Sharpette's Profile

Ignore 67218! You're doing a great thing for your friend.

I personally like the color of the cabinets. For me the main contributors to the cluttered look are the two shelves on the wall beside the table, the chalkboard below it, the squiggly thing over the sink, and the huge black fridge. If I were you I'd remove the squiggle and the two shelves, get a great piece of art instead of the chalkboard, paint the area above the cabinets white and start saving for a new stainless steel counter-depth fridge. I'm all for painting cabinets (just did my own) but it's a lot of work and I think yours are nice as they are.

Sophie and Michael, thanks for sharing your gorgeous home! Are those the Madeleine dining room chairs from Restoration Hardware, by chance? If so, how have you found them to be in terms of comfort and durability? I'm thinking of buying these but have no way to test them out.

Great post! If possible I'd also love to see some posts on garden design.

I used to live in Montreal and was told that the outdoor spiral staircases became popular years ago when homes were taxed by the square foot, which included indoor staircases. They're gorgeous to look at but I agree they're a pain in the butt in winter!

I agree with RB Johson and others about the tone of this conversation. It reminded me of an interaction I recently had with a landscape architect whom I hired to walk around my yard (full of perennial beds) and give me some advice on a few problem areas. I struggled to remember the name of a bush I was considering planting in a certain spot, and after describing it, I said something along the lines of "It's pretty popular - I've seen it in a lot of gardens." At which point the landscape architect, who was a really lovely woman, opened her eyes wide and said "Then why would you want to plant it?" I was a bit surprised by that attitude but see now that it might be the norm.

I'm a fan of wood floors, white walls, and colorful textiles and artwork, so I'd probably paint the blue wall white and put up a large piece of art there and get a colorful rug for under the coffee table (and a new light fixture). I really like the curtains!

Ha, funny you should mention it, I do have to bake exactly 8 dozen cookies tomorrow. Thanks for the tips!

I used to love throwing dinner parties (8-10 adults, sometimes with a theme, sometimes casual) but honestly since having kids 10 years ago this kind of dinner is much more difficult to pull off, mainly because of the hassle and cost of arranging babysitters. We still get together a lot with friends, but usually just one or two other families at a time, and we either eat together with the kids, or have the kids sleep over at the host's house and then eat once they're in bed. Neither is the same as an elaborate, adults-only dinner party though! I guess in a few years our kids will be old enough to leave at home...

Love this post. I'm embarrased to say I had tears in my eyes by the end of it. About a year ago I decided I too wanted to take my writing more seriously. I started getting up at 5:30 to write every day before my kids got up. After four months I had the first draft of my novel. Now I have a literary agent who's submitting my work to publishers. I still have the day job, but am WAY closer to leaving it than I was a year ago. In my case, I needed to create the figurative space for writing, not the physical space (since I write while sitting on the couch), but it's so true that just showing up is half the battle.