August 21, 2008

A Thank You To My Design Team




There are 47 knobs in the kitchen. Behind each knob is a drawer or door. Each has to be primed twice on both sides. Three coats of oil paint are then applied to the outside of each component. That's 329 applications of paint. Not counting the base kick plates, the body of the island, and the ends of the upper cabinets. Each application of oil paint requires an overnight dry time.
Rosie Beaucoup has just finished the painting job from hell. I know! I know! The insides still only have two coats of primer. It's clean. It's white.
I want to thank the members of my design support group for their help when I was struggling with a final color choice.
Isabelle was a star performer - she talked about flow between rooms, color coordination, light, and generally took a holistic approach to the problem. I thought she was very fair and impartial in her comments since green is one of her least favourite colors!
Amy, dear Amy, was astute and made a couple of really good points even though I didn't, in the end, take her advice. I loved my green kitchen but the countertops wanted white. And the photos don't do justice to the richness and warmth of White Down from Benjamin Moore.
Heather loves white kitchens, has lived with them for many years, and thought the whte would be great in combination with the dark brown countertops.
Rachael tried to help but the refrain "I like white kitchens" did not make me feel confident that she was taking all factors into consideration.
And Sit on The Fence Hadley in Toronto pointed out that white would be lovely and green would be different and unique.

August 05, 2008

Time For Change


I always hope that as I grow older, I stay open to change, to new ideas, and always remain eager to acquire new information. I do, however, find it difficult to discard these old friends of the past several years, who have helped me log at least 6 kilometers per day since I started a fitness walking program in April.
They still make my feet spring and my spirits soar as I start off down the driveway each morning (this fitness walk is the very best part of my day!) but, alas, they have, in their old age, developed a squeak - a somewhat shrill and surprisingly loud squeak. I can ignore the noise as I am hooked up to an iPod and trot along to the sounds of Motown but it occurred to me that the squeak may be annoying to all those people still trying, at 6:30 a.m., to sleep beside their open windows. Trust me, it is that loud! Dogs in houses at the top of long driveways start barking as I go by.
So... time to shop. But I doubt I will find friends as loyal and trusty again.
or... hmmmmmmmm...I don't suppose I could oil them...????