DrMMSSP's Profile

My childhood best friend and I had been out of touch for a long time, but recently were back in touch, and she called to invite me to her wedding, six weeks hence. Then, two weeks later, she asked me to be her matron of honor. I picked a pretty dress out and headed to her historic College Park, MD home. The day before the ceremony, the bride's dad's new girlfriend altered the second-hand wedding dress to fit; the morning of the ceremony, she handed out recipes to her decidedly non-gourmet aunts and had them prepare the reception food, while a friend worked with the delivered flowers and whatever containers he could find around the house. I had to cajole my just-a-little-too calm friend away from the garden, where she was dead-heading camelias, to go gussy up for the ceremony, which was held in said garden. Afterwards, there was dancing to the c.d.s on the borrowed stereo, a great big sheet cake, socializing under the trees, and after the last dance between bride and groom, those who remained gathered to listen to them read the well-wishes from the wedding cards. This was the perfect celebration of a mature couple's abiding love and their joy in home and community.

GLORIOUS!!! Thanks for sharing this happy place!

Love the writing room. Love the beautiful bedroom--who would guess that IKEA could be deployed in such a setting to such great effect? Beautiful as the Chinese bed is, I wonder why...perhaps two dimensions don't convey the sense of the space, but from photos, it seems that a large incongruous piece has been wedged into the room; the space is dominated by the bed, but the bed doesn't serve a purpose (except to breach public/private boundaries).

I love Olivina Olive Oil from Livermore, California. Delicious, but also a sentimental favorite: I took short-cuts through some of their orchards when I was a child.

I agree with nearly everything in Faith's post.

Even though the software can drive you nuts when you hit a bug, I was so grateful for it, because I was able to envision some major changes to the kitchen with the 3-D feature that I couldn't see when I was in the space itself. I am so happy with the result!

The in-store ordering experience was definitely longer than we expected. We'd been to the store three times before ordering (and our nearest one is a couple hundred miles away, but fortunately near family we wanted to visit). If you feel that you are working with someone who's a little shaky on what they are doing, I'd suggest that you ask for someone to double-check their work. We were aware that the person we worked with was very competent because we eavesdropped as she worked with others.

I love that the cabinetry comes in so many sizes; we were able to maximize our odd-sized spaces. We have mostly drawers and also the wonderful pull-out swivel for a corner cabinet that swallows nearly every appliance and all their accessories. The quality is fantastic for the price. I mean, fantastic. I've lived with the kitchen for about 18 months now, and I am so, so, so pleased with the quality of the cabinetry and had absolutely no reason to regret the purchase. As a result of using IKEA cabinetry, I was able to afford both my must-have induction-top range and to splurge on my lovely Big Chill fridge. Mix-and-match door/drawer fronts meant we got to put in some pretty turquoise glass doors that make me happy every day. (We also bought IKEA farmhouse sinks, and they were a fraction of the price of Kohler farmhouse sinks.)

Our contractor put in the cabinetry, and instead of using the plinths we purchased through IKEA, made his own (just wood plinths) and we are very happy with how sturdy they are, and the price was just about exactly the same.

For the first time in my life, I have exactly the kitchen I want--functional, beautiful, sturdy, and under $10,000, even with demolition of a wall and a half, movement of a water heater, re-ducting for the exhaust fan, considerable electric work, and new appliances (except the dishwasher). Yay, IKEA!

I wish that furniture designers would take a cue from motorhome and trailer designers, finding ways to fold guest beds into everyday furniture so we could keep our office spaces but accommodate couples when they come. In these vehicles, the dinette almost always converts to a bed--the wall-mounted table swings down to lie flush with the benches. I imagine that shelving, desks, and other staples of home offices or dens could be configured to become a queen-sized platform.