Chicago Design Blog | Material Girls | Chicago Interior Design

What is wrong with this picture?  Well yes, the glue gun. And the fact that this room is named Faberge Room.

Ok you know something is wrong when you see a full grown man proudly pointing a….glue gun.  Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against being savvy with your funds and creating some do-it-yourself projects, but this Las Vegas home (dubbed a “Do-It-Yourself Versailles) featured in the New York Times Home and Garden section is wrong on so many levels.

Built by former minister Larry Hart in the run down neighborhood where Liberace once used to reside (what a surprise), Hartland Mansion boasts 32 chandeliers, 13 bathrooms, and rounding out at 25,000 feet, this home epitomizes all that Vegas is to me (sorry Vegas lovers): over the top and tacky.  I know, I know, Vegas has come a long way since its portrayal in “Casino”, (coincidentally, the the 33 x 57 foot living room was actually used in the film) but this stands as a mansion-sized memento to the decor and ornamentation that hotels like the Bellagio and the Wynn are trying to make Vegas-goers forget.  The architects and designers of these hotels surely weren’t toting glue guns, that’s for sure.

More faux plasterwork than I ever want to see again in my life…and swan planters? Really?

Detail of Master Bedroom bed, Larry’s handiwork.

It frightens me that this color carpet is actually produced. What has this world come to?

The Living Room, used in the movie “Casino”.  Note the extensive Nutcracker collection.

Indoor pool, where Larry performs marriage ceremonies.

Can you spot the toilet? Yes this is a bathroom…

Country club men’s locker room gone bad…very bad.

Well, MGs, this just goes to show that not all design is good design.  What do you think of Hartland Mansion?  Anyway want to speak in its favor? Any redeeming qualities that I have somehow overlooked?  Gotta say, it’s pretty hard to overlook anything when all things are kelly green, velvet, mirrored or royal blue.  Just sayin’.