Puzzle Pieces

Although we have been home owners for 40 years, we have never “decorated” a room until we undertook this project. We have chosen paint and floor coverings occasionally, and an individual piece of furniture once in a while. Together we have designed and built decks and bay windows, but when it comes to planning a space starting with a blank sheet of paper, we are novices. No wonder people use decorators! But we are getting a lot of satisfaction from putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together. Right, wrong or indifferent... the design will be OURS.

We visited our cabinet maker yesterday and defined most of the  details of what will probably be the biggest-ticket item for the project. Don loves quarter-sawn white oak. We decided on a simple Shaker-style. All of the new inside-the-cupboard options look very functional, and a far cry from the carpenter built-in-place drawers and shelves we had before, that were simply boxes sliding on wood.

When our old kitchen cupboards were removed we found this, the signature of the original cabinet builder, complete with the number and insignia of his union. Signed exactly 67 years ago today.

The first idea we had for kitchen tile and colors incountered a major snag when the artist began a cancer treatment which would take her away from work for weeks, perhaps months, so we turned for inspiration for the kitchen colors from a local tile maker, Pratt and Larson. Sami, with some input from Don, has designed a tile focal point for behind the range, using multi-colored bas-relief tiles featuring garden and animal themes. Earth colors from these tiles will be used throughout the kitchen.

Top right, white oak sample. The tiles are part of Pratt and Larson's "Watercolor" line.

This concept drawing does not show the depth and range of colors, or the background color, which would be the lightest tile in the photo above.

For the new main-floor bathroom Sami is envisioning a color pallet drawn from Simon our cat, creamy browns, grays with turquoise blue touches, although this is still “on the drawing board.” We do have a concrete plan for the all of the elements of that room including fixtures and their placement. This will help Corey in his framing effort in the next several days.

Should we use the beautiful blue of Simon's eyes as an accent color, or perhaps bring the rusty red in from the kitchen decor? Decisions, decisions.

We feel like many of the puzzle pieces are moving into place! Don had his fifth bone marrow biopsy today. The results will determine what his next stage of treatment will be. We’re hoping that the treatment will be moderate, and Don will be able to do all he has signed up for (all wood trim, kitchen and bath flooring, patching the oak flooring in the dining room and entry way, installing bathroom fixtures and all light fixtures, and a couple of specialty wood working projects). Whew!  All for now.