This is supposed to be a decorating blog, so I don't blame you if you're a little disappointed (and skeeved out) by the photos of my icky paint and the underbelly of the kitchen floor. So...like the flourish of a magician's hand, I'm going to show you something else.

This here is a photo of my favorite wall from my last apartment--you can see more of these on the domino Flickr gallery. Notice the use of three dimensional objects as wall decor--this is very me (don't panic about the doll in the cage). I love how graphic the wall looks. But I had to put lots of nails in the wall to hang these things. And I just realized that I'm terrified of putting nails in my pretty green wall. Tonight I do the deed. I'll let you know how it goes.

Any tips about hanging things without ruining the wall?

Uh, oh. I just found one more thing to worry about. Over at Apartment Therapy they're talking about what your decor says to your date. I could have a nurturing apartment, a seductive one, or a smart one. Right now it just says bookish crazy person who starts a lot of art projects and never finishes them. I'm an art teacher's worst nightmare. Maybe sometime I'll show you the mess.

Thanks to Jessica at Fig & Plum for the commiseration and the information. Seeing Jessica's walls made me realize that this really isn't an issue related to the great fire we had in the building a few months ago. It's just an old apartment. Sadly, I own it as is--it's a coop, so tenants are responsible for everything within the walls. I think that includes paint from tenants past. (By the way, I found pink, baby blue and cream colors. I wonder what people will think in the future when they find my orange and basil green? A thought for another post, no doubt.)

My friend Isaac suggested using Kilz primer, which kind of sounds like magic. And there's always professional skim coating, but maybe that's not the thing to do...

Sometimes I wish I had someone else around to help me make these decisions, you know?

Since I'm tearing everything apart today, I decided to pull up a few of the linoleum tiles in the kitchen to see if there's a wooden floor under there. There is, but it looks like this. My neighbors found a gorgeous one beneath a layer of plywood, so they had the wood refinished and will leave it that way How does everyone feel about a wooden floor in the kitchen? Is it hard to keep clean? I am thinking the kitchen will eventually be a little retro, but I don't know. I'm keeping the original cabinets--see below. Getting rid of the ugly fan...

Ever since I was a little girl, I've been overcome by bursts of energy. And when I get them, look out. Because I don't. Take this little fit I just had in the hallway I want to paint blue. I turned on some bad electronica and started to scrape a little. Suddenly entire slabs of paint--layers and layers of it full of lead, I'm sure--came peeling off the wall. I didn't stop to think about why or if it should be doing this. I just peeled. And now look at it. Whoopsie. I think I'll leave that little mess for now and go make another one just like it in the bedroom. It feels really, really good even if it is a hundred degrees in here without the A/C...

I'm out of excuses. I woke up this morning to the shot you see above and the pile of paint below. It's time for a skim-coat and a paint job in the bedroom...

Should I just peel it all off or what?

My living room is dark.

Who am I kidding? My whole apartment is dark, which I will never stop complaining about (unless I convince the coop board to let me knock two new windows in the place). To make matters worse, there is a light switch in the living room that does absolutely nothing. Apparently every apartment in the building has the same decorative switch. It's such a tease.

Anyway, I've needed lamps for the living room for over a year. I finally found this lucite and peach ceramic beauty for a mere 25 bucks at a junk shop in Red Hook. People are always telling me that I have to pay retail. But once again I've gotten something for nothing. And a fine something it is. Look how cute it is with the cracked lucite finial. And would you check out that color. My friend Isaac thought I was insane when I got it, but even he agrees that the peach against the green walls really warms up the room.

I was trying to figure out what kind of shade to get and came across David and Jamie Brown's LampShade Blog--it looks like they have a store called Brown's Decor, where I found this kind of shade. Does it make sense to do this shape? I can't tell.

Now, tell me, what kind of shade should I get?

I couldn't sleep the other night, so I started thinking about my wall of tree paintings. I tucked a few together and started taking some self-portraits while I held tree pose next to them. I'll spare you those photos, but share this one for now. More on that lamp later, but you can really see the two different Basil and Dill Pickle green colors on the wall here.

Nighty-night--I'm going to make myself useful.

Speaking of chairs and Design Boom, I had forgotten that I bought their poster last year of an Illustrated History of the Folding Chair. Last night Emma snuck into the linen closet because I'd removed the doorknob to clean the escutcheon and couldn't close the door. When I went to put everything back that she'd knocked onto the floor, that poster fell out. I never hung it, but I just love it as anyone who read my Daily Dot about it here last fall might know.

my latest obsession--courting chairs. I found this one on the JustStephen Blog, but I want one that actually looks like a loveseat or a sofa. I'm told that Jonhathan Adler makes one and so does Carl Dellatore, but I can't find them. Has anyone seen them? I think I want one. I wish Design Boom would do one of their amazing histories on it.

I'm very excited to see that someone at Apartment Therapy likes Scrappy-girl, or her rotten cat Emma...
I'm one of their slinks (surreptitious links to other good sites) this afternoon! I feel sort of like Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer when Clarissa tells him she thinks he's cute and he goes flying through the air (can't find a video clip right now, but I'll keep looking).

Holly Becker, the blogger behind decor8 and active dominomag.com community member--the number of posts she has puts me to shame--went and found a great place for Scrappy-girl to shop. It's a store called El Burro and they have really affordable, I mean really affordable stuff--Holly found a bunch of things for less than $50. I  sort of feel like I have a personal shopper. I especially like this blister lamp, though I'm not sure where I'd put it. I wonder if that red bulb means that the light is reddish...

Thanks for the tip, Holly!

A while ago, I posted this on my other top secret private blog:

My bratty cat Emma has spent 11 years:
-- scratching my couch to shreds;
-- keeping me awake by howling all night long and/or knocking things off my dresser;
-- batting one piece of dry food at a time onto the kitchen floor where she eats it and leaves crumbs that feel icky on my bare feet; and my favorite,
--dipping her paw into her bowl of water and splashing it around until her food mat is sopping wet and the crumbs I just mentioned are soggy. That feels even better on my bare feet.

But now she has a new hobby: She has torn a hole in the batting underneath my box spring, so she can climb up into it and sleep between the springs directly beneath my head. If she just lay there quietly it'd be one thing. But every time I roll over she lets out a pissy little yelp and scratches at the top of the box spring. Have I mentioned that this is right beneath my head?

Look at the little devil.

I thought I was the only one driven crazy by her pets, but today, I discovered that Apartment Therapy is addressing the issue of irksome pets. Check our the comments--I hate to say it, but cats are the biggest culprits...

AT is also having a Pet Decor Contest, which is sheer genius.

It's seen better days, but this here table was part of a set that came with the lake house my parents bought in 1971 in the Ozark Mountains. The couple selling it had to get out quickly, so they gave away all the furniture with the house.

It's strange how a piece of furniture can evoke so many memories. I can remember when I wasn't much taller than this table--I used to put my coloring book on it and scribble away for hours. When I got a little older, it was my job to clean it with Windex and Pledge. Once while I smeared Windex across the glass, the Gerry Rafferty song "Baker Street" was playing on the equally mid-century modern console stereo that my little brother recently snatched up for his own living room. That was 1978, and the radio still works. Someday I'll get George to send a photo of it. He owes it to me.

All that history. You can understand why I want to decorate around the table. It's like the perfect pair of shoes. Or your mother's old lucite necklace. This is the real deal--as authentic as it gets. It even makes me feel a little superior to all the people who go out and spend thousands of dollars on this type of furniture.

But the table is a little sad now. It's scratched (wicked cats); one of the side tables that went with it was given away by one of my friends (unforgivable); and another friend lost the glass top to the other side table (don't ask how you lose a twenty pound 1/2-inch-thick piece of glass). There, I said it. But I still love this table. So keep it I will.

Today's question: should I bother to get a new top for it that's not scratched--this will cost at least $500. Do I try to get the scratch buffed out? Or do I just love it the way it is despite the wear and tear?

More on the furniture from this house to come...

No, it's not a new class at Crunch. I'm talking about the little metal plates that rest against a door behind the knob. (Check out Wikipedia for an interesting history of the word). I've always suspected I got purty ones, but they're covered in gobs of paint. Been meaning to strip them for years, and I finally started today.

My friend Isaac brought over some Zip Strip paint remover last night, so I figured I'd just take them off and brush them with it and I'd be done in a day. Seems like such a manageable little project for a Sunday, except...I can't get the screws to loosen because they're covered in paint. So I went at it with a straight screwdriver and the paint came off relatively easily (when it didn't, I just summoned up more of my natural anger and that did the trick). But the screws still won't budge.

Now I'm stuck with what you see above--all that Deco brass (I assume) glory, waiting to shine. They'll sit like that for another three years and I'll have to ask Isaac for help. Again.

Hi--
It's Saturday and I'm supposed to be scraping my little hallway between the bedroom and the bathroom, so I can paint it bright blue and show it to you. Instead, I'm taking pictures of weird little things that I own that are going to have to somehow fit into my color palette. I'm getting worried that I have a bunch of really great things that don't go together.

Take this painting of a seaside in France. I bought it by flashlight one early morning at the Bermondsey Market in London--I went at 5 am before the stalls were set up to get the good stuff, you should too. I paid 50 pounds for it when the dollar was doing way better than it is now. The painting's signed by someone named M. Chapman, and it's really, really weird. For example, why are these people wearing bowler hats at the beach? And better...why don't the ladies in the back have any legs? Where is this? Who is M. Chapman? Who knows? If only Antiques Roadshow would come and tell me it's worth millions, I'd never be scrappy again.

I've had my eye on Shelterrific for a long time, but I've fallen in love all over again. Here's why: not only do they cover adorable products and people's quirky collections, they also host "post-offs" (great headlines they have) like this one about finding a good-looking phone that works well...

I was going to try to work this in later, but please admire my authentic, vintage "Street Girls Bringing Sailors into Hotel Must Pay For Room in Advance" sign from the Palace Hotel in Norfolk, Virginia. Sadly, I don't think the place still exists. I'm sure they'd love to do a link exchange if they did...

In any case, how should I frame this beauty? In black? Brothel red?

I just discovered these photos of the house, and realized that I've been stingy with the before pictures. Most people probably straighten up their house before they take their before photos, but not Scrappy-girl. These give you a really good sense of what I'm working with in the hallway and the living room. Please notice:

1) that my cat Emma (who is really a bunny with a tail, but quacks like a duck) rules the roost

2) the stupid number of books I'm going to have to move before I can paint the hallway.

3) the lovely foliage outside the windows

Thanks.

I got lucky this weekend and found two metal garden chairs like this one for five dollars each. They belonged to a sweet Greek lady in Brooklyn. I'm planning to sand them down and repaint or powder coat them cocoa brown.

So what if I don't have outdoor space, I'll just make some in my living room. I can pretend I'm on a porch in the Midwest bouncing away surrounded by fireflies.

Now I need to look around for some nice, round cushions that would work for the seat. Any tips?

Nothing makes me feel scrappier than being invited spontaneously into someone's small but exquisitely well-appointed Manhattan apartment. I was recently in one such  apartment. And rather than inspiring me to decorate, it made me question my own eclectic aesthetic (again). Tedious, I know...

So what's a girl to do besides blog about it?

One of the most amazing things in the apartment was a vintage 70's lamp--it cast incredibly soft, atmospheric light. The closest thing I've been able to find is this George Nelson pear-shaped table lamp from Ylighting. The one my friend has is a slightly different shape and has a rim of unfrosted glass towards the top where you can actually look inside and see the light bulbs. But it's the same idea. And there must be a million contemporary versions of this.

I'm in the market for lamps, but seeing my friend's reminded me of this mid-century one that I inherited from my family. It needs to be rewired, but I'm still on the hunt for someone who can do that and refurbish it for a reasonable amount of money. Any ideas?

I was just looking at the art gallery Mixed Greens again. It's amazing, especially Christina Mazzalupo's stuff. I've decided that I'm spending my money on art and letting the art I buy dictate my home decor. A few months ago I bought these two water colors by my friend Franklin Evans--the one is called Palmscape and the other "Two Trees" (forgive the hideous photo)--at the Jeff Bailey Gallery in Chelsea. Then I fell in love with a winter treescape by Jim Murphy. I must have been a dryad in a former life. In any case, I'm going to do a wall of tree images in the living room--I'll mix media and styles and seasons. I just bought these two small oil paintings of trees by Nick Jainschigg, a teacher at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Once I've got my trees. I'll buy a sofa to match.

Now that my living room is green I feel like Dorothy in the land of Oz. At first I was stunned by the color, but I swear those few coats of paint have made me happier, and are motivating me to hurry up and paint the other rooms.

I'm going to start with the short hallway between the bedroom and the bathroom you see here. I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo, but the hall is set off from the main entryway by an arched door that's set at a diagonal.

The idea, well, my friend Meredith's idea is to do really bright walls and get a chandelier that hangs down just beneath the arch. I like these: the Zero Interior from the Scandinavian Design Center.

And this variation on the Sputnik is really nice: it's the "Starburst" from Lighting by Gregory, but I think you have to call them to get it. Maybe I'll get around to that...

For paint, I picked out a bright teal blue for the walls--California Paints Nobless 7114M--but I can't decide what color to paint the ceiling. I was set on silver, then French guy (see my last post) told me I should paint it bronze or gold instead because it's warmer. I like this Ralph Lauren silver finish called Silver Plated (RL Number: RM13).

Part of me says with dread: I have a decision to make, which means it'll be another month before I paint the hallway. At least. The new blogger in me says, just do it. And I will. Because there's no place like (a Technicolor) home.

Help me make this decision: silver or gold...or white ceiling?

Recently my good friend and neighbor, Melissa, got married and had her reception down the hall in her apartment. Her husband spent the past month painting my living room Benjamin Moore's Dill Pickle green (2147-40). For free. I couldn't figure out why he was so enthusiastic about it. Until the day of the reception--he wanted my house to serve as the smoking lounge for the partygoers.

When I found them there puffing away, I was glad to play along and even pulled out my dad's vintage Playboy ashtrays so they wouldn't ash on my plates. As the evening progressed, more and more people were streaming into my apartment--it was like the scene in La Dolce Vita when the whole cast is following Anita Ekberg around Rome. I decided to take advantage of the situation and ask everyone's opinion about how I should decorate the place. One of the guests--a Frenchman in a pin-striped suit (on crutches)--rose to the occasion. He was up and hobbling from room to room in no time.

I didn't realize how much I was exposing myself when I called attention to my space. After a bit of amateur psychoanalysis which I'll spare you, we started on the bedroom, where French guy decided to open my closet door. Everything came tumbling out. Literally. It was bad; then it got worse. When I turned off the light to show off my leafy views, French guy decided to go through my underwear drawer. Not in a pervy way, but I was mortified nonetheless. His explanation: "I'm trying to see how you live so I can help you arrange the furniture." How I live, indeed.

So at least I've got color to work with in the living room. And even if I do nothing else to it, it looks sooo much better. Thanks, Michael.

They don't call me Combustible Catherine for nothing--everything I touch (including my old rental apartment) bursts into flames. The most recent episode happened last summer. I was in the middle of closing on my place, when the apartment two floors up caught on fire. Well, the owner's crazy ex lit it on fire, but that's another story.

Because it was arson, the fire warden wouldn't let the firemen clean up the water. It sat there for six hours, leaking down into my apartment until I got home late that night. I was in the kitchen and heard what sounded like my bratty cat Emma wrestling with a plastic bag. Then I realized that it was a rhythmic drip. I raced into the living room. There were puddles on my floor, the ceilings were sopping wet and the paint was starting to split in a grid all the way across the room. To top things off, I sprained my ankle when I ran downstairs to get the super.

I made the super quickly replaster and paint the ceilings before my closing date. Boy was that a mistake. I learned the hard way...