Four Fun Things

Our master bedroom is painted North Sea by Benjamin Moore. It’s a deep blue, without being as inky as navy, and it makes the room feel cozy and enveloping but sophisticated. It is also the colour we used for our four year old son’s room, and it is a great backdrop against the brighter colours (and homemade art) in there.

Rhode pocket blushes! The formula is incredible if you have dry skin. It’s also super buildable so you can adjust to how flushed you want to look. Love the colors freckled and toasted teddy.

I really like E.L.F.’s Halo Glow Liquid Filter because you can use it so many ways and gives my face a nice glow. There’s also a wide range of shades.

I think Anton’s room needs a cheerful yellow or green. I once painted my entire apartment light gray and it was the most depressing space I have ever lived in! Hated it. I will never use gray on the walls again. As a teenager, I painted my room a purpley periwinkle and it was SO lovely. I agree with the comments to stick to uplifting colors for teenagers, not moody ones.

When I was in undergrad I painted my room a deep yellow and it was the loveliest cheeriest thing. I had lots of plants and a bookcase that I’d built myself and I loved it. Don’t make a cave! Kids spend so much time in their rooms. Make it happy :)

I will put my 2 cents in on color. A lot of people are suggesting super dark colors like charcoal and navy. My brother had a very dark room color growing up and he eventually changed it to a light off white – he said he felt depressed like he was in a cave his whole tween-teen years. He had never expressed that until way later. So just a word of warning!! A lot of adults suggest this kind of color and say it helps them sleep but many adults don’t hardly spend time in their rooms the way kids do.

I recently decided it was time to go clean with all of my makeup and I made a concerted effort to find BIPOC owned brands where possible. I’ve fallen in love with Lys Triple Fix Serum Foundation (and setting powder and setting spray). I’m also thrilled to have discovered Cheekbone Beauty. I now use their mascara, illuminating primer stick and several of their lip products. And on days when I’m feeling a little extra fancy or fun, their gold shimmer duo.

With that beautiful blue bed, I’d paint the walls Sherwin Williams Napery. Yellows can be hard, but Napery is yellow, but not an in-your-face yellow.

oops, not sure how that photo posted but I meant to just post a link, sorry!

We’re doing kid room makeovers here, also largely focused on cleaning. We did a very dark green on the accent wall and im liking it. Also painted the dresser the same color.

4 fun things:

Rifle paper strawberry fields. This is the new duvet cover for my 15 yo daughter

The New York encounter. Happening this weekend and free. In Manhattan

Getting the real paper. I resubscribed and am limiting my news readings to the Sunday paper, which is saving my sanity

Of Gods and Men: not really fun, but such a good movie about responding to tyranny with integrity

When I was 12 I wanted to repaint my room with blue walls and sponge painted white clouds, which my parents were weirdly on board with. My Dad and I spent a weekend just totally free-handing the clouds in a way that only a child and a man with zero artistic inclination could do. This was around the time that Survivor had just had its first season, and somewhere along the way we started naming each of our clouds after one of the cast members based on their “personalities.”
What’s wild to me is that I don’t think there exists one single photo of those clouds. Digital cameras weren’t popular yet and I wasn’t wasting precious film on the inside of my small bedroom. I’m sure they were crazy looking but in my memory they are perfect. I often think about the hyper-documentation of our lives these days (and our children’s lives) and how so little gets to exist purely in memory and it makes me a little sad.
Anyway, tell Anton I 10/10 recommend some unhinged sponge painting on his walls!

I used to love rearranging my room as a kid. Sometimes my brother and I switched rooms, moving all the furniture back and forth. It is so invigorating to sleep in your bed in a new location.

I know charcoal walls may be past their style prime, but I’ll tell you what, I painted my bedroom walls Cyberspace by Sherwin-Williams six years ago and have slept so much better since.

I dunno why, but for some reason, what I know of Anton from reading this blog forever, and that last image of his bedroom- my brain is screaming BURNT ORANGE. It would compliment the current bed/bedding really nicely, but is more grown up and sophisticated in some way? His current furniture, artwork, and guitar would look great with a good burnt orange back drop.

Omg, the contrast of the posters and guitar with the giraffe lovie just breaks my heart open. The sweetness!!

I have just recently had the biggest make-up transformation for me. I used to be very “all or nothing”–if I was doing my make-up it was all of it (foundation, blush, mascara, lip) which I genuinely love and enjoy but sometimes it’s a bit much so I’ll often go fully bare-faced on the weekend. Sometimes that feels drab and I look sleepy so I’ve just been doing mascara and it feels so good to have found that middle ground. Also, run don’t walk to purchase this life-changer from Thrive Cosmetics: https://thrivecausemetics.com/products/liquid-lash-extensions-mascara?variant=39096501196&nbt=nb%3Aadwords%3Ag%3A19742366372%3A147006721112%3A649444719039&nb_adtype=pla&nb_ti=pla-299521013256&nb_mi=112461866&nb_pc=online&nb_pi=39096501196&nb_ppi=299521013256&utm_content=brandedshopping&utm_campaign=MKT_US_Sh%20-%20MT_Shopping_Brand_Thrive&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAzba9BhBhEiwA7glbaknDowPFWNj4KfTqkfsUg5k1-gITU0-BAZqoSkkLyeQLImMolmFBBBoC0bMQAvD_BwE

When my son was about that age we painted 2 walls dark grey , looks great!

Everything written by Colm Toibin is amazing. I finished Nora Webster yesterday and it’s a thoughtful portrait of love, motherhood, grief and finding oneself.

When my daughter wanted to redo her room we ended up looking at stock vector art (think shapes, blobs, etc.) and sketched out blobs and shapes on one wall. We chose a few tins of paint and went to town. She loved it. We also ended up buying emoji eyes, noses and mouths and turned some of the blobs into emojis. It makes us laugh every time we look at them and when she gets bored, we can just peel the stickers off.

I’ve read everything by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Is my fav (so far). Looking forward to more and some characters from each novel connect in some interesting ways. There are 14 diff shades of green throughout my house, I like a color flow room to room. Makes moving pieces and rearranging so easy. Green hues compliment dozens of accent colors. Back in the day, our son picked the colors and painted the room.
When I crave chocolate, homemade old fashioned pudding is my go to, no eggs.

My fun thing is I went to a sock darning workshop yesterday! I’m fortunate that my work is pretty flexible, so I took an hour off in the afternoon to go to the senior center in town. Hanging out with 6 retired women, learning how to mend socks was the perfect balm for the dumpster fire that is our country and world right now. It felt a bit like giving a middle finger to capitalism.

My hearty recommendation is don’t use Farrow and Ball! The colours are beautiful but the paint quality is shocking. I’m still traumatised from trying to paint my daughter’s room. It’s a disgraceful waste of money! If you do your own painting or you want to stay on good terms with your decorator, steer clear!
If you can get it in the U.S. Dulux Heritage has just as nice a colour range and is much better quality for much less cash. I painted my son’s room in their Boathouse Blue and it’s a gorgeous happy colour.

Love the sign Books are Magic.

Last year I found a hard cover copy of Nora Webster in the neighborhood little free library and it was signed by the author!! Needless to say, I will be keeping it forever.