bake_sale, do you have any photos of your Cluny + Hood that you can share? I also have a La Canche range (Cluny) and am looking into installing a much-needed hood over it. Here's a photo of my range and the cabinet over it (click for fullsize): I hate to cover up any of the vintage tile, but the smoke and grease in the kitchen are getting out of hand (click for fullsize): So I'm looking at getting a black hood possibly with some stainless and brass embellishments to try to match the range but not out-cutesify the rest of this adorable little kitchen. I've been mostly looking at Vent-A-Hood bc of their performance record. But I can't decide between the 600cfm model and the 900cfm model. 600cfm will be much easier to install (bc it's only one duct) and the ductwork will consume less of the cabinet space so it will be mostly unnoticeable. The 900cfm has 2 ducts and will consume a bit more cabinet space and might look weird bc you will see more ductwork in that cabinet over the range. Do you think 600 will be enough? The Cluny requires 600-900cfm, but the ventahood people say that their 600cfm is like 900cfm with normal hoods (since they use a squirrel cage fan and don't pull the air through any filters). FYI, * the duct only has 5 feet to go (mostly horizontally) to vent outside. * the hood will be 8" or so higher than the mfg recommendation. * the kitchen is very small (about four Clunys' area). * i cook with lots of heat and fat. Thanks!

This thread is hysterical and so timely now that the holidays will soon be upon us. Fortunately I haven't received too many hideous gifts...at least not from friends or relatives who live near me. My aunt across country will never know I never used the afghan she made me for my wedding 25 years ago. However I'm too sentimental to give it away because I know how much work went into it so it sits in a box in the back of my linen closet. My husband can't understand why I keep it and once jokingly said "Some day we'll be old enough for it" Ouch. Really depends on what it is, some things end up like the afghan, others go to an out of the way shelf or cabinet for a short time. Some will get returned especially if they came with a gift receipt. If it's from someone like my sister we're OK with saying hate it take it back. And I'm OK with straight to the Goodwill. Never burned or displayed any gift when the giver came to visit. Every year a few girlfriends and I take turns hosting a holiday lunch. We do a small secret Santa gift exchange and the last few years we added a "pink elephant" gag gift exchange. A strange, funny or hideous item that can be new, old regifted, you name it. Usually wrapped beautifully on the outside and a horror on the inside. You get the change to steal before opening and after and it's become a hightlight of our gathering. Usually I choose by the wrap and walk away with a beautiful gift bag or box I'll definitly use again, but sometime it's true that one person's trash is another's treasure because I can't believe some of the crap the girls have coveted!

Mia, I sent Bruce that photo this morning just to make sure his day got off to a great start. We are getting ready to leave the Oklahoma outback down here in southern OK to head up there to the civilized territory. It takes us a while because we always get lost when we get north of the Arbuckle Mountains. It never fails. See y'all in a few hours. Bruce, If there's anything you need us to pick up last minute on the way up, message me. Dawn

Hi - F&B Pigeon is a near neutral greyed colour from the Green-Yellow Hue Family. ALL low Chroma (near neutral) colours from this Hue Family neighbourhood, are prone to shifting blueish in imbalanced lighting. The impact of varying qualities of light upon Pigeon, is the reason why there are differing opinions about the colour. To some it will appear an almost neutral grey, others will see more of its inherent greenness and others get moments of blueness. Knowing to which Hue Family belongs helps to direct the possible colour harmonies one could make with it. Here’s just one suggestion. A Split-Complementary palette from the Yellow-Red, Green-Yellow & Blue-Purple Hue Families. Oak floor (Yellow-Red), Pigeon (Green-Yellow), chair (Blue-Purple)