The Elephant In The Room
This post is just about a weird decorating related dream I had. Nothing more, nothing less. Oh yeah and I think it means I’m a teeeny bit strange. Just a smidge. Anyway, in my dream there was this new decorating trend that was sweeping the nation and it was called “The Elephant In The Room” and it basically meant that a bunch of big scmancy designers (this was possibly spurned by watching Million Dollar Decorators before bed) decided that every room needed “a dash of elephant.” Kind of like how they say every room needs “a little bit of black” or “something unexpected.” So they were all encouraging people to subtly work an elephant figurine or painting or some pillow with a cross-stitched elephant into every room in order for it to feel “polished and 100% done.”
As in, no room is complete without an elephant.
So they would show these pretty designer rooms and you wouldn’t see any elephants and then they’d say their punch line, which was: “Now let’s address the elephant in the room!” and they’d zoom in on the subtle elephant-y pattern in the bed linens or the curtains or in the art and everyone would be amazed by “the big elephant reveal.” So it wasn’t anything crazy like this:

But more like this (yay ceramic animals):

They declared that every room needed at least one elephant if not many of them, but they should be “subtle and tasteful.” Even bathrooms apparently needed that “touch of elephant” (they suggested finding “an elegant and refined elephant soap pump” or working a few into your shower curtain design). For kitchens they recommended a new faucet design that looked like a gilded elephant and the water came out of the trunk.
Then Donald Trump gave a tour of his house and he had a golden elephant faucet and all the designers were doing that refined golf clap when they saw it because they were enamored with the idea of it and called him “a style icon” to which Trump replied “oh yes, I’m a uuuge style icon” (that’s really how he says huge – I learned that from The Apprentice and SNL and The Soup, and I’m proud that my sub-conscious worked it in). This is what his mouth looked like when he said uuuge in case you’re wondering:

So then I turned to John in my dream and said “do you think we should blog about the whole Elephant In The Room Phenomenon?” and he said “no, I think we should pass on that trend and start a Chihuahua In The Room thing, and just photograph every room with Burger somewhere in the background like Where’s Waldo.” Of course this sounded like an amazing idea and I pointed out that Burger already weasels his way into a ton of pictures and that (this cracks me up most) “he does seem to make a space feel more complete.”
Then I woke up.
Insane right? Oh well, it made me laugh. And of course I ran right over to the computer as soon as I awoke to record all the details before it got fuzzy and I forgot anything. Because this ol’ blog is nothing if not a weird little “time capsule” of home improvement related happenings (so I think nutso decorating trend dreams have a place here somewhere, right?). So there, I showed you mine. Have you guys had any crazy decor-related dreams? Let’s delve deep into our subconscious decorating minds and try to understand it all. The only thing that I can guess mine might indicate is that I have a deep love of not-real animals (like all of my ceramic “friends”). And we’re a little too obsessed with Burger. But you already knew that.
Psst- Images found here, here, and here.
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That’s hilarious! I have small white ceramic elephant bookends in our family room. I guess I’m ready for the trend to hit!
came across this little number today shopping online and thought of your dream! http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?itemdescription=true&itemCount=80&startValue=1&selectedProductColor=&sortby=&id=20973657&parentid=A_NEWARRIVALS&sortProperties=+subCategoryPosition,&navCount=5&navAction=jump&color=&pushId=A_NEWARRIVALS&popId=APARTMENT&prepushId=&selectedProductSize=
Haha, too funny!
xo,
s
OK – so the Elephant in the room first picture is by Banksy – an amazing guerilla street artist. He just made a movie ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’ that I HIGHLY recommend watching. Great art and really neat.
Love the blog – thanks for keeping me entertained while I work from home!!
Thanks for sharing your odd dream~ funny, as a rule, the “elephant in the room” is something people never talk about… hahahahaha!
I just got back from a graduation party and the host had two little elephants on her fan pulls that her son had brought back from a trip to Thailand. Someone even said something about the elephant in the room and I thought of you and giggled.
This blog post reminded me of this blog post…
http://www.thepinkandblueblog.com/2011/06/sunday-things-elephant-inspiration.html
Happy elephants!
Love it! Especially the pink elephant watercolor!
xo,
s
Your dream totally cracked me up.
My best decor related dream was when I was pregnant with my son (aren’t pregnancy dreams the wackiest of all? Seriously some crazy stuff in those ones.)
I dreamed my dad was at my new house helping us get all settled in and decided to paint my living room pink. And not some soft somewhat-livable pink. A pepto bismal make-you-want-to-vomit pink. And he was painting every surface the same sticky color- even the fireplace (which we actually didn’t even have, so even more wackiness there). I was so angry with him in the dream that I actually woke up all flustered and uptight! My dad is very much not a pink person, so it made it even funnier to tell it once I woke up.
Good stuff.
My brother-in-law is from England and his London roomie, Janie, is half-Indian. She said it’s super good luck in India to have little ceramic elephants (2 are idea) sitting somewhere in your house FACING YOUR FRONT DOOR. I figure you’d like the ceramic animal part, and it could forever remind you of your dream. Maybe I’ll do a little post on my blog about it so you can see my little elephants, one of whose trunk is half-missing. :) I’ll tell you when I do.
I love this dream! Elephants are by far my fave animal and I am trying to do an elephant in every room! Too funny!!
My husby and I are both readers and huge fans! After reading this post we decided to head over to hobby lobby this past Saturday to scope out some fun funky fabric to recover our dinning room chairs in honor of your new fabulous room. Of course we had to check out the clearance section first – you just never know what you are going to find there! Well – there were TONS of elephant themed decor that had us just about rolling in the aisle! Of course, we had to find all of the elephants and then discuss the design elements of each while giggling the entire time…the other shoppers probably thought we were NUTS!
If you ever decided to franchise and want to expand into the Midwest – pick us!! Please!!! xoxo
That is hilarious!
I have crazy dreams like that too…
(don’t know that i’m brave enough to put them out there for everybody to know… ) LOL… but yes, they’re crazy like that!
Sherry…was in Winners today (Canadian version of Marshalls), saw a whole shelf of elephants and immediately thought of you and your dream. I snapped a pic to share with you: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150587341565274.676684.573850273#!/photo.php?fbid=10150651750140274&set=a.10150587341565274.676684.573850273&type=1&theater (I hope the link works). Enjoy!
Woah- that’s an entire stampede! Too funny.
xo,
s
When my sister and I were recently renovating and moving into what used to be our grandparents house, she had a dream that I caulked all the cracks in the dining room with blue cotton candy! Someone at work who is a psychologist told her it just meant she was craving comfort food, but I think it was her subconscious telling her not to trust me or my shoddy workmanship. As long as it keeps me from having to caulk miles of wood paneled walls, I don’t mind one bit!
Hahah- hilarious!
xo,
s
I’ve been following your blog for awhile now and love seeing all the DIY projects you guys tackle on your home. I just wanted to say that ever since I read this post I’ve been noticing elephants (ceramic and otherwise) at EVERY store I’ve been to in the last week. It makes me smile every time, I’m begining to think maybe my house is missing a little bit of elephant!
TOO funny. And thanks, you just reminded me to set my DVR to tape Million Dollar Decorators!
OMG, your dream totally made me laugh.
@ Donna Huebsch: I totally thought the same thing. I was waiting for some story about how no one is willing the proverbial “Elephant in the Room”, then much to my delight it’s a dream making fun of Donald Trump! I despise that man, lol. Thanks for the post.
This T-shirt made me think of this post
http://www.threadless.com/product/2643/Elephanticus_Roomious/tab,girls/style,shirt
Haha- love it!
xo,
s
Lonny just posted a trend alert: Elephant in the Room! Ha ha! Sherry, I think you may be subconsciously predicting new trends in decor.
http://blog.lonnymag.com/trend-alert-the-elephant-in-the-room-39367
Haha, that’s hilarious!
xo,
s
I just saw the Lonny trend alert and we going to share it with you too! Looks like Tiffanie got there first :)
Haha, that seriously had me giggling. Love that they even called it “the elephant in the room!”
xo,
s