Hydrangeas. And a Decorating Suggestion.

We waited too late to prune the giant hydrangea bush, so we must have snipped off some buds. It's not blooming with the totally crazy profusion of last year, but there have been plenty of big snowball blooms to bring into the house.

I never get tired of that shape and that creamy color. When they first bloom, they have a greenish tint. All the blooms that had long enough stems for clustering together in big containers have been cut already. The short-stemmed flowers are left, but I like how these look put in tiny bud vases. I'm playing around with my mantle, changing it up for summer. I'm going with a silvery and white look, except for that Voysey clock, which stays around. I am a little obsessive about the mantle, and my sister will attest to the fact that I have emailed her photos of the whole tableau, and even once, yes, webcammed her, live, into my living room so she could weigh in. Also the Easter chick needs to go, but it's so fuzzy!

Speaking of white, this brings me to the Suburban Matron decorating Tip o' the Week: get some tacky crap, spray paint it white, and enjoy the transformation to total chic. For example, that white clipper ship up there. Here it is again.


It was made by Syroco, which made metric tons of terrible "home accessories" during the 80's and before. If you were a kid and your mom went to a Home Interiors party or some such, chances are there was a lot of this for sale. I got alerted to Syroco by the crafty Nicole at Making It Lovely. Go look at her finds. She gave me the idea to buy this awful plastic junk off of ebay, if it's in a shape you like, and then coat it with glossy spray paint. It is cheap, cheap, CHEAP, and then you see Anthropologie selling the same thing for ten times the cost.

So "syroco" is a good search term on ebay, and it will bring up similar things that aren't necessarily by the same company. Here's another piece that I love.

This little Federal mirror was originally a terrible faux bronze-colored plastic. But it is perfectly lovely in white, over a little table in my entryway. It works in part because of the scale. Which brings me to another tip: if you are going to have an obvious reproduction or adaptation of an iconic piece of design, play with the scale. Have it be either tiny or huge. That way it's kind of witty and interesting, and not just ersatz. You dig? Just one matron's opinion.

I paid about ten dollars for the ship, and I think $12 for the mirror. That is a steal for a convex mirror. A search of ebay right now brings up some interesting things. There are some sconces on there that would look truly expensive if you painted them--it's a set of four. They'll be sold by the time you click, but take a look.

I'm torn about what to do with these babies. They are from 1966, and the finish is in excellent shape. But I can't decide if I love or hate them.

I got them thinking I would paint them and hang them in the kids' bathroom. But then I thought it would look too cluttered. I can envision a room in which these would look great, just as they are. But I do not have that room in my house. Do you see a future for these? Either painted white, or some other color, or just as they are? The finish is so mint that it pains me to paint them. Maybe. They're just not quite. . .right.