In the mall recently I was excited to see a new store with clothing in my size until I neared the window and saw that everything was red and black.

I’m not into wearing red and black.

Even the catalogs I usually order from have not had much of anything to interest me lately. My husband probably doesn’t mind that as it saves money. 🙂 It’s a good thing I have plenty of clothes at the moment — I’d be pretty frustrated if I needed something right now.

Even in the realm of fabrics and home decorating I can’t find much in the colors and styles I like. Recently I was thinking about adding a little round table in the living room to coordinate with this one…

…but I couldn’t find any kind of pink tablecloth. I’ve been looking for pinkish table linens, too, but can’t find anything. Most of what I can find is either very dark or white or off-white.

I don’t know quite how I’d define what my decorating style is. I used to say it was somewhere between country and Victorian. Pure country is too rustic for me, pure Victorian too fussy. In the past years I’ve heard about cottage style, shabby chic, and romantic style. I like elements of those. Probably what I really love is what the older Romantic Homes magazine used to feature, samples of which are here: the newer issues under a new editor are even getting away from that look. It can be overdone, of course, but I still like the pinks and whites and roses.  I can find a lot of that on online shops, but at great expense. There’s nothing on the Wal-Mart affordability level. Target does have Shabby Chic line, and while I like the overall look, the specific pieces don’t fit with my things.

Part of the fun of those kinds of styles is the freedom to create your own look and do your own thing. I just wish I could find more elements to create and do with.

I do dislike the way the whole industry of clothing and home decorating decides certain colors are “in.” I remember walking into a department store several years ago and seeing the entire clothing section in moss greens, mustard yellows, and rusts. I like those colors in nature, but not on my body. Whatever happened to diversity, allowing for different tastes and styles and colors?

I’m not too worried about whether I’m “in” or not, but maybe I’ll just have to sit tight until pink comes back into style to find things I like a little more easily. In the meantime maybe I’ll hunt around on ebay….