Althouse: “So what color have we decided on for the upstairs child’s bedroom?... The one with the expansive tomato-colored floor.”

January 19, 2015

“So what color have we decided on for the upstairs child’s bedroom?... The one with the expansive tomato-colored floor.”

"I was thinking for that room maybe a dark green?"

"Really? Dark green? You don’t think maybe dark green walls with a tomato-colored floor is a bit much?"

"No, it’ll look amazing. We can break up the monotony of the color with some dark green and yellow striped curtains."

"That’s an amazing idea. On non-matching red and yellow spearhead curtain rods? Do you think a tiger skin rug would be overkill?”

"For a young child’s room? No. Not at all."

From the "Just-Discovered Transcript of a Conversation Had by the Interior Decorators"... of what famous room? (Via Throwing Things.)

17 comments:

MayBee said...: Goodnight Moon; 1/19/15, 1:04 PM
rhhardin said...: The Oval Office.; 1/19/15, 1:05 PM
pm317 said...: oh, the whole thing was so misleading! So like Althouse to perpetrate the deceit on her unsuspecting readers.; 1/19/15, 1:23 PM
MayBee said...: I didn't even have to click through. I saw it in my head immediately.; 1/19/15, 1:30 PM
pm317 said...: @MayBee, I didn't grow up here and don't have any children, :) Though I remember some children's book I read as a kid -- my first book was Vera the Vet and.. Robin's Menagerie. Maybe they are British -- don't remember where they came from.; 1/19/15, 1:41 PM
David said...: Ugly Volvo is redundant.; 1/19/15, 1:42 PM
m stone said...: I consider Clement Hurd's illustration---all of them really---to be brilliant, exposing the readers to stimulation of color and off perspective, with subtle references and connections. A little fantasy world to dwell in before the cold hard reality of the Core Curriculum robs them of all imagination.

The most offensive part of the book is the replacement of the photo of the Hurd holding a stoke from the book jacket by the publisher in 2005.; 1/19/15, 1:55 PM
Jaq said...: Way too many references to the writer's tiny Manhattan apt, but otherwise pretty funny.

The writer could always figure out a way to make more money or move to the suburbs.; 1/19/15, 2:36 PM
Amy said...: I have been enjoying reading Goodnight Moon to my 19 mo old granddaughter for several months now. It really is very soothing.
I can see that the scale of the room allows the young child (whose fine motor skills are just developing) to point to each item as we read - all that extra space is what makes that possible. The mouse is a particular favorite.
However, I have mixed feeling about the old lady whispering 'hush' now that I am actually the one in that role.
It's definitely weird, and has plenty of material to satirize, but somehow...it just works.
Goodnight noises everywhere.....; 1/19/15, 2:57 PM
Known Unknown said...: The classic has been updated. FYI.; 1/19/15, 3:31 PM
Beldar said...: I thought this was another Althouse & Meade dialog. I was going to defend Meade's color-sensibilities. Obviously I presumed too much.; 1/19/15, 4:04 PM
Michael K said...: Oh, New York City. Message understood.; 1/19/15, 4:57 PM
kcom said...: Perhaps the tag should be Inferior Design.; 1/19/15, 5:45 PM
Deb said...: Is nothing sacred?; 1/19/15, 6:10 PM
tim maguire said...: Something similar happens to every adult who reads the same child's story hundreds of times (once you notice the star bellied sneetches really are the best sneetches on the beeches, you start seeing inadvertent racism everywhere you look in Dr. Seuss' books).

This specific example may be unique to a Manhattan reader, but the perversion of a cute child's story is universal among parents who read to their children.; 1/20/15, 7:25 AM
tim maguire said...: tim in vermont said...The writer could always figure out a way to make more money or move to the suburbs.

The writer may well be a millionaire who doesn't want to move to the suburbs. This is Manhattan, after all. Even your typical 1-bedroom 500 sq. ft. apartment will be valued at over a million.; 1/20/15, 7:31 AM
jr565 said...: were they eating watermelon at the time?; 1/20/15, 7:20 PM