There are few things I love more than Japanese kimono's and the printed silks they're made of. Above is a vintage girls' kimono which I'm wondering if would fit me well enough to wear as a blouse... Pictured below is not a traditional style kimono (although I have a couple of those, too) but a pretty embroidered silk robe that I forgot I had. The lining is in shreds from when I used to wear it and I tucked it away in the closet years ago with the intention of replacing the lining and wearing it again. I had forgotten all about it until my recent bedroom clean-out spree. I draped it over the ugly free standing closet and it looks gorgeous against the plum walls (I am sooo loving my bedroom now). Which gave me an idea....!

I've been on the hunt for a beautiful new bedspread (I don't like the one I have now at all) and have found quite a few but as I prefer vintage textiles many of them are not the right size for my bed. I also fear that as with my first vintage bedspread, it won't last very long. But I have this vision now of a gorgeous kimono print bed now. I'm thinking maybe a patchwork quilt using large patches to show the great patterns and maybe some pillows out of solid pieces? 

Here are some of the vintage fabric pieces I've found so far that are exactly what I envisioned.

And some new fabric that's available but doesn't have some of my favorite elements, it would still be good though for filling in whatever space I need to build the whole thing up to king size.

I'm thinking, actually, of mostly using this gorgeous koi print. But one or two of the following might also do in small amounts. Perhaps the bedspread can be made of the new fabric as it should be stronger and the vintage can be used for pillows. Anyway, this is my new obsession. Looks like I need to get my sewing machine fixed asap!

Voila! (Almost...)

I have been hating my bedroom for quite some time now and I wasn't sure why. It has one of the biggest windows in the house but I can't enjoy it completely because it's also the most private space and the window most available to neighbors passing, though just barely available to most. It also has has large, necessary furniture and takes the brunt of my lack of storage. So I decided to at least repaint and hoped the new color would make me happier. We all know a little something about that story so I'll skip it. Today I finally felt like doing a little more painting and have nearly the entire first coat on now (minus two spaces behind the largest most difficult furniture to deal with moving). I was just in there and realized how much I'm loving the new color. It truly is warmer and richer than the old green, there's energy to it even with just the lamps on -which I always prefer to the overhead light. Forgive the terribly unmade bed (I'm about to go back in there and change the sheets), I realized that I actually liked looking at the room with the messy bed better than looking at the room with the perfect bed (and everything else a mess as there are tools, light switch covers and screws, etc. cluttering up the dresser right now). Also in need of forgiveness: the blue tape visible at the edge of the floor. I also made a few other changes like moving the bed a little closer to the wall, putting the alarm clock and lamp on the other side and using a vintage suitcase on its end to hold them. And FINALLY, an art solution, at least for the moment. The print over the bed had been hanging on the opposite wall for YEARS since I bought it. While I still wonder if I really would prefer a huge print over the bed, this one looks great for now and shares similar shades of the wall paint -by happy coincidence. I'll try to be just as good and take a final photo once the second coat and trim color are on but you never know with me :)

This Is For Someone Special (You Know Who You Are)

The title above is another from Barbara Kruger and is what I thought of when I heard this song...



PS 'Someone Special': I imagine this is a song you would give to me, not the other way around.

A friend of mine used to have a T-shirt with the word 'Babe' written across the boobs in script. It was found at a thrift store and given to her by another friend of ours who said simply, "Only Teresa can wear a shirt like that and get away with it." Dead right. Teresa had an adorable little doll like-ness to her that made her so non-threatening in every way that it didn't seem the least bit obnoxious for her to wear the word like a sign. It was so cute it was almost funny. At the time the statement made me picture it in my head, worn by the friend who had gifted it. And with that image in mind the word 'sassy' immediately occurred to me as befitting the mental image of the other friend wearing the shirt. Unfortunately, I was totally incapable of deciding on a descriptive of the energy of my wearing the shirt as the attempt slammed me right in the middle of my lightest and darkest sides -torn as to whether either could possibly be true.
I've always had a thing about the word 'dame' (pronounced in the way that calls to mind 1940's mystery movies rather than aristocrats). I imagined having a T-shirt that had 'Dame' written across it and felt that it allowed for my dark side where 'Babe' did not. As all of this passed through my head a minute ago I tried to search up some actresses who played dames in old movies and came across this most perfect photo EVER.