friday five fotos - x-mas edition

My Brooklyn 99-cent-store tree:

A motley stocking crew:

Once upon a time there were two Jewish boys who demanded they get stockings like all the other kids in the neighborhood. True story.

Not Martha Stewart, but still festive.

Christmas lights make me happy.

The overdue HLC post

I have reincarnated the Hateful Little Corner. The devilishly red little desk that was the setting of so many moments (hours, days, months) of my self-flagellation. The symbol of the shit, booze, drugs, the confusion, fear, pain, the hedonism of days past. That refuge from health and balance and serenity. It has been prettified. Stripped, sanded, painted, relocated to the office on the second floor; the room with good light. It is going into a witness protection program. But I will know. I will always know.



It was the first piece of new furniture I ever bought for myself. Found it at a funky place in L.A., on La Brea. It was $450, but I talked him down to $400. That was in 1999. I knew it was overpriced, but I didn't really care. It was the only thing that wasn't a hand-me-down in my studio apartment in Beechwood Canyon.



I took my time with this project. The inspiration began when I refinished the little cabinet that was part of what K used to call my "chippy yellow" collection. The steps were simple, really, good for a beginner. I sanded it down, painted it a bright glossy white, and add some cute knobs from Anthropologie.



I decided to do the same with the desk. This time I had a little more experience. I spent a day sanding, slowly easing off the red stain, the layers of cigarette smoke, bits of candle wax, crushed pills in the grain. Ink spots, water rings. I primed it, sanded again, running my hands over the surface to be sure it was smooth, knowing I wouldn't be able to hide every imperfection. Nor did I need to.



A week later I finished it off with some thick and hardy coats of white enamel paint. Let them really dry well before starting with the next one. The original matching hutch piece doesn’t work with the new office layout, so I’m using it as a makeshift bookshelf up in my other little nook. It is still red. While I was waiting for the desk to dry, I recovered an ikea desk chair with some boy-friendly Marimekko fabric, a little pattern to contrast the clean white.



There is no room in my life for the HLC that was. Fortunately, most of the time I don’t think about it, don’t remember how to get there. Other times, it is so hard to not go to that place. It beckons me almost obscenely, in a way that makes me want it, need it, like a hard fuck. Other times, it doesn’t even occur to me. It's just a different life now. A life where I use a coaster on the desk, which is just a desk, and no longer a hateful little corner.

ruminating on rugs

I am hunting for a rug for what we call our "sun room," that little room off the dining room and next to the kitchen. The red sofabed and a brown leather club chair will live there, so the room needs a color that will work with both items.

The red sofa is up against another red wall that is a darker and deeper shade. I think pale blue is going to work best and is more interesting than just beige or white. What do you think of any of these? And am I on point with the color choice?


I adore this tufted Thomas Paul rug so very much, but sadly it is out of my price range at around $1400 for an 8'x11'. It also comes in a 8' round version that would look really cool, but that's still a grand.

Another Thomas Paul design called "Flock." It's a dhurrie rug, so it's not plush, more like a coarse blanket. But I like the design and the price is right -- on sale for $650. This is the one I'm really leaning towards.

R tends to go for the more traditional, less graphic stuff, so I'm throwing this Pottery Barn "Maren" option in the mix. It runs about the same as the Flock rug above.

Another Pottery Barn option. This one is the right color family, but it seems a too cutesy for me. It hits our target price point though, at $500.

I'm also thinking of hanging some pretty drapes on either side of the entryway to the room that could be pulled shut to serve as a guest room in a pinch.


Would that be weird? I'm not sure if I should hang them IN the room, just OUTSIDE the room, or WITHIN the doorframe. I'm thinking in the room probably makes the most sense.

I should get paid to do this stuff, man. If the economy weren't in the shitter I'd seriously consider being a personal shopper. I rock the interwebs.

We used to drink on Tuesdays

Back when I was living in Hollywood, Polly and I would get together on Tuesdays after I got off work and go get into some kind of trouble. We didn't actively plan for it to be Tuesdays, and we saw plenty of each other throughout the week, but somehow Tuesdays stood out. Maybe because they were a particular demon and delight: attractive since they came around so quickly, yet deadly, for there was still the rest of the week to suffer through after we'd gone and done whatever it was we did. Often enough it was just a lingering dinner at out favorite Italian place, where we'd flirt with the waiters and have cocktails and delicate salads and huge bowls of spicy pasta and sambuca and cappuccino and whatever dessert they dropped off at our table on the house. Of course then we'd drive home, hands dangling cigarettes out the window, buzzing with food and booze and friendship. There were other escapades too, on Tuesdays, that involved other characters and substances and territory that I won't get into here.

I've been thinking a lot about Polly these days. And those years in L.A.

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I submitted my grad school application, but my desire to get out of DC sort of outweighs my desire to pursue an advanced degree. It outweighs a lot of things, unfortunately.

I feel shitty about that.

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I have been watching that HBO series about vampires. It's a totally soap opera, but I am addicted. And I've developed an unexpected partiality to the name "Sookie."

Go on, say it three times fast, I guarantee you'll be in love, too.