The 7th OY VEY!! Q&A Answers!!

Before I get to today's answers,

 let me give a shout out to Amy Chalmers,

 who had a 

FABULOOSO painting class on Sunday.

I will be sharing pictures and stories later this week.

Next.....

I want to show you a snippet of my back terrace, so that you will stick around, even though I have more of my living room to slog through.....

But NOW on to the questions and answers.....

Just remember....

This is FREE advice, 

and you get what you pay for.....

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 Dear Betsy,

       I just  found your blog yesterday  and just love it !!!   I have a question that may sound stupid but, here it goes..... How did you hang up that tray on your tile backsplash above your stove ? 

        Thank you in advance. And that you for taking time out to write such a wonderful blog.

                                                                           Kelly Villanueva

(Now, guys.....It never hurts to suck up!!!!!)

Several people have asked me this.

She's talking about this picture.....

Being Jewish.....

I had to get help from my bidness partner Kris, 

'cuz she celebrates Christmas, 

and knows about hanging up stuff like wreaths.

So she said to me

"How do you think we hang wreaths without damaging our doors?????"

And I replied....,

"I don't really give a rat's behind, 

so

 I DON'T THINK ABOUT STUFF LIKE THAT!!!!!

You just run around and have fun with your Christmas stuff, 

while I hide in my house and

 STAY AWAY FROM THE MALLS!!!!!"

But you know, there were three wise men involved with this holiday,

 and they told Joseph (the carpenter)

 about Home Depot!!!!!

And the great hooks they sell that have a peel off back, and can be removed without damaging NOTHIN'!!!!!

So, I clipped a large plate hanger (used for platters) on the tray, and hung it on the peel off hook.

Just make sure that the tile is REALLY clean, or the hook will fall off the wall, and then you'll be ticked off at me.....

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Next.....

I got a really nice email from a lady overseas, who wanted to know if I only gave advice to Americans.....

I replied....

If you can speak English.....

I will answer your questions!!!!!

So she asked me:

Hi Betsy,

First, thank you letting ask a question. I have lived in Military housing for 20 years (Drab). Six years ago we bought our house and the only room I have been brave enough to paint are the bedrooms.  The picture I am attaching will give you an idea of my problem. The first problem is my husband is afraid of color, that is why I had to wait until he was deployed in Iraq before I painted our bedroom a beautiful olive color.  My main floor (livingroom, diningroom, kitchen, tv room are all open to each other with these arches) is all white. A lot of the "decorations" have been done by my husband...who will not listen to me when I talk about scale. It drives me crazy and makes me sad. I want to finally paint but I am not sure where to begin.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Sherri

Wellllll.......

I hope he comes home all safe and sound,

BUT

while he's gone.....

let's do some stuff behind his back!!!!!

NOTHING shows a husband how much his opinion is worth,

 until we take advantage of his absense

but fixing the house up for him while he's away!

Just remember....

When he comes home,

INSIST that you thought

THIS is what he said he wanted!!!!!

The arch detail between the living and dining rooms is really dramatic, so let's accent that by painting the walls a color, and leaving the arch woodwork white.

You seem to have a lot of camel colored fabric, so how about matching that color on the wall between the two rooms and the recessed area around the window?????

I would then maybe mix a lighter version of the camel, and paint that on the other walls. 

I can't really tell from the photo how the walls in the dining room work, but if they are similar to the living room, you can just reverse what I suggested above (painting the lighter around the arch and into the window alcove, and the darker on the other walls.) 

This will unify the spaces, and bring some visual warmth to your home.

Good Luck!!!!!

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Next question.......

Hi Betsy,

Let me start by telling you what I big fan of yours I have been these many years. Now, your blog offers much enjoyment along with knowledge, thank you for that!

My question is about the 'bones' of a house and creating the layers for good design. 

We are awaiting a new (repo) house to close. This is a fairly large home for me and I should have made some design decisions already but seem to be stuck. By stuck I mean I keep questioning myself because of what I consider a major design flaw. Perhaps I am fixated because the house is empty and the 'flaw' may disappear once items are in the space. To me, these first decisions are the most important. 

The greatroom, which we will use as the livingroom, sans tv, is centrally located. The entry, another huge hallway to the kitchen, the kitchen and the breakfast area all have wood flooring. The breakfast area floor, aka the flaw, looks very narrow, about 8', in scale to the rest of the space and I really dislike the color, it looks to me like an old gymnasium. It is sort of like a yellow brick road when you are there walking it. The tones of the floor, kitchen cabinet and countertops clash. We will put in granite counters and would like to re stain the floor to a dark color. A large part of the hallway and the breakfast area floors border the greatroom space, which, right now, is carpeted. I am considering putting hardwood or travertine or a combination, hopefully allowing me to keep what is there and blending the whole space. I can take up the wood in the breakfast area, making a nice break at the kitchen, but cannot afford to replace all of it. Carpet in the breakfast area is impractical as there a french doors to outside. When the French doors are open I am not even sure there is room for a table. I intend to ignore the space for barstools at the kitchen counter making the space less awkward. Did I mention you can see almost all from the front door? My wish list also contains beamed ceiling, It is huge, and a beefed up fireplace. Whatever we decide will effect the diningroom floor as well. The greatroom is about 16x20 something.
what would you do with the space?

One thing I refuse to do is cover the window glass. 

Thank you so much. 

Regards,

Cheryl

Well.......If it were my house......

(Oh, Oh, that never is a good way to start.....)

I would rip up the wall to wall carpet, 

and have everything be the same tone of hardwood flooring.

 So while the floor guys are there, have them sand the existing floor, 

lay down the new floor,

 and then stain everything the darker color you want.

I would DEFINITELY not add another material (travertine) to the mix.

And if you're not going to have bar stools, since you're redoing the counter top, 

I wouldn't have such a large overhang for the upper counter.

This way you can get rid of the brackets, and it would give you more floor space for the furniture arrangement.

It would make the upper counter have more of a feel of a capped half wall, and be a little more of a finished detail separating the two rooms.

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And for the last question.....

Hi there,
I love the crown molding detail you came up with. . . would you mind sharing a section drawing of how the whole thing gets attached? I am in the process of designing my kitchen with full overlay cabs but I always hate the way they wrap crown molding around the box and face frame and not taking into account the thickness of the door!

Also, where's the tile from?

Best, 
Gregory in Philly 

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This is the detail he's talkin' about.....
This is the way the cabinets looked before I added the crown detail and changed the doors to a full overlay.....

And here is a cross section drawing to show how it's built!!!!!

The trick is: when you wrap the board around the corner of the cabinet, don't have it stick out the thickness of the door. like you need to do on the front. 
Have it line up with the side of the cabinet.


The tile is from Pratt & Larson. 
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So that's it for today campers.....
Now go outside and get some exercise.....
It's summer and lovely!
Latah, Gatah