L&G Storytime Part III: Decorating Without Impoverishing Yourself?

In these hard financial times it good to know you can turn to L&G Storytime right? We understand your need to live in a fabulous space without spending a bunch of mullah. We have the perfect book for you: “How to Decorate Without Going Broke” by Barty Phillips, 1974. Just look at the cover. We love how ladies can look so good even when applying wallpaper with a brush!

We have been collecting vintage decorating books with a fury after purchasing our first house (it’s actually a duplex, see all of our adventures on our house blog thirty-thirtytwo). The books have definitely provided us with bountiful inspiration. “How to Decorate Without Going Broke” is one of the most inspiring. Here’s why (with examples of our own):


1. Bold colors: Who has the balls to use color like this these days?? Bright oranges, greens, yellows, even pinks. It’s what inspired us to dash our walls with Kelly green and mossy yellow and to highlight our salmon colored couch and counter tops with contrasting shades of grey.



We like to use bold color enamelware to use as accent color and it adds an element of fun while cooking, too!



2. Patterns and texture: Wallpaper was king in 1974 and they used it and other patterns fearlessly. Look at the great textiles used in curtains, pillows, and bedding and the boldly decorated furniture! We haven’t figured out how best to incorporate this into our home, but when we do…look out!



3.Playfulness: Imagine a cocktail party where people are lounging around on sheep, taking a nap in a seagull, or your kids playing in a gigantic stuffed mouth. Seriously though, in these stressful times its important to be able to escape to a place that doesn’t take itself so seriously. We like to surround ourselves with the fun objects, books, and art that we’ve collected over the years. Psst! But we're also working on a life-size dinosaur slide. Woo hoo!

We have a ways to go to achieve the awesomeness that’s contained in the pages of this fabulous book, and we hope you find some inspiration to go wild with decorating like the old days. Enjoy!

Jean&Dylan

Ladies&Gentlemen Blog
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Storytime with L&G PART II: For Big-Small, Short-Tall, You-Me & EVERYONE!!

Welcome back to our L&G Part II Storytime segment on Poppytalk.
Today, we like to share a delightful children's book by Tana Hoban. Tana, a talented photographer started publishing children's books in the 70's and has published more than 110 some books in her life. Tana captures the everyday mundane in a striking way that is familiar and nostalgic for adults but still captivating for the kids. The warmth and human quality of Tana's photos is undeniably beautiful.

One of our favorite books is "Push, Pull, Empty, Full- A book of opposites."
Dylan and I love the thoughtful way Tana captures certain objects, actions and living things to successfully convey the idea of opposites.


Not only do the photos teach kids the difference between, push-pull, front-back, together-apart, the book's pages alternatively show motion and still images in a way that is true to the mix that exists in real life and inspire the reader to apply the concepts to their own world. The simplicity of the black and white images and single word helvetica adjectives reduces the ideas to their pure core and lets the readers' imaginations go to work to complete the picture.

The photos do the talking so we'll shut up and let you enjoy the simple, sweet eye candy. :)



I couldn't resist using USNAPS photobooth and the adorable chalkboard wall with alphabet cards at Cafe Weekend to share the book with everyone. Oh! what fun we had last weekend...but mostly I just hogged the photobooth.



Have a great day...and night!

Jean & Dylan
Ladies&Gentlemen Blog
Ladies&Gentlemen Shop