That’s right, it’s the antepenultimate day of voting in the division brackets of the Apartment Therapy color contest.

It’s true, the man has painted stripes on his wall. Yes, he has some very lovely MCM furniture. But I ask you, dear readers, to vote for me anyway, because a) if I win, I’m going to buy a vegan sofa and you might get my beautiful chesterfield, b) my room was done – books, accessories, everything – for less than a thousand dollars, so I need the prize money more. Naturally, I’m being tongue-in-cheek here; these are completely irrelevant reasons and it really comes down to personal preference. But it was fun to be in it this far and get so many great comments, so thanks!

Last week my sweetheart and I took a road trip from Los Angeles to Dallas/Fort Worth, then back again up through Oklahoma and along Route 66. Along the way, we stayed at a lovely old craftsman house in Lancaster, Texas (above) and some adorable motels in New Mexico and Arizona.

These lovely tin ceilings adorned the upper floor.

these lovely glass-front bookshelves were built in on either side of the fireplace.

There was also the Supai motel sign in Seligman, Arizona:

And the fabulous El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, New Mexico:

Called the hotel of the stars, the upper balcony of the lobby is graced with headshots of actors who have stayed in the hotel over the years.

It was fun, but now I’m interested in not being in a car for a long, long time.

I want to make one thing clear: I am not getting married. But thanks to Apartment Therapy’s color contest this month, I’ve been thinking a lot about color and what it takes to create a successful color palette. And thanks to design*sponge, I was introduced to Once Wed, a stunningly lovely collection of wedding ideas, photography, and decorating porn. It borders on the obscene it’s so beautiful. There are a lot of photos of flowers and the outdoors, and I can spend entire afternoons going through the site and creating potential romantic room palettes based on them.

Taking the deep, muted green of the leaves and adding yellow, pink, and red, we get this, the most beautiful bedroom I have ever seen:

This is one of the most awesomest bedrooms I have ever seen. Farrow & Ball in Down Pipe is the color, though it looks greener here. Love.

Or, this:

Or even this:

Or from my *other* favorite color contest entry:

Check out Once Wed for some great color inspiration, and
vote tomorrow (!) for me and for Gidget (and for whomever else you like)!

If you live in LA and have never been to Heritage Square, you should go. It’s sort of like a sanctuary for old homes and buildings, where they can go to be restored and toured and generally appreciated. If you’re into history, architecture, and/or design at all, it’s a really fun way to spend an afternoon. If you’ve already been, then you may want to check out this holiday season’s Designer Holiday Homes tour, where three of the historic structures are being professionally decorated in the style of various historical periods.

Historic interior of a house at Heritage Square, via Sarah Barnard Design blog

The Holiday Homes tour will be available for viewing from November 27 through January 3, 2010 from 12pm to 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information about this and other events at the museum, visit www.heritagesquare.org.

I am thinking – only thinking, mind you – about dismantling my loft bed and creating an entirely different bedroom.

This loft setup has been incredibly useful, but I'm not sure I want to keep it anymore.

My ex-boyfriend built this loft bed with the stairs and dog crate underneath as a way to give us more room and have a large place for the dogs to go when we weren’t home. I still love it, but it creates this awkward hole in the middle of the room underneath the loft, and, well, there’s just something that feels weird about not changing a bedroom at all after a cohabitating relationship ends – especially if the one leaving built the bed. So these images are now on my radar for potential bedroom ideas. I have to say, the thought of having a normal bedroom with nightstands and lamps is kind of intriguing. These are all from design*sponge sneak peeks:

I love the subtle paint on the wall, and the varied assortment of small silhouettes is lovely.

I love the weathered wood feeling here.

This is my favorite - I love everything about this room.

I know this is a kid's room, but it's just nice, okay?

Cinderblocks to raise the bed? I think I can afford that.

As always, my budget is limited – basically zero. I would have to work with what I have, so I’m still trying to decide if it’s worth it.

Since the demise of Domino and their nifty online style file thing, which allowed you to save home decorating and inspiration photos, I’ve sort of just been assembling jpgs in a folder on my desktop. But imgspark.com lets you upload these images and create moodboards (currently limited to 2) using all your images, in varying sizes and against a grid or solid background. Very useful. Here’s mine so far:

Click to imgspark.com and view my board

This week is week one of the Apartment Therapy Fall Cure. It’s no secret that I’m way into the cure and I think everyone should do it, no excuses (that means you, my dear). Not only am I determined to actually finish it this year, but I’m going a little further: I’m doing a “green” cure, which, in addition to my usual modus operandi of limiting what I buy new (if anything), using recycled materials where possible, choosing environmentally-friendly paints and cleaners, and reusing what I have, I’m also going to reduce or eliminate as many animal products as possible. I could get really preachy and give you dozens of reasons for going vegan, but instead, I’ll just say this: animals raised as livestock take up an inordinate part of our natural resources including water and plants made into feed, their waste pollutes our water supply, overfishing for human and livestock consumption is depleting our oceans and destroying their ecosystems, cows release more atmosphere-destroying gas than cars, and jammed feedlots produce mutant strains of flu. There are lots of things you can do to help the environment, but few are as profound as adopting a vegan lifestyle.

Okay, end rant.

To this end, all the meals I cook at home during the cure (and for like ever) will be vegan, and if they’re any good, I’ll share the recipes. Here’s one to get you started:

Hearty Vegan Chili

1 tablespoon oil (olive or canola, whatever)
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 leek, chopped
1 stalk celery, also chopped
1 carrot, diced (optional)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 tablespoon chili powder (or to taste)
2 teaspoons ground cumin (always better to use whole seeds, toast them, and grind them yourself)
1 teaspoon salt
(see below – spices are added twice)
pinch of cayenne pepper
pinch of chipotle chili powder (optional)
3 cups vegetable broth (or so, depending on how thick you want it)
2 tablespoons chickpea flour (or your favorite flour, that was what I had)
2 cups white beans (I used dried and cooked, which I’m pretty sure is better than canned)
1/2 cup fruity, tart white wine
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon chili powder (or to taste)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
pinch of cayenne pepper (yes these are repeated)
1 28-ounce can stewed tomatoes
2 teaspoons tomato paste
2 cups prepared polenta (so start with 1/2 cup or so dried cornmeal)

Cook onion, leek, celery, and carrot in oil over medium high heat until just beginning to brown. Add red pepper and cook for another five minutes or so; add garlic and continue to cook for a couple minutes, and add the first round of spices. Let this get nice and brown and develop a fond, and then add a half cup of the vegetable broth to deglaze the pot. Add flour and let it boil down and brown again, and deglaze it again with another half cup or so of the vegetable broth. Simmer, stirring often, until most of the liquid has evaporated, and add the cooked or canned beans with a little salt. And yes, another round: let the beans get browned (you may need to add a bit more oil by this point), add some more of your spices, and just when you think you can brown no more, kick in the white wine and let it simmer down to reduce. Add half the nutritional yeast gradually and let it brown (again). Finally, add the canned tomatoes, deglazing the pan with the liquid. Bring to a boil, stir it up, reduce heat and simmer for about 30-40 minutes. Add the tomato paste and remaining vegetable broth. At this point, taste and adjust your spices accordingly -you may need much more chili powder and cumin – and play with the ratio of vegetable broth to nutritional yeast until you have your desired thickness; some people like really thick chili and others prefer more of a soup.

Serve with a generous spoonful of polenta.

I may be way behind this trend, but I’ve been noticing something around the markets lately. In addition to the already popular schoolhouse and science classroom inspired decor, comme ça:

I’m noticing a ton of trophies around. There’s something a little odd about decorating with other people’s trophies or ribbons, because you didn’t win anything to get them, but their shapes and shine are kind of too pretty to pass up.

I seem to have entered a contest. It happened late the other night, after agonizing over photos of my living room for three days, and at the urging of my boyfriend and a few glasses of wine, I entered the Apartment Therapy Room for Color contest. I meant to do it, of course, but now that it’s up and my very personal home choices are displayed for all to see, I’m feeling pretty self-conscious. Unfortunately, wine does not help one proofread, so I mostly just wish I had written out the answers beforehand and avoided embarrassing typographical errors. But, it happens.

Anyway, if you’re already a member of the AT community, or you’re not just signing up to vote for me, click here to vote (check out all the other entries and, while you’re there, sign up for the cure)! Leave a comment if you wish, but please remember two things: 1) if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all, and 2) please refrain from signing your comment,¹ because it makes it look like I just hired some friends to vote for me. Which I’m totally doing². But no one else needs to know that.

xoxo

This is a far cry from the lemon lime disaster that plagued me on my first go round.

¹Unless you are Matte Stephens, then I encourage you to sign it, because I cite you as my color inspiration, so it’s appropriate. Thank you.
²Though I briefly considered it, this is not actually true … yet.

Hey, did you know that you can develop a food allergy just by eating that food a lot? And did you know that soy milk, tofu, tempeh, and soy sauce are pretty much the same food? Also, FYI, if you do develop a food allergy, you might recognize it by weeks and/or months of agonizing unexplained generalized anxiety, severe sinus congestion and pressure, dizziness, rashes, and a general feeling of malaise that comes from feeling out of your mind and having no idea what the hell is wrong with you. So, that happened.

Anywho, I’m finally back, and I’ll ease back into it with an illustrator who’s already been thoroughly covered elsewhere, but this current exhibition in San Francisco (through October 31) you know, reminded me. This exhibition includes original drawings for Golden Book of Biology (1961) and The Animal Kingdom (1968) as well as other original drawings and paintings. Since the Golden Book of Biology isn’t exactly an easy or cheap item to find – it can go for several hundred dollars on eBay – check out these images at grain edit to get a peek inside the book.

Here are some of my favorites in this show:

If you’re in the Bay Area, check out the exhibition here:

Altman Siegel Gallery
49 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA 94108

Also, know what starts next week? That’s right, the AT Cure. I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself. My house is a disaster. They’re offering an interesting “green” cure option this year, and I’m not sure this will be any different from how I usually do it, but I signed up for that version. There’s also a 4-week kitchen cure, which, yes, I’m going to do as well. Here’s to overdue organization. Better late than never, right? Let’s hope I can finish this time.