HGTV is making our homes boring and us sad, one study says
wiscokid
9 months ago
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Mark Bischak, Architect
9 months agojust_janni
9 months agoRelated Discussions
Cuban kitchens / what do our kitchens say about us?
Comments (15)Thanks, Sandy! I looked at the essay and just felt that I needed to share it. As some of you know, my family is outdoors-oriented and that explains all my references to gardening and game cooking. We canoe camp in BWCAW (Minn-Ontario border voyageur's highway), we vacation using a camper trailer, we have children in Fairbanks and do tent-camping activities in the Alaskan back country, and we're historic reenactors who cook full meals over open fire and/or in historic buildings--using the utensils and foods of the 18th or 19th century. All of these activities have been beneficial in helping us keep our priorities somewhat realistic in our home as well. My in-laws and my own parents' families came from very modest backgrounds, including terrific hardships during the Depression. They valued their own rise into the middle class or lower middle class more than almost anything else in their marriages. My in-laws raised 4 boys in a tiny postwar house in Richfield, Minn. and my father built the smallest square footage house in his Roseville, Minn neighborhood. Additionally, I am the daughter of a WWII prisoner of war--now there's a family experience that sets a whole new vision for the priorities of what belongs in kitchens! Often you will find me commenting on a GW thread "It's only a kitchen." Well, it is, unless you posit all kinds of other mental impositions on it--status, family cohesion, aesthetics, oasis in midst of modern stress, etc, etc etc. Looking at these Cuban kitchens, it's important to remind ourselves that their owners are people who cook, enjoy eating food, enjoy one another, and bask in the sun. If we all start with these items at the top of our "needs" list it may be that we also incorporate these virtues into our own kitchens so that our kitchens say these things about us as well. I'd hate to lose those virtues as I aspire to more worldly, capitalistic "want list" items. I recently listened to a radio essay on a set of statistics that indicates that people with more money do not necessarily rate their happiness as high as those who have less. Food for thought. More stuff does not equal much beyond more stuff. Same with fancier stuff....See MoreNew study on monarchs raised in captivity has sad news
Comments (7)mr1010, I had the same thing happen with my cockatiels. I had one mother who was just letting her babies starve. It was my first clutch of babies, so I didn't recognize what was going on until one baby died. I had to hand-raise the rest of them. Every time she laid eggs, I had to put them into the other female's nest because she somehow just didn't have that nurturing gene. Since butterflies don't nurture their young, I truly believe it has to be something genetic or chemical they pass on that makes them migrate. If the parents have never migrated, they aren't going to pass that on to their offspring. Andy 49, The dilemma was have here is that there are native Florida monarchs, but we don't know which is laying on our plants. I agree to just let nature take its course. I lose more than I have hatch, but other critters have to survive too. I love my lizards and even my wasps, so if I have to sacrifice a few monarchs, so be it....See MoreSad, boring, clashing kitchen
Comments (6)ah, ok. so you have the quartz. hmmm,, I really like the Ikea option w/the decor in your house. I think it would be perfect. you may be able to lift off the countertop that's there and preserve it to go atop new cabs. sometimes the adhesive isn't down very well. But, if not, and you want the new tile, I'd go for something a bit more modern looking. Here's my pick. I like the chevron mosaic, new knobs, and the darker paint color (mentioned below) the other tile on here is a warm gray/tan frosted glass tile. (Tilebar) if you want subway, do something thinner and in a stacked pattern. I'd also switch out your hardware to something nicer looking, and think about painting the walls around the cabinet w/something w/contrast. Maybe Kendall Charcoal? I think it would look nice above the cabs and around the window. it's one of the colors in that floor tile Here's Kendall Charcoal with white and a very light gray. Or, try Revere Pewter or Chelsea if Kendall is too dark. the key is to get one of those warmer gray colors from the flooring or the counter, and use it for contrast above the cabs. how about a warmer gray glass tile? try some knobs like these...See MoreSaying goodbye to one of our own
Comments (31)I introduced myself to Luanne on the 72 bus as it traveled down San Pablo Avenue in Oakland, Ca . She lived across the street from me, back in the early 1990's and I 'd never got to know her until after I lamented to her, as we rolled along... " I live with more than 200 rosebushes, that the owner of the property planted, and none of them interest me, the bushes are ugly as heck when there aren't any blooms, and only 2 roses have any fragrance. Her answer "You should try growing Old Garden Roses" and with those 5 words of hers, my life was soon and forever enriched. I began going with her to Dirt Day at Vintage Gardens, back in those wonderful days when we would stop by their physical nursery in Sebastopol after we'd finished our volunteer work, and buy roses that we'd just finished caring for. I miss Luanne with all my heart. I especially miss her dry sense of humor. Lux....See Morekellie_dyslin
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