Setting the Table

One of the most simple ways to add beauty to your home is setting the table. Whether you are having a dinner party for ten, or a simple dinner for yourself, correctly setting a table can add elegance and style to your home. And the best part is that it is not permanent. A day or two later, you can change the entire setting.

The best set tables incorporate a blend of textiles, china and stemware. The color and design options are endless. The table in the photo to the right has a formal attitude. Place mats, instead of a table cloth, add a more modern look to antique china.

And never underestimate the use of stemware. Each place setting should have both wine glasses and water goblets. Serving two wines with dinner? Then make put out both red and white wine glasses for each guest.

The center piece then ties everything together. The center piece of this table, a photo taken on a trip to San Fransisco, uses candles, a wine bottle and serving pieces to create a still life of sorts. The center piece does not always have to be flowers.

Most importantly, let your creativity come through. If it doesn't seem that it looks right, keep playing with it. After a few adjustments, it will all come together...for the next couple of days.

BTW, Martha always says to set the table a day ahead. Not only does it free up time on the evening of your dinner, but you get to enjoy what you have created a little longer.

New York Window Staging

Taken late night on a recent trip to Manhattan, this photo is of designers putting together the window display for the new Diane von Furstenberg store in the meat packing district in the city. And window staging is much like home staging.

For a mystical and memorable scene in this window, these designers have used color, shape and lighting to create a lasting reaction. And that is exactly what one wants to do when staging a home.

Keeping in mind that clouds and bright colors are not the staples of home staging, the idea is to create a space that will be memorable. Simple designs and great lighting will make any home look special. The key is to find the correct mood for the home. By looking at the home's architecture and layout, one can find exactly what direction to head in.

The key is to create a scene that makes a home buyer say "wow, this is where I want to live, this is the decor that speaks to me". And for the window display designer, they work to make the consumer say "wow, this is where I want to shop...this is the image that speaks to me".

My Bloomington Kitchen Remodel...page 15

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

Range View During

Range View After (stainless back splash is on the way)

Refrigerator Wall During

Refrigerator Wall After

We are 99% done with this project! The counter tops are being swapped out for a more tasteful version of what we have. Silestone is a wonderful product, sans the sparkles. Other than that, we are waiting for the stainless back splash above the range and we are home free.

Above are some before & after photos of the project.

My Bloomington Kitchen Remodel...page 14

Day 24. Mariah Carey wins. Yes, the counter tops are still lighting up the sky, even after they worked for two days to remove the sparkles. Next stop...new counter tops. Our builder, Brent Thompson, has come to the rescue and is negotiating the replacement of the counter tops. Within two weeks we should have respectable surfaces in place sans the glitter.

The range is to be delivered tomorrow. New photos of the 'nearly completed project' will be up by the end of the day once the range is in place.

My Bloomington Kitchen Remodel...page 13

Day 20. Appliances from Clark Appliance in Indy arrived today...well, two of the three. Our Dacor Gas Range is on back order and will be about a week late. But the other two appliances arrived perfectly and look great.

The dishwasher is a Fisher & Paykel Dish Drawer. The two drawers operate independently so you can run small loads in just one drawer, or you can load pots and pans in one drawer on the regular setting and load the other drawer with china and crystal and run it on the delicate cycle. And it runs super quietly too.

The refrigerator is a Dacor built-in. Wider and less deep than a standard fridge, it blends into the cabinetry beautifully. Most folks always think of Sub Zero, but Dacor makes this similar model at a slightly lesser cost.

The painting is done and looks great. Now all we need is the new gas range and the counter tops to stop looking like Mariah Carey, in her title role of Glitter, has been rolling around in our kitchen. No disco ball needed.

They are coming back to work on removing the "glitterama" in the counter tops. My suggestion is that Silestone simply replace the counter tops with a better product, but they are determined to try to rebuild what is in place. And I am a patient guy...most of the time.

My Bloomington Kitchen Remodel...page 12

Day 18. The counter tops are in and, whoa, they are not what we ordered. It is 'glitterama' in our kitchen now!

We went with Silestone which is a composite surface. We went this way so we could have an indestructible counter top. They say that you can put a boiling hot pot right on the counter top safely...though they also say to use a trivet for good measure.

As I said before, this is my fourth total kitchen remodel in the past ten years. Three years ago, when we remodeled our kitchen in New York, I had planned to go with Silestone "Stellar Night" which is meant to look like black granite with tiny bits of mica throughout. We ended up going with carerrra marble and I feared damaging the counter tops every day. So this time i went for indestructible.

What I got was counter top that looks like it has been plugged into a electric outlet. Our sample looked just like I had intended, but somewhere between the sample and the recipe they used to make our run of tops, the sparkle content increased ten fold and the pieces of mica are huge...mirror like...blinding.

So we called the Silestone regional rep. He came to the house and agreed that the counter tops were probably not the look that I was going for and he said that our sample did not match the final product. Then he said that they can drill out many of the large pieces of mica and re-seal the counter tops. We'll see how that goes.

Otherwise, our painter called in Terry Maners to do the drywall work and it looks great. The final painting will happen today. Next up are appliances and de-sparkling our counter tops. Ouch! The sparkles hurt my eyes when the light catches them.

My Bloomington Kitchen Remodel...page 11

Day 17. It took two days to install the floor. We went with ceramic 20" x 20" tile. It is smooth surfaced but the color makes it look like is has depth and dimension. The color is called black, but it's really a dark gray, almost charcoal.

Our former floor in this kitchen was also tile, but it was raised tile with wide grout lines. This floor is totally flush with super narrow grout lines. It's sleek and modern but still has a classic look.

The install went very smoothly. We used Wylies, located on Walnut Street. They had installed our bamboo floors last year and the quality of craftsmanship and customer service is top notch.

Now it's time for the drywaller to finish so we can paint. Then it's counter tops and the home stretch to the finish line...I hope.