Ball O’ Twine

These are my confessions: I like country music, I think Tony Blair is oddly attractive, and I have a strange obsession with twine.  You heard me, TWINE.  Oh yes, this is happening.  I don’t know what it is, but I find myself constantly coming up with ways to incorporate twine into my decorating.  I love it.  Gotta have it.  If I wasn’t typing up my blog, I’d be sitting in the corner writing haiku poetry about twine. (I guess twine is more of a general term referring to a type of string, but in my mind twine is that dark tan jute/hemp type):

Hello Lover.  Now if you’ve been reading this blog and you already think I’m a crazy person who sits around talking to cans of spray paint, this may be the moment that I push you over the edge.  But you have to give me a chance to redeem myself.  Let me demonstrate what you can do with twine. 

We’ll  just start with a general discussion.  To me twine is just so classically cool.  It’s rustic, yet refined.  It’s a cheap and easy way to add instant charm and a vintage feel to absolutely anything.  It makes me feel like Jo March from Little Women, wrapping up my manuscript.  Or in this case, wrapping up a present:

Sure, you could go for a traditional ribbon or bow, something CVS will charge you $2.99 for.  Or you could bust out your trusty ball o’ twine and go industrial chic for less than a penny.  Probably it’s even cheaper than that.  Actually I’m pretty sure you make money every time you use a piece of twine.  In truth, if I had a nice box, I’d even 86 the wrapping paper and let the twine shine.  What’d I tell you.  My twine fetish leads me to poetry.

Moving on – wait, what’s that?  You can’t move on untill you know what’s in the present I wrapped for myself.  Fine, we’ll open it..

MR. MUO!  Man, that dude is like a bad penny.

For my next trick, I’ll employ one of my favorite rules for decorating.  Actually, this is something I carry over into the way I dress, so if I may be so bold, this is one of my favorite style  rules.  It is this: I don’t like a look to be all one-dimensional.  For example if I’ve a put together an overall conservative outfit, I like to add a dash of something unexpected, like a funky necklace or oversized earings.   That’s sort of what I’m going for here:

The frame is über ornate and delicate, so pairing it with the rawness of the twine brings about a balance.  Don’t you think?  Not buying it yet?  Am I out on this limb by myself?  Is it a limb made entirely out of twine?  Give me one more shot…

Here I took random glasses I had laying around and wrapped them in twine to finish a rustic centerpiece (posting it large and in charge because the smaller size didn’t do it justice):

Let’s go for an extreme close up of that twininess (don’t give me that look, it’s a word)

I’m feelin it.  And I hope you are too…even just a little.  Even if it’s just enough to go dish out the $2.49 for your own ball o’ twine.  Just put in your closet for a rainy day.  When you start tieing it around wine glasses, give me a call.  We can form our own support group.