ROSE PARADE

Exactly one year after the first open house, our lovely little bungalow in Pasadena, California has officially sold! As we take deep sighs of relief, the reality of our move to the east coast is starting to set in and we're beginning to miss California just a bit. While we were freezing our wazoo's off in New York New Year's Day, the roses were blooming in our backyard in Pasadena as floats rolled down Colorado Boulevard draped in fresh flowers in the annual Tournament of Roses Parade. The parade, started in 1893 by members of the Valley Hunt Club who were mostly from the east coast and midwest, was a platform to show off the mild winter weather and tell the world what it was like to live in paradise. As our gardens come back to life on the east coast, a client paraded me around her late 1800's home hoping I'd be able to breath new life into her tired space. While a rose garden is lovely in your backyard, it doesn't belong all over the walls in your house. To freshen things up in the powder room on her first floor, we removed the old, dusty rose-themed wallpaper and replaced it with a chair rail made from crown molding (sold at the home depot and cut to size in the store) and by taping off squares and using two shades of paint, we created a look of faux-wainscoting, fitting for the period of the house. Yes roses are red and violets are blue, but there's no excuse for tacky wallpaper in the loo!

***(DESIGNER DISCLOSURE: the owner insisted on a "cushy" toilet seat for her tushie and, believe it or not, they only come in green and pink!)

TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: 2 days

COST: $65.00

STRESS LEVEL: Out with the Rose and in with the new: LOW