Don't Try This at Home

This is not for the faint of heart. There is nothing conventional or ordinary goin' here so take your heart pills and hold on.

This is the one room that had a concept life right from the beginning: Manhattan-African Chic. The mission was to create a background that would support the concept, as well as be functional, dynamic, and most of all, it had to be funky.

So you see the problem when you look at the flick. Does this really say anything to you about Manhattan-African Chic?

It was respectable but non-descript and it most assuredly had to go.

So here's what happened. Everything got gutted and torn out. As Katt Williams would say, "Ev-a-re thang?" Yes my people, Ev-a-re thang: the mantle, the marble surround and every bit of that God awful cabinet-framing and all. It was a complete deconstruction. And although this is what I thought I wanted, I was a little traumatized to see my new space looking like that and I walked around for several weeks thinking, "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time." Trust and believe, it was the hottest of messes.




















And then my good ole Uncle Milty, contractor extraordinaire and my good friend, did his thing. I'm not gonna lie, we had a few setbacks and re-routes. We had to do a lot of problem solving and design modification along the way whenever I'd get another bright idea that would keep his list growing. But then one day, the sanding was done, the stain was on, the walls had been painted, the shelves, complete with spot lighting, were complete, the storage drawers and TV niche were done and dammit we had a pretty good looking wall unit! The colors and finishes mirrored the kitchen in texture and color; the lights gave great ambiance; the lighter color on the walls was a better flow with the rest of the house and (Yes Halle-lu-yar!) the sliding doors hid the TV. Daps to Uncle Milty.

Now after all this, we three, Diva Queen B., Uncle Milty and I took a collective deep sigh, sat back, put on some good music, had some food and a couple of beers and enjoyed the view. Shoot, we were so please with ourselves that we even turned on the fireplace. That was right up until I voiced a horrible realization. I had absolutely no idea how I was going to dress the space. Now see, that's a problem. Imagine, all that work and you could still mess it up if you've got too many or the wrong things going on. In the midst of my worri'ations, Diva Queen B. got up and went to work. She gave me and Uncle Milty (who didn't give a hoot about my worri'ations because he had just worked all day and was glad to be sitting down) a lesson on triangles, groupings and how the eye must dance. What could I do but watch? Ten minutes later we had fantabulousness.




And that's why she's my main apple scrapple.

Deuces!

Funky I.