Elaine and Gary's picture-perfect catalog home

MOLLY ERDMAN IS A Los Angeles-based actor, writer and comedian. She's also the creative force behind Catalog Living, a witty online presentation based on "the exciting lives of the people who live in your (home décor) catalogs."

The main characters are Elaine and Gary, an imaginary couple who reside and entertain in a perfectly appointed world - inside the photographed vignettes and interiors from some of our industry's best retail catalogs: West Elm, Pottery Barn, CB2, Restoration Hardware, Ethan Allen, Grandin Road, and more.

Each day, Erdman posts one photograph from Elaine and Gary's paper world and brings it to life with their irreverent, insightful commentary on sets and situations that may sound especially familiar to designers, retailers and visual merchandisers of home furnishings: "Gary, the moss balls are for our guests!"... "Elaine wasn't about to let some hot flashes get in the way of balancing the checkbook with the abacus" ... "Our entryway set-up is great! Now I never forget my hat, burlap satchel, or life preserver" ... "Gary and I have slept in separate beds for years, but last night he left me a tied-up stack of books on my foot-of-bed-bench; I think he's in the mood" ... "After Elaine left the table with tears in her eyes, Gary knew he should have held back his comment that the starfish were a little chewy."

Asked about her motivation, Erdman said she started the blog as recently as mid-June after seeing a picture in a West Elm catalog -- of an outdoor lounge area with a plate of figs under the table. "I imagined the scenario in which that would occur, and then as I continued to page through that catalog I saw how often there were ridiculous things like that. And from there I picked up a Pottery Barn catalog, and it just snowballed."

After just six weeks, Catalog Living built a following of close to 12,000 fans on Facebook. By the end of August it was just short of 14,000. "I put the Facebook page up after the site had been going a couple of weeks, and it's been growing steadily. I really like the community that's formed there and the people who post their own captions every day!"

That Erdman has found her comedic niche is evidenced by the commentary on her Facebook page. "My favorite comments are the ones that say something like ‘I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.' That makes me incredibly happy."

Others can't resist joining in the game with image and caption suggestions for Elaine, Gary and their friends. "Occasionally someone will send an image they think is due for a caption and often I'll use it, but I want to keep all the words my own."

Timewise, Erdman says the effort takes about three hours on the weekend and about 30 minutes a day. "Most of the time is spent finding images, either online or from what I get in the mail. Once I find an image I like, the idea usually comes pretty quickly."

As for taking Elaine and Gary into other merchandise categories, Erdman says there are lots of possibilities, especially with clothing catalogs. "Anthropologie and J Crew have some incredibly weird scenarios sometimes. For now I'm going to just stick to home furnishings, but it's nice to know that there's more material out there when I'm ready to branch out."

Visit Molly Erdman's site, Catalog Living, at http://catalogliving.net/.