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    The IKEA Challenge

    Paisley, accents & corkboard — design ideals from a flower child sorority girlhit the CultureLounge

    Caroline Gallay
    Sep 23, 2010 | 7:51 pm
    • This is one of my many visions for our exposed brick.
    • I like colors. Bright colors.
    • This, I very much likey.
    • I'm into flowers, even fake ones.
    • I have a firm belief that any room designed for communal co-mingling should havea dashing corkboard.
    • When Lilly Pulitzer came out with her sorority prints, I went all Rachel Zoe. Ilit-relly die over this Kappa Kappa Gamma print scarf.

    Those of you who've been following our quest to create a CultureLounge in only 30 days with not one, but two amateur designers vying for the helm probably knew that my co-designer Steven Thomson and I have ... uh ... differing views on the project. IKEA Houston may be providing the furniture for this challenge, but it's up to us to work through the disagreements.

    Now that we've made our first trip to IKEA and returned with stuff (lots of stuff), it's time to lay out our often opposing visions. And we'll be calling on you to decide which one better fits our unique space and office needs.

    Steven will get the spotlight to talk about his tastes in a few days, so let's say we just leave him out of this one — let's talk about me.

    I was one of three girls and spent the majority of my college career living in my (impeccably decorated) sorority house. I've got a thing for paisley. I like lots of color, I like flowers and I like anything that makes me gasp and clap simultaneously.

    If forced to come up with three cardinal rules of interior design, I suppose mine would be thou shalt be comfortable, thou shalt be kitschy, and form over function — which, coincidentally, is also the way I feel about shoes.

    But there are greater influences at work than Kappa Kappa Gamma's Southern colonial-style architecture and estrogen.

    I also happened to grow up in the Houston Heights in a historic home filled with contemporary art hung over my mother's antiques, so I'm all about the mix of old and new. I used to skip out on the remainder of church service after communion and hit 19th street, skipping through Chippendale's and other now-shuttered boutiques looking for antique-y doodads.

    True antiques being well out of my reach, however, I settle for vintage — even vintage-looking, with a twist. I'll put it this way: if I had my way, all my wooden furnishings would be stripped and painted something fun, likely turquoise.

    Our blank canvas at the CultureMap office has three things that make it an ideal space, in my thinking: hardwood floors, exposed brick and high ceilings. I've got some big ideas that I don't dare give away, or what would be the point of a grand reveal cum cocktail party?

    But I will say this — think chocolate brown, crisp-but-comfy whites and accents that P-O-P pop. I'll sneak some faux flowers in there, too, if it kills me . . .

    Coming up Tuesday: Steven Thomson reveals his sleek modern aesthetic, and says to hell with phony petals. Then, you get to choose sides and push for your favorite philosophy as the lounge moves forward.

    Other articles in the IKEA Challenge series:

    Creating a lounge in 30 days without killing each other

    Sizing up the room specs, spots for the Shelby Hodge statue & kissing booth

    The meddling begins: Our room makeover designers face opposition in the office

    The room makeover duo hits the store and encounters a velvet divide

    unspecified
    news/city-life

    most read posts

    Houston haunt earns only Texas spot on Bon Appètit best new bars list

    New Korean cafe serves up viral breakfast sandwiches in Spring Branch

    Family friendly Garden Oaks restaurant coming soon to Magnolia

    This Week's Hot Headlines

    11 Houston companies named best places to work and more top stories

    CultureMap Staff
    Jun 7, 2025 | 10:59 am
    Downtown Houston Texas
    Getty Images
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    Editor's note: It's time to look back at the top Houston news of the week, beginning with Houston's best places to work. Plus, restaurant openings, the best new bars in America, and the fastest-growing affordable cities. Check out our five most popular stories below, and then visit this guide to plan the rest of your weekend.

    1. 11 Houston companies named best places to work by U.S. News. Nearly a dozen public and private Houston-based companies have been hailed among the best places to work in 2025 by U.S. News and World Report.

    2. Family friendly Garden Oaks restaurant coming soon to Magnolia. Family-friendly Garden Oaks restaurant D'Alba Craft Kitchen and Cocktails is cooking up a new location in this booming area.

    3. Houston haunt earns only Texas spot on Bon Appètit best new bars list. A Houston bar is basking in the national spotlight. Bon Appètit has named Lee’s in Rice Village to its list of The 9 Best New Bars of 2025.

    Lee's bar interiorLee's is one of America's best new bars, says Bon Appètit. Photo by Julie Soefer

    4. New Korean cafe serves up viral breakfast sandwiches in Spring Branch. Korea-based Tom N Toms Coffee has chosen Houston as the home for its first corporate-owned store in the U.S. The cafe is now open in Spring Branch at 4145 Gessner Rd.

    5. 2 Houston suburbs rank among fastest-growing affordable cities in U.S. A new national study has declared Texas is home to the most affordable, fast-growing cities in the country, and two Houston-area cities make the list.

    most popular storiesbest places to workus news & world reportbon appetitopeningssuburbsaffordabilityhot-headlines
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