You you got a (home) problem, He’ll solve it. Ice is back…

Um, yeah, “Ice Ice Baby” came out when I was below legal drinking age, in college. We loved it. Yeah, I’m old – our other favorite song was “Good Vibrations” by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Whatever happened to The Funky Bunch? Did they actually play instruments, or was it Turtle, Drama, and E searching for a credit in some way?

Anyway, since then I have run into Vanilla Ice several times on T.V. The first was MTV’s Cribs. Or was it VH-1′s Behind the Music? Either way, I remember being really impressed that he’d obviously invested well, because his large lifestyle had lasted much longer than the most popular songster of Prom 1990, M.C. Hammer. For Vanilla’s next T.V. feat, I remember him tearing up a set on MTV when they were retiring the worst 20 videos of all time. I believe Jon Stewart, Janeane Garafolo (my doppleganger), and three other comics I’ve forgotten were there, and the aftermath was hilarious – I need to find it on YouTube (here it is) – one of them was trying to use the fake set phone to call for help, and that guy that played Mango on SNL was yelling “No Vanilla!”. Vanilla had taken a bat to some popcorn and the rest of the set in some rage about his new sound. Next I spied him when he appeared upon on The Surreal Life. Did I mention I watch a lot of crap T.V.? In my defense, my latest favorite show is Treme, and my other favorite show of all time is The Wire, well, besides Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm, so I do have some taste, as well as a lifetime subscription to HBO. Just wanted you to know.

Well, it looks like semi-prime time thinks it’s ready for Vanilla again. There’s a new home improvement show, called The Vanilla Ice Home Project, set to air on the DIY network on October 14.

Oh, By the way DIY network, your website should be pimping Vanilla big time, and after a quick search within the site, I’m having a really hard time finding any information about the show. A simple search within the site brings up stuff about icemakers. This is probably the most buzz-worthy thing you’ve EVER done – it should be front and center on your site! A wider internet search shows me that other bloggers do not know crap about Vanilla, and there are no links back to your site, but they are buzzing about the show. They are obviously way younger than I am and don’t watch nearly enough television. I mean seriously, I remember from Behind the Music that he thought he wouldn’t get in trouble with Queen because they had put one extra “dun” into the “dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun” into the riff they ripped off from “Pressure.” Word to your mothers.

A vase of flowers or greens will bring even a dull hotel room to life in the most delightful way. The small amount of trouble or expense involved is honestly repaid in real decorative effect. If you find cut flowers too extravagant, stick to the greens. Laurel, rhododendron leaves, huckleberry or pine will all last many days, even weeks.

-Dorothy Draper

This doesn’t just go for hotel rooms. Go pick a bunch of flowers or cut some branches while you can, or splurge a little bit on some. They’ll be worth the cost and effort in how happy they’ll make you.

image by Garret Cord Werner, via Houzz.com

Why did I not hear about this until I received my People mag in the mail today? There is a Mad Men auction happening on eBay, that includes lamps, desks, sofas and chairs from the old Sterling Cooper office sets! Proceeds will go to City of Hope. As this goes to post, there are over nine days left in the ten day auctions.

Oh this picture that flickr member lakbdesigns/fergusandme submitted to our Fresh New Spaces Group makes me feel exhilarated – LOVE the yellow and turquoise together, the POM POMS and the fun mix of vintage furniture, the lanterns, the flowers, the stone patio – Love Love Love!

To learn more about lakbdesign, check out this website.

Well, I showed you the most dated of the St. Elmo’s Fire sets, complete with a Rebel Yell mural. The rest of the sets, though 25 years old, could work with just a few tweaks.

First we have Andrew McCarthy and Emilio Estevez’s man cave, complete with bottles of alcohol, a mess, lots of stereo equipment and albums, and a coffin for a coffee table. Man Cave design never changes much, it just gets better gaming systems. This one probably had Colecovision or Atari:

Next we have Mare Winningham’s parents’ traditional home, which looks like it was inspired by Dorothy Draper’s original design for The Greenbrier. Now they just need Carleton Varney to come over and update it a bit:

Then we have Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy’s Georgetown loft. While it has a few bits of eighties I’d get rid of, like the glass block wall and all of those plants, the exposed brick, the oversized art, great natural light, and the open floor plan are all design elements that have endured. I think it’s such a mess in some of these pictures because they are breaking up and divvying up their belongings: