What I Want vs What I Got

We all have compromised and settled with design. Unless your budget, as well as your chops, is as big as Belgian linen in the Restoration Nation, you don't always end up with your design of choice. During my reno, my habit wasn't fed with all the details and elements I craved and now, during the decorating process, I'm not getting hooked up either. Thankfully that kind of creative adversity, or apprehension, can push your imagination into overdrive and the results can be very fulfilling.

Once I'm back in my home state, I'm gonna post some of my own Fantasy vs Reality moments - the greatest number of them are more results of the size of my pocketbook rather than the condition of my instincts or my determination.

Until then, I'm gonna leave with this quote that included Dictionary.com word of the day - cacoethes, which is defined as an irresistible urge; mania. I love how this passage has a connection, in my mind, to being bold in discovery and application of design:

"We must talk, think, and live up to the spirit of the times, and write up to it too, if that cacoethes be upon us, or else we are nought." Anthony Trollope

Here's hoping that all Design Junkies can live, and decorate, up to the spirit of their design times, whether or not they are able to live up to the cost. And here's a couple pictures of one of my favorite fantasy spaces, the digs of Aussie designer David Hicks (the other one).

Photos via David Hicks