Following WWII, the Japanese focused on building good products and repeatedly improving upon the same design. Eventually they made high quality products. They picked internal combustion engines to improve upon, since they faced starvation following WWII and were in a race to clear land, plant crops and cultivate to survive. Power equipment literally became a life saver for them. I agree, plastic has a place - Tupperware. Plastic or any polybased material constantly outgasses and looses its integrity. Its why plastic automotive interior panels (as just one example) become brittle and disintigrate over time. UV radiation will accelerate this process with fading & chalkiness setting in first. Lawn mower engine shrouds, belt covers, wheels ..and yes honda decks.. will follow this same path. Plastic is and always was designed to be disposable. Not my idea of a "durable" product. No quantum leap in education necessary - history has already taught us repeatedly what products last and what products don't. I am not a believer in the disposable generation, but to each thier own.

interesting you would say that... yesterday my DW and I single-handedly moved an 1100 pound boulder from the driveway where it was delivered around back onto our deck onto a 24" high platform where it will become an focal point in our "Zen Room" outdoor area. (It will be quite different from the outdoor room pictured... not sure if I think their room is really really cool, or ???) After worrying about it for over a month, the actual process of moving that sucker was much easier than we expected... pictures will follow, but I want to get more done on the project first...

Yes, we are thrilled with how it turned out. The white door isn't quite so bright in real life, I think the flash made it pop a bit more than it really does. We replace the big fat hinges on the door on the right (the heat/air unit) with piano hinges for a more low-profile look and painted them, and two vent covers the same silver-gray as our Aspire wall plates. We flipped the pantry door (door on left which used to be a clothes closet) so that it now opens on the kitchen side and used matching pulls for both doors instead of door knobs. Much nicer look. The window panes are covered in rice paper film for a more Asian feel. The look I was going for. Jodi-

I think this is something I'll have to discuss in more detail with our designer and, if she won't do it, then I'll have to find someone else. The whole vision is kind of messed up right now because while I want something like this feel for the kitchen valance: there's no way that fabric would work in our family room. I was going to use the same colors in the family room but the designer wants to unify the three adjacent rooms with identical window treatments. That diagram above is very similar to the empire valance I'm talking about, except that the one I want does not have the drape or swag; it's flat. I'll link to a photo of karezz's kitchen eating area WT. For some reason, her close-up photos are not there now. Here is a link that might be useful: karezz's empire valance with jabot