Design Rules Winner

As all the design tips and comments, including the last, which was obviously born of a scarring design experience, seemed worthy of winning the book giveaway, I decided it would be fairest to randomly pick one winner.


Using an olive green card (great color for Fall) and a humble biro (groundbreaking design), I enlisted the help of The Guy to draw one name from the pile.


The winner of the Elaine Griffin's manual to successful stress-free decorating Design Rules: The Insider's Guide to Becoming Your Own Decorator is... drum roll, please...


Napoleon Woman. Congratulations! Email me at modernemama at modernemama dot com and I'll pass your details to the publishers Gotham Books/Avery | Penguin Group USA. And thanks to all who took part.

Trending Pink

OK I'll be honest, I have a sort of pink obsession going on. Maybe I'm influenced by all the azaleas and rhododendrons flowering in the yard right now... but they've bloomed every Spring since we've lived here so there must be more to it than that.

For instance, I've never been tempted to put five shades of shocking pink in one planter before. I'm a minimalist and that would normally drive me crazy.

Maybe it's the really vibrant shades of pink Geberas and Impatiens that the local nursery had on display

Or maybe it was From the Right Bank to the Left Coast who blogged this Radiant Pink sink. A pop of fun pink in an otherwise white space that I'm seriously considering for our kitchen renovation. It would bring a rosy glow into my kitchen every time the sun shone and would do wonders for my skin tone. But I'm a fickle sort... What if I tired of the pink in a year or two?

Luckily there is be a way to get a fuchsia fix without permanent commitment. Danish design group Bodum are bringing colour to their kitchenware this summer - cafetieres and toasters in green, purple, red and pink! They're also introducing this ergonomic Gravity Spice Grinder $29.95. You can enter to win one from PointclickHome here.

Deep, Hot, Hollywood Pink - it's coming close to replacing Chartreuse as my current color of choice. But no matter how enthralled by pink I may become there's still one place I won't go.

There must be something in the air because Fifi Flowers is drinking Pink, while Hooked on houses is swinging on the porch.

Refresh Your Stinky Room

Dutch Boy paints introduce Refresh, the first premium quality paint with Arm & Hammer Odor Eliminating Technology and zero VOC.

It's talking a big talk with GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality and Green Cert certification and the website has a cool interactive video but as my mac doesn't come with sense-o-smell I don't know how well it really works. All I can say is that Sadie the dog had an "accident" a week or so back and even Nature's Miracle couldn't get the smell out. I eventually poured a packet of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda over the stain and left it overnight. Result: Smell completely vanished. If Refresh has the same effect as an open container of baking powder at neutralising odours I would definitely try it. And if Dutch Boy throws in a competition whereby I could win paint AND big bucks, I'm intrigued. What about you?

Here's what you do: Go to My House Stinks and submit a photo of your horrible room (there are a few examples up already so you can see what the competition is like). The winner of the most "annihilated-looking" room wins $5,000 and 50 gallons of Refresh to help rejuvenate their living space! Second prize: $2,500 and 25 gallons of Refresh; 3rd prize: $1,000 and 10 gallons of Refresh! Voters are eligible to win gallons of paint too, when they rate the rooms. Drawings monthly until October 2009.

If you win (or you decide to try the paint anyway) come back here and tell the interwebs what you think. Deal?

Counting Chairs (and tables)

Mid-Century Modern Furniture Poster

This competition from The Mid-Century Modernist has occupied all my spare time since Friday. I thought, at first glance, that it would be easy, after all I am mid-century modern girl, right? All I had to do was correctly identify every piece of furniture in this James Provost illustration. Well, it's proved a lot harder than I had imagined and I'm at the frustrated stage. I'm not doing this for the prize, by the way. I could fork over the $10 for one of the posters without any problem, it's the satisfaction of knowing I can look at any design classic and know the designer, the name, date and who manufactured it. I've poured over all my design books, re-read all my museum catalogues and spent so many hours online that I may need a new prescription from my optician but I'm still a table and three chairs short of a full poster. If someone doesn't win the competition soon and put me out of my misery I may well give up being uniquely modern and opt for a life of chintz and toile.

Not really staunch

Jean over at Renovation Therapy has an enormous Grey Gardens obsession and is feeding it with a competition to find the best Big or Little Edie Bouvier Beale letting their inner staunch rip. The contest is inspired by Little Edie's quote: But you see in dealing with me, the relatives didn't know that they were dealing with a staunch character and I tell you if there's anything worse than dealing with a staunch woman... S-T-A-U-N-C-H. There's nothing worse, I'm telling you. They don't weaken, no matter what.
I can't do dress-up crazy (it's not different enough from my normal crazy) so I'm giving you Rufus Wainwright (with Isaac Mizrahi making his second appearance on this blog) singing Grey Gardens. Not staunch but there are elements of craziness nevertheless.

Win a Light

If you like modern lighting stroll over to 2modern Design Talk where they are currently running a competition to win this Meridian Table Lamp from Lights Up!.
All you have to do is visit the 2Modern lighting shop and then leave comments about it on on the contest page. Not too complicated is it? Competition ends June 30th.

Competition Sunday

And through to the end of the month Create My Event is having a Fourth of July Traditions Contest to win this Inhabit Grass Stretched Wall Art from 2Modern.com.
It's stunningly simple to enter, just click the link and post your favorite tradition in the comments box. Easy, no?
Obviously my tradition on the Fourth is to hide away until people stop mentioning how the English got their asses kicked but I'm sure you can do much better than that....

Win more

Linda Merrill at ::Surroundings:: has a fab new contests sponsored by Artaissance. If you ever wanted a piece of custom art to complete your sitting room or bedroom now is your chance.
Just go to ::Surroundings:: and tell the internets what inspires you. It's that easy. Leave your story in the comments and you could win a gift certificate for any single item currently available on the Artaissance site, floral, modern, abstract - it's up to you. Competition closes Monday, May 12th and unfortunately for me I am banned from entering as I won the fantastic lamp time. Sad for me, more chances for you.

First of May

First of May, enter the Spring Flowers competition over at Create My Event today.
All you have to do is leave a comment with your best Spring decorating idea and you could win this gorgeous, eco-friendly Ailanthus pillow from Inhabit. It's made from recyclable materials, it's pretty, green and it could be yours...

It's going to get a whole lot lighter

Look, look. Do you see what I see? Do you recognise that light? The sofa? The balcony? It's my living room.
I entered a competition over at Surroundings, a site run by designer Linda Merrill of Chameleon Interiors. Check it out, it's dedicated to all aspects of design - and there's plenty of information over there as well as lots of Insporn - it's full of lustworthy objects.
And what did I win? Why this absolutely gorgeous Jonathan Adler Carlyle Beaded Table Lamp offered by Croft & Little. It couldn't have come at a better time. I've been looking for a lamp to go here since I moved the old lamp to the master bedroom in the great art reshuffle. I almost bid on two lamps on eBay, despite the $0 in the lighting budget, one I forgot about until 10 minutes after the auction closed, the other I was going to do today. This is a gazillion times better, it will wake up that boring little corner in terms of light and style.
It would be very remiss of me not to thank the person who sent me to the competition at Surroundings in the first place, Susan Serra of The Kitchen Designer, whose blog I read avidly. If Susan were thinking of giving away a kitchen, especially a beautiful Hansen Kitchen, I'd enter in a heartbeat...

Amazon's Next Breakthrough Author*

*Susan Beale, this could be YOU!
A friend has made it to the semi-finals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Chapeau! It's so exciting to know an almost published author.
There's an excerpt from her novel Tracings on the Amazon Digital Download page, so go over and check it out. You can even review it too. But do it before March 2nd, that's when this part of the competition will be over and the finalists will be chosen. Enjoy!