Anybody out there?

Your kitchen sounds beautiful! I love color, and the ones you chose sound yummy and vibrant. My kitchen needs a makeover; you should see it! You would laugh... half mint-green and half white, with freshly sanded

70's wood cabinets with doors off! We told the guy "you can drop everything if you accept our offer", and so drop everything he did, mid-remodel. We love it anyway!

Um, for $15,000 (!!!) I could not only fix everything that's wrong with this house, I could also add a couple of bedrooms upstairs, *and* paint!

Holy cow, who has 15 grand to blow on "a new look"? Give me a seven dollar bucket of paint anyday, and save the fifteen thousand for a new studio!

Trust me, I know what you mean... it's that it looks *shoddy*. I am the queen of cheap redo's... I have remodeled entire bathrooms from the studs out for under a grand. BUT, I used quality materials (which on that budget means using recycled/salvaged materials), and I did the work

*the right way*. It can be done well, or it can be done chintzily, and it shows either way.

It's funny, because I see lots of homes where the old, *high quality* stuff was ripped out and replaced with the cheapest brand-new fixtures they could find, and it just doesn't *feel* good. Then I see homes where they spent the same amount of money, but kept old parts that were in good condition, albeit worn, and spent what little money they had on high-quality items like good tile in a bathroom or solid-surface countertops in a kitchen, and although it's not all brand-spanking-new, the quality of what's there shines through with a feeling of solidity, of durability. A makeover is so much more than putting new "stuff" in a room! Working with the old stuff can give you a much better look and feel at a fraction of the price of replacing it, even (ESPECIALLY) if what you could have replaced it with wasn't of equivelant quality.

(I am reminded of a This Old House issue where a guy wrote about breaking up his old plumbing fixtures because they were pink, and hauling them to the dump only to discover in the light of day that it was only his bathroom light that had made them look pink. Well, even if they HAD been pink, pairing them with black-and-white hex tile and classic nickel fixtures would have made them look CLASSIC! I also wanted to tell him that salvage lots pay good money for matching colored porcelain sets, especially pink, yellow, blue, and mint green, because restorers want them for ther 20's and 30's era bungalows!)

Hey, I didn't notice this the first time! Pictures! Pictures!

(A lot of my friends see switchplates as something to blend in... I see them as another opportunity to *adorn my house*!)

Wow, deep sage green in the bathroom! That sounds great! How relaxing to take a bath in, or just prepare for your day.

My son's side of the room he shares with his sister (until next year...!) is a muted shade of spearmint that I'm considering for the one-and-only bathroom.

Lady's got a good point! I was afraid of tiling until my friend Chris came over and helped me tile my old bathroom. It was surprisingly easy, and beautiful, and permanent.... and cheap!

On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 15:51:52 -0500, Kalera Stratton wrote (in message ):

We have the worst kitchen in the world. I'm not lying. It has turquoise and maroon plastic tiles, disgusting dark plywood cabinets, a gold linoleuum (real linoleum) floor and sort of maroon countertops. I have been agitating for _years_ to tear it out and put in a new kitchen.

My MIL, God rest her, used to tell me that it was a new kitchen. Her brother had it remodeled for their mom "when he came from from the war." Yep, that war. WWII. My 60 year old kitchen is "new." I guess she was right, we don't have a coal burning stove in there anymore.

The other gotcha is my husband. This was his grandmother's apartment, and he adored her. (Sadly, I never got to know her) He spent endless hours in that kitchen and his grandmother's ghost is still there, waiting to play Canasta with Bob. She makes ravioli for the family every Sunday, and any change to the kitchen might upset her.

I love my husband, I loved his mom, and I'll live with the ghost of grandma. Someday we'll move to place without the ghosts, and I can have my new kitchen. And if we don't move, and the ghosts stay, well - that's fine too.

Kathy N-V

i love doing tile work. it's amazingly easy, though time consuming.

Can it be done over the existing lino and formica?? Diana

Ceramic tile can be installed over asphalt tile-- and should be if there is any chance that the old tile contains asbestos. Linoleum (roll stuff) should be removed, same for formica (which is a laminate). If your flooring is wood, I'm told that one should put in cement "backer board" prior to the tile.

I tiled both our bathrooms here in San Diego-- cement slab was under the linoleum, so didn't need the backer board, just had to rip up the linoleum and chip off some of the "glue". Cement slab is also the base in Becki's future home-- tile is now being sealed, and 34 cases of Pergo planks are on their way from Salt Lake City even as we post.... (By the way, for Pergo, you need a moisture barrier and a foam pad on top of the cement/any sort of tile before intalling the Pergo itself. And, it's much cheaper on-line, with shipping included, than getting it at Home Depot and hauling it home yourself.) Kaytee "Simplexities" on

Makes the colours of my kitchen sound reasonable! ATM it's bright yellow, on the doors, and green, countertop. The main problem is that it was badly constructed, planned and maintained.

I bet! That's moving a lot higher on my List--I want to be a homeowner, not a renter. Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

ewwww....the ravioli sounds interesting though--is it good, though ghostly? Less fattening that way??

We have the gree/gold/brown style of linoleum and yellow counters in a shade of which your diuretic should be making you familiar, which I couldn't do anything about. The colors, not your diuretic! )

It took a few months of looking at all sorts of fabric before I found something that would have the colors I felt this place needed to warm it up, and yet not make the lino and counters look even more hideous. This particular fabric makes it all fit together pretty well. And yesterday I painted the hallway off the kitchen that leads down to my studio and also to the back yard. Did the walls in the ivory, and the inside of the backdoor and the banister are now red, instead of white and brown with sticky spots. And lordy, do I I hope that I am done painting for a while!!! I want to put up some auctions! Play with beads!!!!!!!

Obligatory bead reference: when painting the stairway walls down to the wooden sides of the stair trim, I couldn't help noticing that the seam just isnt lovely...but it would be if I ran a line of strung beads down the sides. Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

My mom always swore kitchens were designed and built by people who had no clue as to what goes on in there. Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

I agree, Kalera! I think those people are the same ones who have $1500 shoes and think $75,000 for a car is "a good price". Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

Exactly! That's what I dislike most about new houses--the materials and workmanship may be new, but that's ALL they have going for them. I prefer beautifully made things out of good materials--and that usually means "older"! Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

I will---got some film for the camera, and in a few days I hope to be largely done with the work and will take pics. Ten years ago, this whold shebang would have taken a week. Now, with prep, and details still to be finished its more like a month total. But I'm so thrilled to be ABLE to do any of it, even slower!!!! Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from snipped-for-privacy@aol.comeatspam (Sjpolyclay) :

]My mom always swore kitchens were designed and built by people who had no clue ]as to what goes on in there.

absolutely! **sigh** sometimes they manage to get it right in Sunset magazine, though.....

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis