Ilima--Nature and beauty will always win in the long run. I'll be rooting for you and your garden. How can people muck up such a bit of paradise as Maui with such a thing as the plastic house?

Painted my 20 yr old pine cabinets white about 3 years ago, I had glass put in a couple of the doors. After weeks of the process, taking doors, shelves out, cleaning, degreasing, sanding, prime, sand, prime, 2 coats of white-I used Benjamin Moore's cabinet paint, it wasnt recommended to coat with a clear coat, unless you want a shiny, plastic type look...I read forever about this process. To this very day, they look wonderful and clean very easily, just wipe off, no nicks. I think having no shiny clear finish makes them look like a rich, thick, white. By the way, I did buy the 30 dollar paint brushes I had read about, but found thru the process....honestly those little foam rollers, and brushes gave a smoother finish and I could toss them at the end of the day.

...don't know why the link in my text didn't work but here it is posted below. Here is a link that might be useful: Appliances forum link

Talley Sue...I searched and re-read the evolution of your triangular closet. I will be getting a small brass plaque engraved and attached to one of the visible walls of my closet. I haven't worked out the exact wording yet, but it will read something like "In honor of the inspiration of time and space coordinator extraordinaire, Talley Sue NYC." You've asked several questions in the above responses and I've been trying to take photos to go with the answers. Christmas prep keeps interfering, but I will get them answered. 1. ...another thought—the stuff that sits in that handy space on the table leaf: I might put them in some sort of container... I haven't had time to go to town (45 minute drive, one-way ) to get a dedicated container, but I did measure the space. I can fit a box from 5 1/2" to 6 1/2" wide by moving the leaf down to the left until it almost touches the other wall. The box can be 15" to 17" long. For a temporary "Quick-and-Dirty" solution I'm using one of the cardboard boxes that hold 12 suet cakes for my wild birds. The box is 5 1/4" wide and about 16" long. For now it's holding the rain gauge (normally stays on the front deck but has to come inside for winter ), an extension cord for the two snowmen that are suppose to go on the front steps (it normally lives in the large "electrical stuff" Rubbermaid container in the basement ) two strips of the oak flooring boards to use to match colors, paint chips for the living room and hallway, and the spare "specialty bulbs" (halogen and LED ) that fit in the LR ceiling fan, front porch light, desk lamp, etc. It also holds the remote control for portable Penguin air conditioner, which will be sold now that I have central A/C! The large portable unit does not have a place to attach the remote and it was always "misplaced." Now it has a dedicated home until I find a way to attach it to the Penquin and get them both out of the house! It is much nicer having these items all in the one box. It's easy to pull the box down and take out what I need. The door stopper wedge and the ceiling fan/light remote stay on the edge of the lower shelf. I use them often and can reach them very easily. I put a few more DVDs to fill in the back of this shelf. This way the wedge and remote cannot "migrate" and get lost. Can you tell we've cut pieces of thin "pressed board" to use as shelf liners on the wire shelves. They are less than 1/4" thick and are easy to cut to size on the table saw. They help items slide in and out and keep smaller items from falling through the wires. I know companies sell acrylic liners, but these very inexpensive home made liners are working fine. We have a few more to cut. I've put them on nearly every shelf in every closet in the house. [IMG][http://i64.tinypic.com/3148avs.jpg/IMG] <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=3148avs" target="_blank"><img src="http://i64.tinypic.com/3148avs.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> <a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Caroline94535/media/LR%20Closet/Closet%20for%20KTers/DSC06572%20640x480_zpsqtmjvt1d.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/Caroline94535/LR%20Closet/Closet%20for%20KTers/DSC06572%20640x480_zpsqtmjvt1d.jpg" border="0" alt="Containment box photo DSC06572 640x480_zpsqtmjvt1d.jpg"/></a> Well, I'm back to figuring out photos. This should link to the photo showing the containment box. You can see I also moved the Mandoline box to the top shelf edge. I seldom use it, but I do want to keep it near the kitchen.