It’s a lazy Saturday morning (for me anyway!) and I’m feeling a litle bit melancoly. My Mom called from Lancaster, Pa. and just had to tell me about the huge armful of juicy ripe tomatoes my Dad just brought in from the garden. To you tomatoes might be those red things at the grocery store that almost always taste like cardboard. But for me it’s a childhood of summertime goodness when we could eat BLT’s till the cows came home or you got an ulcer on the inside of your cheek, whichever came first!
Then the e-mail from my niece, Tiffany who’s starting her newly married life in a town so small it doesn’t have a Target. How would one survive? She’s scouring Enid, OK. with her sister who is visiting for the next few days. It will be a blur of flea markets, secondhand shops, garage sales and maybe a special find that some unsuspecting neighbor put on the curb thinking the junk man wouldn’t even want. Those two nieces will take that little “something” left on the curb, throw some paint on it and call it an accent piece. Oh how I wish I were there. Someone needs to teach them the “thrill of the hunt”!
I’ve lived away from my hometown since the early 80’s. With stopovers in Nashville and Houston, I call Phoenix home. It’s this time of the year when I get the nostalgic pull of the East Coast. That wonderful smell of burning leaves and the crispness in the air when you take a morning walk. It will be months before we feel anything that comes close to a cool breeze here in Phoenix. However, this time of year always gets my creative juices flowing and thoughts of new beginnings and fresh surroundings to my interiors is what keeps me from jumping on a plane to visit my hometown.
This week I was meeting with a kitchen client and what I heard them say was, “We want a new beginning” . With their grown children gone, they had just scored a short sale property and what a find it was. A decorating utopia. A blank slate and an enormous opportunity to make this house not only a home but a beautiful one at that. One hitch… the kitchen needed re-done. Since we’re in the kitchen business I could help to make this space the new beginning they were after and satisfy my need for fresh surroundings even if it wasn’t in my own home. Scooping up samples of tile, granite, paint swatches and finishes for cabinetry I was armed and ready to bring this grown-up zone into the entertaining mecca they craved. With my arsenal of “stuff” I presented this charming couple what I thought would satisfy their design tastes and create an individualized kitchen that had their personalities written all over it. What I heard from both of their mouths was not something decorators hear every day but wish we did. I heard both husband and wife say…”This is exactly what we wanted??!! How did you know?” At this point I could have gone home and been satisfied with my days work. However, when you hear those words it just catipults you into the next design dilemma…. Another new beginning ,whether it’s mine or not!
If you know exactly what you want or even if you don’t , give me a chance to bring a new beginning to your kitchen or bath. I’ll give 2 hours of free service to get started.
Mom, those tomatoes would make it to Phoenix intact if packed with styrofoam noodles!!