View from the North 40: It's all shabby without the chic

It’s hard to pretty up a home when you have all the decorating instincts of an average sixth-grader. I have countered this lack of style savvy, though, with all the ambition and focus of that sixth-grader’s twin.

Given the state of my character, and the fact that I am sitting here in the deteriorating wasteland of our old trailer house, while we whittle away at finishing building our new home – which is going slowly largely because “design decisions are haaaaaard,” as I like to whine – I am bemused as to why the website Houzz.com has emailed a request for my opinion on home imp...