If you follow me on instagram [@catharines], you may have seen me post this ditty a few weeks back. Many of you wondered 1. what is that? and 2. what on earth would I be using it for? Well friends.. the answer to your first question is that it’s a 75yd roll of 3″ wide gold metallic tape. And I had big plans for this baby. HUGE!

Now I’m going to warn you, this post does not have a happy ending. Sound familiar? Anyway. As most of you know, I’m a firm believer in taking risks and biting the bullet. I don’t like to sit and ponder about design decisions, because honestly if I do that I’ll never make a decision. So I usually just go with my gut and take the plunge. And I always encourage my clients to do the same because you can always take things back, paint over them, etc. So here’s my sad story..

When I was at the Kate Spade store in Chicago last summer I fell in love with their gold striped walls.

So I searched all over the internets to find a tape wide enough and shiny enough for the look I wanted. I found the perfect one, and according to my calculations it was definitely long enough. BUT it was $45 a roll! Womp womp. This was a high priced item to take such a risk on, but I was confident in my idea, and it knew it would be the perfect accent on my dining room wall. When the tape finally arrived it was just as reflective as I had hoped it would be. But it was also a lot thinner than I expected to be. Think a mylar balloon texture. The walls of our apartment aren’t smooth by any means. In fact if I had to give their texture a name it would be “aggressive orange peel” so as soon as I placed  a small test piece of tape on our über cottage cheese-like walls, I knew it was no bueno.

Gross. I’m sad to think this would have worked perfectly in Derek’s former 100 year old house with it’s smooth plaster walls. Oh well, I know for next time! So that being said 1. would anyone like to buy this 75yd roll of tape from me for $45 to try in your own home [assuming you have a smoother surface you'll be applying it to] or 2. does any one have any ideas on where/how I could use this in my home? I thought about a door, but it just seemed too crazy for me. Maybe the backs of my open kitchen shelves, since they’re a smooth wood?

I also thought about maybe applying it to a large piece of wood for some insta-art. Who knows? I’d hate to let it go to waste :(