Courtney over at Style Court posted a while back about the importance of interior design--how good design brings people joy, etc. Which is indeed true. But on my cynical days all I can do is interrogate the idea of beauty and good design. I like to say it's all subjective. But look at me calling my friend's couch the ugliest one I've ever seen. And look at this gorgeous bed with a tree mural headboard in a Japanese pole house Kenneth Brown designed for a client's grandmother. [Via Style Court.]

lsaspacey isn't kidding. There are so many choices of wallpaper and paint color and tree murals. Oy vey. I read this book "The Paradox of Choice" a while ago whining about thread count. That was easy compared to this, though Casapinka swears her handyman put up wallpaper with some treatment that makes it easy to remove.

Anyone else heard of such a thing?

Casapinka's done it again. She found this vintage Elektra wallpaper from that just might trump the Feathers that I have. What do you think?

I was just telling her that I understand why there's so much vintage wallpaper around. It's a big decision to put it up. Mom's warning against it because of the mess it is to remove.

I saw pretty animals in Africa. And some pretty ugly furniture. Like this couch. Anyone seen one uglier?

(Sorry E...).

This is serious decorating. I'm thinking of wallpapering one of the walls in my bedroom.

I love, love, love this "Feather" wallpaper from Ferm Living. I've been obsessed with it since I saw it on decor8 ages ago. What do you think?

1. Is it too much in a room with blue walls?
2. Does it work on the small wall with the windows to the left of the door? Or do you prefer it on the long wall as you walk in the door?
3. Why is it so hard to picture what this will look like?
4. Does anyone know of a good professional wallpaperer in Brooklyn who would take on such teeny weeny job?
5. Did I ever tel you about Curly, my mother's wallpaperer? Tomorrow...

After bouncing around in a Land Rover on safari for five days, my back was killing me. The thing that gave me immediate relief was this low-to-the-ground stool made my members of the Maasai tribe.

Though it looks like it might topple over any second, it's really quite sturdy. Your knees come way up, like sitting on a block in yoga class.

It doesn't exactly fit in with my decor, but it tucks away under other furniture quite nicely. And this one is vintage, so you can see all the beautiful scars and cracks in the pictures below. It also works well as an occasional table.

I hardly have anything to say about these pictures except that I may have to print them and hang them on the tree wall. I've been feeling really jet-lagged and removed from my trip, then I opened up these pictures and they took my breath away. Be sure to click on the photos--they get really big!

I got one good picture on safari, and I think just one. Here it is. I have a lot of emails to answer, but I wanted to share this shot. Check back later for house things. In the meantime I'll try to remember how to type.

I told her she could stealth post for me in my absence--and maybe she has--but I went and posted for every weekday I was away. So just in case, just anyway, do you all know about The Germinatrix--our garden blogger? I don't garden. I don't have outdoor space. I have cats who eat plants raw. (I need to read my Warner's on semicolons.) But I LOVE reading Ivette Soler's posts on The Germinatrix. What a clever witch of a gardener she is, what a writer! Oh, and she was a bit movie actress in a former life. (I'm not that vain: Scroll to the bottom of that linked page to see her bio).

I mean, she makes me want to move to L.A....

Sorry, didn't paint it while I was away. Heck, I can't even show you my kitchen yet. The last time I did someone left a mean note about how I should hide my ugly things. But Casapinka responded to my HoJo post and sent a few tips about orange accents--sauce--for the ktichen. Like this tea towel from Anthropologie.

Woooooow. Red Tree Landscape vintage mixed media digital art collage from galeriedeilluminata on Etsy. I'm out of town so I can afford to obssess...

This is like sheet lightning and branch lightning (whatever the other stuff is called) on a hot summer night in Iowa.

Okay, and this is weird. The artist had a show in Iowa of light boxes. And I didn't know that until after I wrote that sentence above. And his profile has a thing about randomness...

He says:
"The Universe is not a random place- though there are those who may disagree. In my opinion, your visit to this website was also not a random act. But yet, we often feel as though we are random and nameless, as we live out our lives, in a sometimes disconnected world. A world that often leaves us feeling separated from others by invisible walls of convenience and non-interaction. I, however, feel we are deeply connected to each other in more ways than can be understood, and it is these connections which give us identity, and meaning for our lives."

He could be religious or he could be my kindred spirit. I'll have to email him and see.

What do I do to deserve this Tiger Sun original linocut print from magprint? Because I was talking about orange. And I was talking about how my neice may or may not deserve that vintage ashtray, and then I found this while I was looking for art for her dorm room. And I want this for my tree wall. And I'll do anything to deserve it.

Maybe I should start a blog just about tree art and sign it Veruka Salt...

Oh, it's my old friend Woody's birthday, and he made linocut prints when we were in high school. Happy Birthday, Wooster, wherever you are. I'm in Tanzania. Hi.

Izola sounds like a verb. I Zola something. Then again, maybe it's not pronounced that way...

Anyway, it's just the name of the company that makes the "Feathers" shower curtain you see above. I used to just use clear plastic liners because my bathroom's small and I feel claustrophobic when I shower. But then I got Feathers, which is clear plastic with, you guessed it, a feather pattern on it.

It keeps me from feeling trapped inside, and keeps Emma the codependent cat from trying to jump into the tub with me--the feathers are like those bird silhouettes you put on clear windows to keep the birds from hurling themselves against the window.

(Incidentally, Nick Olsen commented on it when he came for our consultation: he liked it.)

I liked my spice rack when I got it. But the tops of the bottles have corroded and they look mad ugly. Is there any way to reverse the damage or prevent it should I buy another shiny rack? What material should I look for?

My neice just graduated from high school! I am planning to buy her a ticket to come visit me in New York. But I still feel compelled to give her a physcial gift--know that feeling?

When I told her she could come to NYC here's how the coversation went:

me: Want to come to NYC this July?
her:  Can we go to Juicy?
me: You mean the place where people pay $300 for a sweat suit?
her: It's not $300.
me: Whatever. We can go to the museums.
her: Oh, and can we go to the Hollister?
me: Don't they have those stores in the mall at home?
her: Yeah, but...it's really a big store and...

Good grief!

At Christmas she told me she wanted something "exotic". I grilled her on what she meant by that, trying to detect any irony in the request. None. But at least it was more interesting.

That said:  Should I give this little glass tray above to my neice? It's "exotic", but I wanted to put it in my ironic Oscar Wilde lair... Or should I just take her to Juicy?

Hi. Can you see me? I'm right there in the middle of all that green, either in Arusha or on safari in Serengeti. I started in Dar es Salaam.

Aren't these beautiful enough to blow up big and make into wall art? Think Google would get mad?

I look at stuff on Etsy all the time, fantasizing about buying things. But the truth is, I just don't need that much more art. So I was thrilled when a coworker pointed out that an Etsy print makes a perfect gift. When Holly from decor8 wrote a piece for us about affordable prints on Etsy, I bought each of my friends' twin girls in London one of these prints by British children's book illustrator Mandy Sutcliffe.

My mom thinks there are Tasmanian Devils where I'm going. There aren't, but I highly recommend clicking on that link and having a listen to the vocalization of one. Or if that's too scary, lookie here at the Looney Tunes cartoon version of a Tasmanian Devil--there he is above.

It's not fair to single out my mom here. Or to make fun of anyone really, because before I bought my ticket to Tanzania, I had only the vaguest sense of where in Africa I was going. However, Tanzania is and I am in Africa, not on that island off the coast of Australia called Tasmania.

Tomorrow, I'll show you even better.

Hi. I'm on a plane. Taking a really, really, really long plane ride. In fact, I might even be in Dubai by now. If I lived in Dubai, I'd be home by now. But I don't. Nor do I live in Tanzania, where I'm going to see a friend. I have posted some stuff for while I'm gone, but I'm nowhere near a computer so I'll have to reply to comments when I return. Isn't that magic?

Until I come back with real photos, have a look at veronicapress's giraffe wood book. This is by the same girl who did the trailer etching  I found over at Etsy Pick of the Day. I hope to be seeing a few of these long-necked horses at this time next week!