emagineer - This is from the blog Cote de Texas that I provided a link to in my post. Since it's been all about "Something's Gotta Give" I thought that Nancy Meyers' follow up movie "The Holiday" needed a closer look. Just as the star of Something's Gotta Give was the Hamptons house itself, the star of the "The Holiday" wasn't really Cameron Diaz or Kate Winslet, but their two homes, one in Los Angeles and one in the English Countryside, respectively. And in another connection between the two movies, the production team was led Jon Hutman - but Beth Rubino, so wonderful on the set of SGG, was absent for The Holiday. And just as with Something's Gotta Give, Nancy Meyers' personal interior designer has photos of "The Holiday" houses on his web site, but he is not mentioned in the film credits. The Holiday, coming so soon after Something's Gotta Give received a lot of prepublicity hype concerning its premise: two women swap houses for the Christmas vacation and both find love. For lovers of the SGG house, a new Nancy Meyers movie about TWO houses was almost too good to be true ! Jim

My husband and I painted our whole house with Home Depot Behr Ultra Scuff Defense Stain Blocking paint and primer; flat for walls and ceilings, and satin for doors and moldings. We used fine quality paint brushes and rollers. The paint handled beautifully and is quite durable and looks great. We took our time, lightly sanded all doors and moldings first, washed and rinsed all walls and ceilings prior to painting. We did all the correct prep work. I even got a 10% military discount ( I am a retired Air Force Captain). Our house looks great! I have used BM and SW in past homes I lived in. BEHR is just as good. I painted my front door about 10 years ago, also with BEHR and it looks as good as the day I painted it. We since replaced our front door with a high end fiberglass door, and plan to paint it with BEHR when the pollen dies down in the air. I can also assure you that there is no professional painter that would have ever taken the time to do all the prep work my husband and I did prior to painting. We are semi retired and have the luxury to take the time to do a great paint job! I have read countless Houzz threads on botched professional paint jobs in expensive homes. As my Dad always says: if you want the job done right, do it yourself.

With the Legacy 44, I can fit four shallow half-sheet cookie trays in each oven, although some pans of that size are a little tight to fit. I like that the trays are interchangeable between both ovens. Being somewhat smaller than a full size, they do heat up to temp faster. Probably the only limitation I can think of is a jumbo turkey wouldn’t fit, although I would prefer to make that in an electric roaster. The power burners of 15k have been powerful enough for my needs, like a good sear on a steak. My local higher end appliance store sells Aga, Wolf, and Viking, and the owner told me out of the three, there are the least frequent service calls on the Aga, in his experience anyway. I was convinced I wanted a Bluestar from reading gardenweb posts, but I’m nowhere near a distributor. Thought I had to have those ultra power burners they are known for. But once I saw the Legacy in person, my heart sang, so to speak. I don’t regret having the less powerful burners. I do love walking into my kitchen every day and seeing the shiny enamel and chrome of the Aga center stage!

Another New York Times article about the things we love, How Low Will Market for Antiques Actually Go? Just part of the article, Compared with the heyday of antiques collecting, prices for average pieces are now “80 percent off,” said Colin Stair, the owner of Stair Galleries auction house in Hudson, N.Y. “Your typical Georgian 18th century furniture, chests of drawers, tripod tables, Pembroke tables,” he noted, can all be had for a fraction of what they cost 15 to 20 years ago. In 2002, Mr. Stair sold a set of eight George III-style carved mahogany chairs for $8,000; in 2016, he sold a similar set of eight chairs for $350. In 2003, he dispatched a Regency breakfront bookcase for $9,500; in 2016, the sales price of an equivalent piece had plummeted to $1,300. ... Dealers, auctioneers and designers point to a number of reasons for the declining interest in antiques and rapid rise of contemporary design. More homes have open-concept, casual living spaces rather than formal dining rooms and studies, which reduces the need for stately mahogany dining tables, chairs and cabinets. “In these big rooms, a contemporary piece becomes a piece of sculpture,” said Christine Van Deusen, a New York designer who recently commissioned numerous custom creations from Maison Gerard, Cristina Grajales Gallery and Iliad for a client’s duplex penthouse on the Upper East Side. “Vintage and antiques are finite, but creativity is infinite, so I can do things that I could not do if I were only looking for things that were in existence.” Midpriced retailers like Restoration Hardware, West Elm and CB2 make it easy to buy tasteful furniture on the cheap, with little hunting required. And a new generation of homeowners may be rebelling against the preferences of their elders. “The 40-something crowd isn’t looking to put a highboy in their house,” said Ethan Merrill, the third-generation president of Merrill’s auctioneers and appraisers near Burlington, Vt. (and Todd Merrill’s brother). “They relate more to pop culture, fashion-oriented materials and rock ‘n’ roll.” ... Will other 18th and 19th century furniture pieces ever return to fashion? Many designers say that antiques will rise again but, after nearly two decades of decline, few are willing to predict when. “The pendulum is going to swing just like it does in politics,” said Mr. Hayes. “It always does. But I don’t see it coming anytime soon.” Jamie Drake, the New York interior designer, also views the current dismissal of antiques as a trend, “just as color trends have moved from neutrals to vibrants, back to neutrals, back to vibrants,” he said. In his own home, most of the furniture and art is contemporary and modern, “but I do still have some antiques,” he said. A home without them, he added, “would be like a sentence without punctuation.”