Have I reached a new spray paint high?

Or am I high on spray paint?

No, that's not it. I did not inhale.

I love, love, love Dansko shoes. They fit my feet just right. They help keep my hips in alignment. (One of my legs is a little longer than the other, so this is an issue for me.)

But I don't love how the clunky bases of the shoes get so scuffed up. See?



Maybe this just happens to me. Maybe I bang my feet against things more than most people. But honestly, it makes me sad for expensive shoes to look like this.



I took them back to the store. I asked if there was a method for fixing them. I inquired about having the bases re-covered. No go.

But now, thanks to our secret weapon, they look like this!



Obviously I need to clean and polish the leather uppers, but I can do that easily. It was the scuffed-up bases that seemed impossible to fix--until I remembered good old spray paint!

What do you think? A new high? Or a new low?

A matter of taste

When I was a little girl, grown-ups often commented on clothing or decor by saying, "There's no accounting for taste." I heard that a lot, but I never really knew what it meant.

Now I know what it means, and it's actually a very freeing concept.

There are many things in life for which there is very strict accounting. There IS accounting for how much money you have. For how much you owe on your house. For how many pills you get in a prescription and how often you can get it refilled. For how many calories you can eat and how many you must expend to lose or gain weight. There's accounting for so much.

But there's no accounting for taste, because taste is not something that is prescribed by an authority or set by laws of nature. Taste is an individual thing, and we're all different. It is true that many of us agree that certain styles are pleasing or lovely; there are principles of art (color, proportion, symmetry, etc.) that are universally appealing; there are some design principles describing things that tend to look good to most of us. It's true that some tastes are more popular than others. But it's not true that certain kinds of taste are right and others are wrong.

I remember reading Rhoda's post at Southern Hospitality about her guest bedroom makeover. I thought her room was lovely, but I especially loved that she commented on her own decorating by saying, " I am not a minimalist."

YES! That's the spirit! Minimalism can be really beautiful, but it's not the only thing that's beautiful. Lots of different styles are pleasing and attractive, and perhaps the most attractive thing is that which we can share freely with others because it's what we really like and feel good about.

So I want to share with you a bit of my house that is just exactly my taste. I know that it wouldn't be attractive to some people, especially considering that this is a very public space in my house. Here it is.

This is a wall in my living room. If you've been to my house, you've seen this wall. It's hidden from no one.



Here it is in the evening:



And here's a close-up of the collection on the chest:




Not everyone likes it. Obviously, not everyone likes crosses. Not everyone believes in what the cross stands for. Some people who are real fans of Jesus don't like crosses used as art. And some people wouldn't enjoy such a collection, or such a display of a collection.

But I do like it. The crosses are special to me. They've been collected over many years, and the collecting of them has been meaningful. Many have been gifts, and that's meaningful to me as well. It's my taste to have things in my home that are reflective of my faith. And having them grouped together is reflective of my taste. So it works for me. But most of all, it's true to me, so it's a pleasure to share it with you.

I'd love to know what you think. Does the idea that there's "no accounting for taste" help you to feel free?

I'm linking this post to a "What Makes You Smile?" party at Butterfly Genes. Isn't that a great idea? Thank you for hosting such a fun party, Heathahlee!

Party cutlery holder

Last week I spent lots of time on my son's graduation--cleaning the house, preparing for guests, looking at baby pictures, crying. You know. The mom thing.

One thing I wanted for his graduation party (and for other parties, for that matter) was some kind of cutlery tray--something to hold plastic forks and spoons. Seems like most of our entertaining is of the casual variety--not a lot of sterling-silver-cutlery parties here. But plastic cutlery won't just lie there nicely on the table; it needs to be corralled.

My budget for this: $0.00. My money needed to go for other things. The cutlery tray was just something that I wanted.

Here's what I came up with.

I rescued this from the trash.



I thought about covering it with colorful paper, but then I decided to keep it neutral so that I could change it up at will, so I was going to cover it with brown kraft paper.

Then I realized that I had a can of spray paint was pretty much the color of kraft paper: "Nutmeg" by Rustoleum. So I spent about 60 seconds spray painting it.

Then I added a green ribbon (for my son's school colors) and some graduation scrapbooking stickers I had picked up. And here's what I ended up with:



And for my next party, I can change out the ribbon and stickers. . .or even leave it plain. Might look cool with just a few strands of raffia tied around it.

Like it? I love it! And it did its job really well. Those plastic forks and spoons never had it so good.