Goodness knows Michi, it has been that since I was a joey and before, I guess it is just the perverse Aussie humour. I really would do your ironing, to me there is nothing more satisfying than freshly ironed clothes.

Roo - In the U.S. in recent years – maybe when “texting” became popular, and young people became too lazy to communicate in whole words .. LOL, OMG – the media started using abbreviations for celebrities’ names & couples .. JLo (Jennifer Lopez), “the Beibs” (Justin Beiber), LiLo (Lindsay Lohan), Bennifer (Ben Afleck & Jennifer Lopez), TomKat (Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes), etc.

Here, the only expression I’ve heard for redheads, is “gingers”.

The evolution of language is fascinating, and hastened along by hi-tech communications & globalization. Expressions that started with Hip-Hop & teens, have already become part of the average person’s vocabulary .. LOL, Dis (to disrespect), Props (kudos to).

McDonald's is also called Macadoo's and MickeyD's.

Linda! Your first snow? No white Christmas? That's amazing!

Have to say "Hi" each day, so I can receive the hundreds of notifications in my email... ;)

Hi, j22!

Hi J22 and Feeny, thank you for your comments. I certainly have lots to think about! I like the bright aqua with the pink and that combination is getting to be a bit of a theme in my home, as I have small touches of both those colours in the entrance hall and kitchen as well. I want to try other colours and I quite like lime green and that chartreuse greenly yellow. The creased linen sofa is a big disappointment though. Maybe I will make some decisions when the weather warms up a little, it is so cold I just want to hibernate. Made a huge pot of home made soup today, it's just the weather for it.

@busylady I like the aqua & pink combo, too. I like a bit of leopard in my rooms. Leopard goes with everything. and would repeat the soft light brown tones. Maybe a small pillow on center sofa?

I am a bit nervous of leopard, but I will try anything once!

olldbob, How would you describe your headboard material? Is the floral a country calico or something more on the contemporary side? I am not a seamstress, but in our community there is one quilting shop and Walmart for fabric. We used to have a huge JoAnn's Fabrics but it seems fewer people are sewing these days.

MM, I agree! There must be less people sewing these days because to get to the nearest JoAnn's I have to travel about 30 minutes, so not worth it! I was trying to find the fabric online to post a pic but couldn't, the selvedge (sp?) says 2009, that's probably why. I wouldn't call it country, but I don't know what I would call it either. It has a black background with red ochre/pink spider mums and thin green and brown leaves, but not a cluttered print at all. Lots of background showing. Hopefully I'll upholster it when R gets home (don't know how to load the staple gun!) and then he can take a pic so I can post. Thanks for asking!

I had a part-time job in a fabric store and I was surprised how most people don't even know the basics, and some were tailors and some paid seamstresses to sew for them! And then we had one customer who dressed in drag, and made ALL his/her own clothes, including undergarments. He/she was the fanciest customer in the whole store and put us women clerks to shame!

The spider mum fabric sounds like it might have an Asian flair olldbob. I'm sure it will make a real statement with your white bedding and red ochre dresser. This is an interesting discussion. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/why-dont-people-decorate-dsvw-vd~320410

Thanks, MM! I saw that discussion, I think I commented. To me, money is THE factor, not time.

What I'd like to know is, what sparked our interest in decorating? Some people love it, some are ambivalent, some have no interest at all. I know my interest didn't come from my parents. They saw a picture in a magazine that they liked and they bought everything in that picture, done. Neither owned a single spark of creativity!

I think interior decorating is an art form.

j22, I agree! It's kind of like MP's talent for painting and all things art - you've either got it or you don't.

My interest in decorating only began 5 years ago when we built our retirement home. Prior to that I either emulated my mother-in-law's taste which I admired, or sought the help of an in-store decorator. At age 50 I finally had the confidence, decisiveness, and sense of my own style to design and decorate an entire house from the ground up. There isn't a square inch of my home that doesn't reflect something about me. It is by no means perfect, but it was a labor of love.

Well, MM, you definitely learn quickly! Your dilemma pictures are always spot on. I'd love to see the rooms in your house, for inspiration. My decorating is either experimental or accidental!

You all won't believe this, but I just had to turn the air conditioning on! It's not that hot (62F) but the humidity is about 1000% !!!

Send some of that this way!! We're awaiting snow.

I was just reading a few "design dilemmas", but in my head, I'd be asking more questions, than answering them. People buy a house, then decide they don't like anything in it .. decor-wise, and want to change .. but have no ideas to start with, for people to help them. No wonder some don't get too many responses.

I agree! Do you remember that post where this family bought a house decorated completely in red, white and blue Americana? It held only about a million more things than it should have. I asked them WHY did they buy this particular house - good schools? good neighborhood? it was free? I think she was insulted, but come on, sometimes it makes no sense at all.

We bought where we did because we were so sick of the Bay Area. Overpopulated, ghetto, way too much traffic. Here it's quiet, very little traffic and it's just a completely different life style only 45 minutes from where we were. People are friendly! It's hard to explain, but it's just so much slower.

I do remember that house olldbob. Even the ceiling was wallpapered!

Well, all dressed up & going nowhere! It started snowing earlier than expected, and my evening event started later than I hoped .. so I'm back in my robe staying home!

I'm surprised that even though Monmouth County is only an hour's drive to Manhattan, many more people work locally, than when I was in north Jersey .. and it seems just a tad more laid back. Just as built up, and just as much shopping, but at even fancy summer events, you'll see women barelegged wearing nice sandals. I would like even more of a small town feel, but places like that are really out in the sticks in NJ!

Astraea, I'm sorry about your evening! Maybe tomorrow night?

This humidity is killing me. I would gladly change places with you!

This was a fundraiser for the Sheriff, so tonight's the night .. wish he had it in the spring, but if not for the snow, it would be a nice opportunity for an event in January.

OH, is he up for re-election? I think Gov Christie is also, no? When is the election?

Don't waste your vote on Gov Christie, ok, he's coming to California :))

No, the Sheriff's had this event every winter; usually fun .. but I just don't feel like driving in the snow. You're not getting our Governor .. 'cept if he runs for President! :))

They're talking about Hillary Clinton running for President again! I thought she was done with politics? I think Gov Christie could beat her, tho.

I hadn't heard that; I thought maybe being Secretary of State was too much for her .. wasn't she sick too recently?

Morning all, actually almost afternoon, I have had one of those stupid mornings doing fiddly things that take up way too much time but you have nothing to show for it. Well so far we haven't got our rain and there is a very strong north-easterly blowing from the harbour and ocean which is pleasantly cool.

I went through the internet to see if I could find anything on the bluey for redheads. One said Aussies hate redheads which is ridiculous, but it is only used on males not females. Two theories came up which made a bit of sense. One related to the Irish settlers who went to the Victorian Gold Mines back in the 1800s. Many of them had red hair, which is also equated to firey personality, and they were always drinking and brawling. A brawl is also known as a blue so whenever the redheaded miners appeared the comment was made "here comes blue" as a blue or brawl would generally ensue. The other theory was as I thought, that it would be rude to call someone red because of their hair so it became blue - the opposite colour - Aussie humour is often saying the opposite to what you mean.

Shows how confusing the Aussie language can be - 'bluey' is a redhead and a working cattle dog, a "blue" is a brawl and then there is 'true blue' which means dinki di, fair dinkum, the real thing.

I must say that J-Lo, Lilo and TomKat absolutely drive me up the wall. The media so overplay it.

Busylady - I like the idea of having a few different colours and then weaving them through your home. I'm working on greens, blues and yellows with a lot of white but will throw in a dash of other colours in individual rooms if needed. I particularly love coral with pale blues at the moment. Love your idea of the lime green with the pink and it looks good with aqua too.

With your sofa cushions, I'm wondering if the linen isn't stretched enough over them. It is a fine line - too tight and the seams will pop but a firmer cover will help pull the creases out even stop them from forming in the first place.

Bobbi - fascinated to see your headboard fabric. From your initial description, guess what I thought of

[houzz=]

I have to say it is a pain how sewing went out of fashion but with the emergence of stores like Target and K-Mart clothing became so cheap to buy it wasn't worth sewing - particularly children's clothes. With the rise in real estate prices here too more and more mums are returning to the workforce so have no time to sew and we also have large chain stores for homemakers supplies that do ready made curtains reasonably. People just don't seem to worry about the lack of choice. I guess it is the 'beige' thing - use beige everywhere and your decor is trendy. It is starting to come a bit of a full circle here now as I find many my age are going back to sewing simply because designers and manufacturers aren't producing for olds. They all want their clothes to look good on the young dolly birds and anything done for olds is all shapeless, ill fitting polyester. Anyone with half a brain knows you don't wear polyester in our hot humid weather. I'm trying to get back into sewing myself - when I get these curtains done - as fortunately the pattern manufacturers have kept up to date and are making for all ages, sizes and shapes but with all the fabric shops gone fabric choice is very limited.

Roo - My Mom loved to sew; she sewed my clothes when I was little .. and even had a few "mother & daugher patterns"! She was good at tailoring too; take waists in, add darts, etc. She would also recover the wicker furniture, every few years, and did the curtains in my other house. I'm sorry she didn't spend more time teaching me the finer points. (that was the sun porch in my other house)

Hey, how about the design dilemma that is posted twice, with a different headlined question? I mean, a twofer? How much direction does she want for free?

judy - Do you think it's a newbie that wasn't sure it was posted the first time?

I'm a newbie...could someone let me in on what OLLD means?

Astraea, I didn't do the mother/daughter thing, that would have been laughed at here, but I did often put the girls in the same dresses - I used to buy a pattern for the middle one and enlarge it for the eldest and reduce it for the little one. It was very handy if we were going anywhere there were crowds, if one got lost you just took the other two and said you were looking for another one that looked like these. The girls still laugh about it but they love their photos and think they look great. I did recover a lounge once but it was all loose cushions so no actual upholstery needed.

Your sun porch looks pretty, I love wicker, it just never seems to date and always looks fresh. Easy to change out the cushions when you get sick of one pattern too.

I have no idea where my interest in home decor came from, I guess it started when we moved into this house. My mother always had our home nice - she cleaned it every day to within an inch of it's life, but now I think about it nothing really co-ordinated. Of course everything was for show and to make out she was better than everyone else and loved to brag we had Danish furniture (which was very new in the 50s) and Turkish carpet. The furniture was Danish style in a red plaid style of fabric and the carpet was a Turkish pattern - they screamed at each other.

I definitely had my ideas of what I wanted for the house but of course couldn't afford any of it. My first curtains were unbleached sheeting which was like calico only heavier and I found a cheap braid to trim them. They would probably be considered trendy nowadays. Over the years I have always studied home magazines for ideas but could never afford any of it, it is only now that I am throwing caution to the wind but while we still have limited choices, there definitely is a lot more than 30-40 years ago and prices are relatively cheaper so I am able to pretty much get what I want on a budget. .

Gladly, Pat, it means Old Ladies Love Design. We chat here daily, as you can see about anything and everything, and we are scattered around the world and have become very good friends. It was originally intended for over 50s - we figured we would bore anyone younger - but we do have a few 'trainees' now. You are very welcome to join in at any time.

@ sewing comments:
I love to sew but your Mother has me beat, Astraea. Your Mom was good!
My Mom sewed clothes 4 me and I sewed for my kids.

For many sewing is an obsession. Some are fabric-a-holics and some are sewing machine addicts. I'm not saying what I am... ;)
There is a good site for sew-ists (we don't like to be called sewers, too close to sewage!)...here's the site (people from all over the world like this site, just like Houzz)...some who R just starting to sew and some who R fabulous sew-ists. http://sewing.patternreview.com/

Sewing was always a necessity for me - I even sewed my wedding dress and embroidered 3,000 pearls on it. I liked to be different too, I hate walking down the street and seeing myself coming. Maybe my fashion interest led me to furnishings. I have never considered myself a good sew-er though (feel the need to hyphenate that) while I love the idea of it, things always seem to go wrong for me I just can't dash things off like others I know.

Funny story - gosh so many things here take me back in my life - when I was about 13 or 14 I had two really good bffs and we all went to the same local church and Sunday School. All our mothers sewed for us as they did in those days. Every year at Sunday School we had an Anniversary which included prize giving, etc. and all the girls just had to have new dresses but no one ever discussed their dresses, like wedding dresses you saw it on the day. In those days fabric shops were dime a dozen, the choice was endless and I found a fabric I loved, a satin cotton covered in little green leaves and tiny pink flowers. I had it trimmed at the neckline with a green velvet ribbon and wore the most outlandish pair of green suede heels, (I think Elvis was singing about blue suede at the time) matching clutch purse and a white straw boater with a green velvet ribbon band ending in a bow and trailing ties. On the big day we all arrived at Church and there was my bff in the exact same material except she had gone with the pink, large pink picture hat, pink shoes and bag and a pink insert in the skirt of her dress. Of course everyone wanted to know what bargain basement we had bought the fabric at. Needless to say my social climbing mother was absolutely mortified.

I'm going to open olld 1/26 now, hopefully with a pic of GB1 bed. Fingers crossed!

Thanks olldroo! Someone mentioned buying sheets above...I get mine at Bed Bath and Beyond. If you get on their mailing list they keep sending you coupons...They honor them no matter what the date is, even though they have an expiration date. So I never pay more than 80% for anything there, as I always have plenty of 20% off coupons.

Hi Pat Browne,
Welcome to OLLD!

Thanks Pat, I'm sure the OLLDs will appreciate that. Probably half of them are snoring right now. Now you mention it my DD shops there with the coupons and often gets discounts off discounts off specials that saves heaps and she gets some great things there too, not just linen.

Did you know they have a plastic sleeve thingy that hangs over the inside of a kitchen cupboard door to keep coupons in and organised? She was moaning about all the different coupons one time and I happened to search this site and found it. She loves it and is cursing she didn't get 2. Don't know if it was all stores but her local one didn't have it in stock and she could only get it online but the delivery was as much as the item. As she was at the store making other purchases the guy ordered it for her and waived the delivery fee.

[houzz=]

Do note Bobbi has already opened tomorrow's thread so do come over to OLLD 1/26.

roo, you are an overachiever, plain and simple. And I can absolutely relate to the social climbing mother!

In high school, I sewed all my own clothes. I had a choice every September - 4 off-the-rack dresses or the equivalent $$$ value in fabric. I took the fabric, natch! I don't sew clothes anymore, just stuff for the house. Welcome Pat!

Thanks, I'm not sure I know where to find OLLD 1/26, as I found this post by accident. Is it under "discussions, other"?

Yes Pat, you can search discussions - other or type in OLLD 1/26 - discussions and do a search.

Bobbi I would consider myself an overachiever if did things because I absolutely love doing them and can think of no better way to spend my day. Unfortunately $$$$ or lack of, force my "achievements".

judyg...look what i saw today! what a coinciedink! all at Tuesday Morning! and a perfect lamp! lol

J22/Roo - We had a friend of the family who had Mom beat by a mile; "professional grade". Back in the 40s & 50s, she'd buy designer suits & dresses at the best stores in town, take them home & take them totally apart .. then make her own pattern from them. Then she'd put the garments back together so no one could tell, and return them to the store, within a couple of days. Buy herself fabric & have the same outfit for a fraction the price!

NO WAY!!!! I definitely could not go there. I once knew a girl who had a very wealthy Daddy and she was always doing the social rounds in gorgeous clothes and rarely wore the same thing twice. Found out she used to go to the swishy department stores, buy whole outfits, charge them to Daddy's store credit cards, wear them to a function and return them the next week. I could never have been so bold.