Some words about styles: Does This Cherub Look Tacky

First let me tell you that Alberto and I absolutely love and respect Eddie Ross and Jaithan Kochar, and cherish their friendship tremendously. That being said, I would like to wack Eddie with a wire hanger!

Last year he published a little how-to project on his new blog. It was an immensely popular project and post, with scads of people writing in saying they were doing the project. That post and that idea has haunted me all year long. It involves making a wreath with about 80 round Christmas ornaments, a wire hanger formed into a circle, a glue gun, and a pretty hank of ribbon. Of course you can buy a similar looking wreath at Target for around $25., but where's the sport in that?!

I have had my eye out at yard, garage, and estate sales, and searched eBay and Craigslist looking for some vintage ornaments. Of course I didn't want to pay too much. Who does?

Finally last weekend I found a huge box at an estate sale. I was already "checking out" when I saw it hiddden near the door.
"How much for the box of old ornaments?"
"$100."
"$100.???????!!!!"
"What do I know, I'm Jewish, make me an offer!"
"I'd like to pay 50 cents, but I'll give you $20."
'Sold!"

So I got my box of the 80++ ornaments, amongst them some drek like 1980's twee, and treasures like a few New Orleans Saints (Go Saints!) ornaments, and over a dozen truly beautiful vintage beauties destined to be displayed in a mercury glass blow. And there were plenty of just-how-I-like-them tatty ornaments for the project.

I have chops. I have been a hired (glue) gun for Martha Stewart (amongst others). I have hand wired thousands of flowers, and hand tied thousands of bridal bouquets. I have made thousands of bows. I have pouffed and fluffed thousands of napkins. In other words, I fear no project, especially one like this that seemed so easy peasy.
And this is my little bone to pick with my dear Eddie (and Martha for that matter). Even if they don't actually say one of their DIY projects is easy, they imply the ease when they do it for us on camera.

This project was not easy. First I did not go back and read the instructions. There are no wire hangers in our house, so I had to scrounge one I found banished in the garage. Bending it in a circle is not that easy. My circle was a little irregular.

Then I just started to happily string the ornaments on the wire hanger. Ooops! I forgot you had to glue gun each and every one of the 80 (!) little silver caps of the ornaments BEFORE you string them along. They started popping off, flying to the floor (don't you just hate the sound of an exploding Christmas ornament!). So I removed them all, plugged in the glue gun, went to Eddie's post to read the instructions, blah, blah, blah.

I had some large balls, some medium and small, but no tiny ones. My wreath did not take on a circular form very easily to say the least. I tried to hot glue some filler balls to the balls already wired on. This was a disaster (I took them off and peeled off hot glue globs). I turned the wreath every which way to see if the balls would fall into some pleasing resemblance of Eddie's gorgeous wreath. I did this for over an hour, futzing and fussing!

Then I tried to hang it somewhere. Eddie showed his hanging on a door. Well my wreath was so fat, it had no flat side, so it didn't work on a door or in a window. What was I supposed to do, suspend it like a mobile? And I had some empty space on the wire hanger, where I could not make it work by filling in with ornaments, so the pretty band of ribbon Eddie showed as a hanger, was a total flop for me.

But, I did not give up! I used the hook from the hanger as a way to hang the thing, and finally found the only place it would work, which is hanging off the edge of the fireplace mantle. I wiggled and jiggled, and put a pretty satin bow in the gap at the top, and finally it looks kind of cute. Or does it? It took me about three hours of huffing and puffing, and laughing so hard at the image of brilliant Eddie watching not so brilliant me execute his "easy" project.

Here's Eddie's masterpiece! Go to his blog HERE for the easy instructions!
And do send me a photo of your Eddie wreath!

Do you remember way back in blog time in 2008 when Joni from Cote de Texas did a post about skirted tables that started a huge debate that ultimately led to podcast she stars on called "The Skirted Roundtable."

Holy dust ruffle!
Charlotte Moss

Well clutch your pearls, there seems to be another great controversy brewing regarding dust ruffles and bed skirts.

Joni's lovely deep drop bedspread

It seems that not only are bed skirts (I hate the word dust ruffle - why would anyone want anything described as dust?) out of fashion with the Lonny-Rue-Apartment Therapy set, but they are unsanitary too with worries of attracting bed bugs.

A tailored bedspread with a deep drop skirt

Glam bed skirt - Temple St. Clair

Mmmm.. Personally I have no dust ruffle in the guest bedroom because the iron four poster bed did not require one visually. The bed in our master bedroom does have a dust ruffle. This bed has a headboard and a metal bed frame and box spring, and I don't think it would look very good without the bed skirt. I even tried the white bed spread with the huge skirted drop ala Joni, but found it too cumbersome. Damn I should have sold it on eBay sooner! Now who will want it?

Eddie Ross used a tailored bed skirt
in this pretty traditional bedroom

I came across the following article by Sara Ruffin Costello:

A headboard with a bed frame needs a bed skirt

"So the other night I went over to my friend Miles Redd's house for a TV party. Curled up in his seraglio-inspired space, I took in the visual splendor—the towering four-poster mirrored bed with striped silk taffeta upholstery, the wall-to-wall caramel cashmere underfoot, the yards of couture curtains across simple French windows and the endless originality—which all added up to a tailored, comfortable, no-grandmother-in-sight inner sanctum.

Fishing for free decorating, I submitted to my old friend, "How can I get a little piece of the Miles magic?"

Miles Redd's bed sans bed skirt
But what's up with the padding?

"Oh, please," he said. "This old shoebox?"

"Well, yes..."

And then, with the precision of a brain surgeon, he said, "An exposed box spring is like a fly in the soup...unsightly. Cover your box spring with a decadent fabric...touch of luxe darling...every room needs it, especially the bedroom."

I sat up and took note. By God, I realized, the filthy, pointless dust ruffle of '80s Shabby Chicdom is dead. Long live the tailored box-spring cover!

Ditching the dust ruffle diminishes your chances of bedding down with bugs. (A floor-grazing bed skirt is like a hospitable stairway for bed bugs.)"

Miles Redd - This Old Shoebox

Well! What do you all think of that???!!! First of all that tag line: So the other night I went over to my friend Miles Redd's house! Well smell her! In a good way of course.

Miles Redd four poster bed

Four poster beds look good without a bed skirt. The proportions of the bed suit this choice.

Miles Redd used a dust ruffle! Alert the media!

Bed with headboards and box springs seem to need the bed skirt to give it a finished look. Of course a platform bed with a mattress only, would look ridiculous with a bed skirt.

Miles Redd in Domino
The bedroom that launched the careers of blog decorators
Swoon! J'dore! Copy!

Modern interiors seem to fare better without a dust ruffle. Even the word is too granny for the hip decorating spawned by Domino.

But what about the majority of the world dwelling in suburban traditional homes with traditional bedrooms, or gasp, bedroom sets?

Can a dust ruffle or bed skirt be done right, just as Joni thinks doing a skirted table can be done right? You hardly see skirted tables anymore except at events and weddings. Will the bed skirt become as extinct as the table skirt?

Tom Scheerer's stainless-steel bed doesn't need much
besides crisp sheets and a white cotton slip cover for the box spring

Will they give up their bed-in-the-bag that includes the matching dust ruffle? Can they get behind a box spring slip cover?

No dust ruffle for Jonathan Adler and Liberace

Will there be bed skirt and dust ruffle burnings to alleviate the bed bug pandemic!!!! Will there be a new podcast show called "The Dusty Ruffle" or "The Skirted Bed"?????