Since I ended my last blog with a reference to Aerosmith's bass guitar player, Tom Hamilton and his lovely wife Terry, I figured I would do a really smooth and suave segway into a post about the kitchen I designed for them and some other spaces in their home.
Like my previous posts about my old magazine articles.....
I did this job years and years and years ago.
This was another spread in Traditional Home Magazine. Except that one slip with House Beautiful, I pretty much gave them first dibs on all my projects that were ready for publication. Relationships with decorating editors can sometimes be like dating, they don't like it when you cheat. (Even though they're using lots of other designers.)
(I'm starting to remember why I stopped dating.)
I had been working for Steven Tyler's and Joe Perry's families when I met Tom and Terry at the Perrys' baby shower.
I know, I know.......
The crazy partying life of rock stars.
Terry mentioned that they wanted to redo their kitchen, and (not being a modest, shrinking, demure, quiet flower) I let them know that when it came to kitchens.......
I WAS A ROCK STAR!!!!!
I mean, come on.....
Check out that turned leg!!!!!
I used stock Rutt Cabinets, and then had them make the custom cabinet with the leg I designed for the microwave. It's the only time I have ever put a microwave that low, but it worked in this kitchen.
We used green Formica countertops, and that's when I fell in love with the Hamiltons. They wanted the best practical surface for their family, and weren't interested in using the most expensive material available.
Formica's gotten a bad rap.
It's easy to keep clean, and comes in a gazillion colors.
That said; I have marble and wood countertops.
I am a hypocrite, and an impractical decorating fool.
'Matter of fact, don't listen to a word I say.
In the middle of the space was a brick structure that had been used for an old wood burning stove, or some old implement of fire in the house's distant past.
It was structural, so I had to work around it.
Like many an eyesore I've come across in my illustrious decorating journey, I dolled it up and made it the room focal point.
If only I could do that with my fat.
All I can do with my excess poundage, is cover it up.
Maybe, rather than sweatshirts, I should start wearing wallpaper.
O.K., to get back to the brick.....
Luckily, the distance between the two columns was just a little bigger than I needed for the range top, allowing me to recess it back into that space, and by bracketing it with 12" deep base cabinets, the whole kit and caboodle didn't jut too far into a limited amount of floor space.
I just read that sentence over, and it is really awkward, and I can't figure out how to make it better, so I'm leaving it alone.
So there.
I have now regressed to a 7th grader.
Terry and Tom wanted an eat in kitchen, so, since space was at a premium, I worked in the booth area.
Here's a picture of Terry. Isn't she beautiful??
Inside and out!!!
Soooooooooooooooo..................
The years went by, and their family grew, and they needed a larger area in which to eat and have a family room.
Think of all the money people could save, it they didn't have children!!!!
Think of all the china and mercury glass they could buy!!!!!
Sooooooooooooooooo.....................
They added on.
That's what folks do with an expanding family.
(or waistline)
published in Boston Magazine
If I remember correctly (and that's a big if), Terry got this table and chairs from an aunt.
Published in Boston Magazine
We did this room just when Shabby Chic was coming into every one's awareness. It was a store in California whose style was sweeping the nation.
If I remember correctly, (and that's a big if), Terry got the sectional from them and I had the slip cover made locally. I used 726 different fabrics in it.
O.K, maybe that's a slight exaggeration.
I used a lot, though.
If you look closely, you can see McDuff, sleeping on the sofa. I tell ya, that dog has the life.
DON'T FORGET!!!!!
Tuesday's Questions are coming up!! On Tuesday!!
So start thinking up some questions!!
For Tuesday!!
I'm thinking of calling it: ASK AWAY TUESDAY!!!
What do you guys think of that title?
No one's given me any suggestions.
You are absolutely no help at all.
SEE YA TUESDAY!!!
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