind your back to sit up in bed. ;^)

I offered DS2 some deep moss green throw pillows for his contemporary, lichen, cream, and black room. His response? "I never understood why people want pillows they don't use for sleeping." I guess it's on that y chromosome.

And, on the topic of roses, since we've already strayed far afield of the OP, solve a marital dispute in the rose garden for me, please.
DH wants to tear out all the antique roses from around the breakfast room, all from the Antique Rose Emporium. He thinks they're ugly and too prone to blackspot, despite being on a spray schedule (which I once said I would never do). He planted a bunch of Walmart roses next to the driveway, does very little to them, and they look beautiful. Should I let him replace the antiques with, shudder, gasp, Walmart????

Well, we don't have cable, never have, so I don't watch HGTV, but judging from the responses here and the bland, every-month-the-same Flotaki rug and brown and blue color scheme rooms that Home mag puts out under Candace Olsen, supposedly an HGTV guru, I would say that caring what HGTV says is just about the biggest decorating mistake one can make.

sandyponder

I don't understand your ARE roses spotting and the Wal-Mart roses not getting blackspot. I am completely confuzzled about that.

Yes, that is Double Delight. Darn, I spray her. She is not supposed to be sprayed, but you know --- if she doesn't like it, what she can do. :)

I have probably 50 roses from ARE. They sell wonderful roses. It could be your microclimate in that area. ???

KD, that depends on alot of factors. Are the growing areas similar? Same type of soil, drainage, same amount of sunlight every day? Are both sites equally exposed to the elements, and do they receive similar amounts of water? If not, you could look into amending the area; adding sharp sand for drainage, or compost to build up the soil, or trimming back a few trees to allow more sunlight to make it more hospitable. Or you might find that no roses will perform their best in that particular spot, in which case you'll want to rethink what you have planted there. But if the two areas are similar, then you have to look at what you're getting out of your roses, and what you want to put into them.

How old are the antiques? Are *you* generally happy with them? Are they the right height, do they bloom frequently, are the flowers a good color, nicely shaped with a good fragrance? Do you bring them in for cut flowers, and do they last well? IOW, assuming they are old enough to be established, (Minumum three years), other than the blackspot, are the antiques meeting your needs?

Now, ask yourself the same questions about the Walmart roses. Your WM roses could be grafted older varieties of hybrid teas and florabundas, or they could be some version of the ubiquitous Knock Out roses. Have they been in the ground as long as the antiques? If you're into cut flowers, will the flowers from the WM roses look good in a vase on the table, or are they better suited for coloring a section of the landscape that you don't spend alot of time in close proximity to?

What it boils down to is if *you* like the WM roses better, then, (gasp!) it's okay to shovel prune the antiques. BUT go to the antique rose fourm on Garden web and see if someone nearby might want to give them a good home. This would be a good time of year for someone to trim them back, dig them up and allow them time to establish themselves in another garden before winter.

In the end, your garden, like your home, should be a reflection of you and whatever you value. The only right way to enjoy your landscape is to arrange it to suit you.

I'm printing this out for DH. The antiques are less than 2 years old, so, at the minimum, I think I should wait.

I was going down the checklist. The soils were amended similarly, but the Walmart roses are on the east side of the house and the AREs are on the west. The AREs get more sunlight than the WMs because the WMs are shaded by some trees at certain times of the day. The AREs are bad cutting flowers; they don't last at all. I'm sad about this because I adore roses and once owned a magnificent rose garden, but in another state.

Sandyponder, I don't like Candice Olsen's stuff either- although I think she knows what she is doing and is a real designer. But her stuff does have a kind of all the same look to it and her colors are not interesting. I think she owns a can light factory! She must, she never does any room without them.

Littledog, you can get plenty of beautiful fresh flowers out in the sticks in the off-season - if you have enough money to go to the busiest florist you can find every few days and spend top dollar. It's maddening to spend $15 on a simple mixed bunch of flowers at the grocery and have it go all shaggy and horrible-looking in just a few days even if you do all the "tricks". (My mother's a retired florist and blessed with a positively chartreuse thumb, so I know the cut-flower tricks.) If you go to the florist the same bouquet of flowers is more like $30 and you might get another couple of days out of them if their turnover is high enough that you've gotten them really fresh. That adds up to a lot of money mighty fast!

And hey, the anti-pillow thing isn't just on the Y chromosome - I see absolutely NO point to the piles of pillows either, especially pillows that are too delicate to actually be used for anything more than looking at. I can't stand it when you can only perch on the very edge of a couch because there are so many pillows on it, and arranging the pile of fiddly little pillows just so every single time you make the bed seems downright ridiculous to me. Last time I checked, I was of the female persuasion. Although I'm unenthusiastic about chocolate, too. :-)

Kitchen Detective, the WM's have a 3-year jump on the ARE roses, because the WM roses are grafted. In 2 more years, your ARE roses will surpass them in size. I don't know what roses you have from ARE, but not all roses were meant for cutting flowers, all the AREs that you will get for long stems will probably be the Duchesse de Brabant, Madame Joseph Schwartz, Mrs. B.R. Cant in the tea roses. If you want really great smell and a rose that will bloom its head off, get Champney's Pink Cluster or Blush Noisette. Make a bed of Marie Pavie polyanthas and in 3 years, you can smell your garden when you step out the door. If you have room for bourbons, they smell wonderful also but they do shatter fast. The great smelling roses are not good going to last long but my, how they make the world smell better. Grow both, stick some of the tea's in with the HTs from WM, one for look and the other for fragrance.

No ARE roses are going to be fully grown until the end of 3 years. They are not grafted, therefore, they grow naturally at their own pace but they have been here for hundreds of years, and will still be here when the WM roses have lost their graft and gone on to rose heaven.

Oh, Patricia, thank you so much! I will look into these. Should I be planting now (8b Central TX)? I didn't deadhead the roses because I didn't want to stress them. It's still in the 80s during the day, but 60s at night now, for the past week.

You can plant anytime the grown is not frozen, but just be sure as long as it is dry, to water.

For us, the closest "busiest florist" is about a 30 mile trip one way, and from what I've seen, they're mainly trafficking in the ho-hum red, pink or yellow roses, carnations, mums, and fern fronds. They sell potted tropical houseplants too, but have a tendency to heavily oil the leaves and spray any blooms with glitter*!* (Don't get me started on florists who guild the lilly or worse - spray perfume on a flower)

There's a better florist about another 10 miles past that, (20 years ago, they had a greenhouse and actually grew their own cut roses), where you can also get all the FTD stuff, but to find wonderful, original arrangements and really unique cut flowers requires a trip to Norman a minimum of an hour's drive one way.

I like fresh cut flowers, but not really enough to spend two hours on the road to get them. With gas hovering near 3.00 a gallon, I could easily spend 20.00 before I have even one measly carnation to show for my trouble. That's why, if I can't grow it myself, or find an attractive artificial replacement, I just put something else in that spot. It's the color and the visual "placeholder" I'm looking for, not necessarily the flowers themselves.

Oh Dear, Oh My!

I didn't want to read 'The List' because I'd rather be an Ostrich (my what-I-don't-know-won't-hurt-me theory).

Got my third cup of coffee and it gave me courage and yes, I looked.

*insert hangs head in shame icon here*
I have 16 of the 25 fax poos, right down to my precious (to me) Starlight Lava Lamp circa 1970, on my nightstand (Hey, it calms me. What can I say? lol).
BUT! If it's any comfort to some, the gunk and bubbles inside the lava lamp matches my bedroom---does that add points? *smile*

Hey, one of my friends collects lava lamps.

Why should it be OK to have a display group of pillar candles, but not to have a group of lava lamps?

Littledog, you do a marvelous job of illustrating my point. :-) It's outrageous. I frequently think the HGTV folks are downright clueless about 90% of their viewership.

I actually did one thing different from the list. I had all my furniture lined up against the walls. I have a smallish living room and it seemed the only way I could place the furniture but I tried something different anyway. DH LOVES it. Me? The vote is still out.

The difference between plastic flowers and good silk flowers should have been addressed. My mom had plastic flowers. They were horrible, blue pieces of plastic, molded to somewhat resemble flowers. They stank to high heaven of a plastic smell. They were horrid. She, however, loved them. She was a parapalegic and couldn't go outdoors to garden or gather real flowers so they did nicely for her.

In *this* century, everything has progressed, fake flowers included. They are no longer the smelly, blue, lumps of plastic.

I think I have too many pillows still though on the bed. I did remove a few sofa pillows after the show too. They weren't adding to the look and DH kept complaining about them. No toilet rugs here. My great aunts toilet rug was enough to frighten me away from them forever as a child. It looked like it could crawl away by itself and it smelled horrible. I've never even considered having one.

I had to stop watching some of the HGTV design shows because one day it seems something is "in" and the next it is "out". I have many faux pas in my house according to the "list". Oh well, ya'll have been more help to me than HGTV ever has. Anyone know a place to get some nice high end silk poppies in Dallas? HGTV designer gasp!