And I thought, they really mean it.

But that’s what we paid for, right? We didn’t want to come back from riding horses in the desert and be afraid we were going to stain the white marble floors with our boots.

It made me think, though, about how to bring that ranch feeling to a more urban environment without it feeling like a room based on a theme. Because ranch can get out of hand very easily, and next thing you know you’ve got two horse heads handing you toilet paper.

My mother does a very good job of handling this style, something I like to call contemporary country, by focusing on textures and fabrics rather than on horses or plows. She’s got fantastic collections of antique quilts and custom wood furniture my stepfather has built in his shop. And almost all of her furniture is covered in something incredibly durable, something that can withstand the constant beating of more than a dozen grandchildren.

She also likes to drop subtle hints of Americana into the room, and sometimes not so subtle. Like the one room in her cabin that looks like the founding fathers walked in and exploded all over the walls.

I thought I’d take some of my mother’s direction and put together a mood board of furniture and accessories that would bring some contemporary to country, with not a horse head in sight.

Hopefully this can spark some inspiration, whether your thinking of going a little bit country, or even just blending two very different styles. And if you’re looking for even more inspiration, check out the country-style rooms at Designers’ Portfolio.

Editor’s Note: Welcome back, Heather, we missed you while you were recapping HGTV Design Star. Glad you’re back and posting with us again every Thursday!

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First course is a tropical fruit salad, second is huevos rancheros, third is an elegant corn tamale and fourth is rice pudding empanadas with a mango chutney. They gulp it all down while patting each other on the back. Suddenly Vern walks in with the chef. Like I’ve said before, you never want to see Vern walk in. It’s almost always bad news.

Turns out chef Aarón Sanchez has one of the biggest hits on the Food Network, Chefs vs. City. The contestants are to choose one of the dishes they’ve just devoured as inspiration for this week’s challenge: to create a dining room space. Casey chooses the tamale, Courtland goes with the empanadas, Emily chooses huevos rancheros, which means Michael is left with the fruit salad. The twist is that they have to start with a very lived-in space and must repurpose furniture and materials to create their designs. As if deriving design inspiration from the taste of a meal isn’t hard enough.

Read the rest over at the Design Star Blog

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The contestants meet Vern in the lobby of Trump Tower to meet Donald Trump, Jr. who is going to help judge the challenge this week. Each team has to design a model apartment in the brand new Trump property, The Trump Plaza Residences in Jersey City. Don, Jr., explains that the Trump look is consistently about luxury, but that it has to be contextual, which in this instance means it should reflect Jersey City. And since the Trumps are all about New York, each contestant must choose a New York City souvenir package and physically incorporate it into their designs. Uh, Design Star? Have you ever seen a souvenir? About as luxurious as an ingrown hair.

Casey takes the architectural package, Stacy grabs the yellow taxi bag, Alex selects the Big Apple package, Tom takes the Statue of Liberty, Emily gets the subway bag, Courtland takes the Times Square package, leaving Michael with the Broadway souvenirs. They head out to their apartments and the blue team immediately decides to apply crown molding. Emily worries it’s going to be a time suck. These designers have to realize at this point that if their gut is telling them TIME SUCK, then the reality is going to be TIME BLACK HOLE.

Read the rest of Dooce’s review»

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This week’s challenge starts outside a flower shop when Candice announces each designer gets to choose the flower that inspires them the most. None of the contestants know which flower any of the others are choosing, and finally Vern walks out with a bouquet made up of each team’s combined choices. They must design a studio apartment based on the overall team bouquet and also incorporate their own individual floral inspiration.

The men’s bouquet is, as Courtland describes, “easy on the eye.” Clean, minimal, soft and fresh, made up of ranunculus, tulip, calla lily and snapdragon. Whereas the women’s bouquet is much more overtly romantic and whimsical: orchid, daffodil, carnation, hyacinth and wax flower. Immediately Dan starts to try to fight for himself and warns the women that in the last challenge they tackled too many construction-heavy projects, meaning ALL HIM. Can they please shop a bit more this time? Does he really have to say that to a car full of women? IN NEW YORK CITY?!

Read the rest of Dooce’s review»

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Immediately the contestants walk out onto the rooftop of Trump International Hotel and Tower where a jazz band is getting down. Oh, jazz. You cute little acquired musical taste. Like hot, diluted beer on an uncovered patio in the desert. My husband loves you. I love him despite this.

Vern tells the ladies to choose one guy to join their team since the numbers are lopsided four to six (women being the first two eliminated). After a tiny bit of whispering they choose Dan, they say because of his skills and his nice energy, an infusion the women could really use. Really, it’s not because he’s so cute and has that adorable Southern accent? Those things come in handy when you’re sewing curtains.

This week’s challenge is to design a 200-square-foot outdoor terrace inspired by music, what Vern describes as one of the most difficult Design Star challenges ever…

Click over to HGTV Design Star blog for the rest

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Emily Henderson, Nina Ferrer and Tera Hampton from HGTV Design Star

Also, for a second there before they flashed the name Casey on the screen, I thought Reese Witherspoon had suddenly joined Design Star. How awesome would that be? GET YER STUBBORN SELF DOWN HERE AND GET ME SOME BROCADE.

This week! The first Design Star fashion show. Contestants are challenged to design an apartment based on the design of an outfit, and among the choices are an elegant evening gown, pajamas, suits, even a wedding gown. Nina grabs the evening gown, Courtland grabs a suit, and so on, until Genevieve drops the catch: two teams. Men vs. women.

It

And every outfit chosen by each designer has to be incorporated into the design. That’s five completely different looks per apartment… um… Design Star? I think your rules are cute and all, but I think they may have a methamphetamine problem.

Click over to the HGTV Design Star blog for the rest »

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HGTV Design Star judges Candice Olson, Genevieve Gorder and Vern Yip

Twelve new designers, all with varied backgrounds, some formally schooled, others who found inspiration building pig troughs (those things are darling), under pressure to impress the judges — Vern Yip, Genevieve Gorder, and Candice Olson — to become host of their own TV show. And already I get the sense that Vern means business. Like, yes, the two women beside him are taller by three feet, but who’s doing the voice-over?! THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT.

HGTV Design Star contestant, Nina Ferrer

First competition: Each designer is paired with another designer, someone they have never met, and they have to design a white-box bedroom for that person, based on their personality. Budget: $500. The catch is that it all has to be spent at an Asian market. OH MY LOLA. Is it just me, or do I sense a glut of Kimonos, geisha umbrellas and paper lanterns? Seriously, if someone glues kimchi to a wall I may have to leave the room.

Click Over to HGTV Design Star for the rest

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I chose a warm beige color called Architectural Cream from the Ralph Lauren collection, and had almost every room in the house painted in this shade. It catches light in different, beautiful ways depending on the time of day, and it’s the perfect backdrop for furniture and accessories in brighter, flashier colors. For instance, my six-year-old Leta loves pink princesses like so many other girls her age, so I gave her the pink and dialed back on the princess.

The two major colors in her room are magenta and medium-toned wood, and what I wanted to create was a space that could grow with her. Yes, she will eventually think that pink is hideous, but changing out that color will be easy with this design, just swapping out curtains and bedding. The dresser and bed, however, should last her through the goth stage and on into her first apartment in college. BECAUSE SHE IS GOING TO COLLEGE.

In my 11-month-old Marlo’s room, I wanted to play around a bit more, so I found a lovely yellow wallpaper that blended easily with the wall color.

From there I continued with the yellow, black, and gray in the wallpaper to give the room some punch. I also used some of the pink I used in Leta’s room knowing that Marlo would be inheriting almost everything used in that space. This is one of those times when I’m glad that I have two girls. Unlike the times when both are trying to manipulate me emotionally.

The kitchen came with cherry cabinetry, which is the dominating color in that room.

I continued that color with the frames of the pictures we put on the walls and then brought in a darker hue for the dining chairs. Then I connected the backsplash tiles and the granite countertops with the color of the bamboo in our dining table. I never like to go crazy with color in the kitchen because I like to focus on the food, not the giant red wall or the crazy orange curtain that threaten to eat me first.

I recommend this color to all my friends who are having trouble trying to figure out what to do with a room. This is a beige that isn’t boring. It goes with everything, and lets you play around endlessly with everything else.

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The acrobatics, of course, were the star of the show, but the heart of it for me? The color, the costumes, the elegance of every line and detail. Alegría means “jubilation” in Spanish, and the core message of the show is about the pricelessness of youth and the inevitable passing of time.

Perhaps I’m a sentimental schmuck, but I felt like a wonder-filled six-year-old the entire time. The show transported me to those carefree moments in my youth when bills and taxes and the mortgage weren’t eating my brain.

I laughed hysterically. I gasped. I covered my face. I stood up on my feet and clapped maniacally.

In the past few years my style has moved quite far into themes more modern, more streamlined. We live in a mid-century home, and I’ve honored that style with the furniture and patterns in each room, meaning that bright spots of color and crazy textures are rare. After seeing this show, however, I can’t stop thinking about mixing it up a bit. Maybe going wild. Like, flying to Paris and clearing out an entire flea market.

I was so inspired, in fact, that I put together a mood board for a bedroom that would envelop and dazzle me like that show did last night, with furniture and accessories that have the color and texture of the blue-feathered nymphs. Not a circus-themed room, no. Something whimsical and reminiscent of the playfulness of youth, something vibrant, something unrestrained. Something totally not me.

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I told you it was huge. In fact, I think I once lived in an apartment half this size.

I’ve written about what a nightmare this couch has been, at least in terms of getting it made and delivered. And then the date that they promised me it would arrive got pushed back again. Ahem.

Now, I’m horrible with confrontation. I do not like to engage in disagreements, even if they happen to be civil. So when they called to tell me that the date had been pushed back, I said, okay. Fine. And then I had my assistant, someone who delights in confrontation call them back for me. I had to leave the house when he did this so that I wouldn’t even hear the conversation, otherwise I would break out in hives.

But! I hear it was glorious and magical. Triumphant, even. They wouldn’t give me the couch for free (drats!), but my assistant talked them into a fifteen percent discount. I’ll take it.

Three days later they called me back to schedule a delivery day and time, and that’s when they brought up my assistant. He was very angry, they said. He was insistent, they said. Aggressive, even. Well, why do you think I hired him?

My sister and her family have always lived with inherited furniture, and this is one of the first new pieces they’ve ever had in their house. My brother-in-law understood their excitement and told his boys they could celebrate as boys do. But only once.

And then they were told to act civilized. Remember, kids, some people live in houses smaller than this couch.

More than anything we are all relieved that we can move on with this project. We can accessorize, move in some smaller pieces, and by football season this will be the place to spend the day.

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