Season's Profile

#1 - always open
#2 - CLOSED

I grew up in a house of 4 women and no men. My mom and I never stopped a conversation just because someone wandered into the bathroom. Then I lived alone with a cat who could open doors. It was no stretch for me to leave the door open around someone who knew me even more intimately than my family. But I draw the line at dookie.

I second the pets thing. I won't get rid of my Mr. Kittykins for any house.

Also, I have to have character. We've been looking for rental homes lately and I just about cried at the thought of ending up in a cookie-cutter, ultra modern, new-build apartment. Finally found a duplex bungalow-style place that totally suits me. It was worth the extra rent.

Tip--If you have to sand a painted surface, it usually comes off in sheets that look horrible when painted over. Instead, Wet your fine sandpaper with diluted ammonia before sanding. The paint won't sheet but it will get a little glossy and smoothed over. Then, you can add another coat. This is great for old chipping paint or if you get an errant kitty hair in your wet paint. This is the best tip I ever learned when painting my cabinets.

I notice that the picture rail was your closet rod/shelf like I have in my closet. That's a smart use of a pre-existing feature. Good job. It's odd to me that the closet would be so huge when no actual sleeping area was designed here. Strange place you have there. All the more reason why it's impressive how you've made it yours.

I just played with your pic in photoshop. If you want to keep it fairly modern/neutral and do minimal painting:

Paint the cabinet color above the cabinets to make the room feel less square and give the illusion of height.

Extend the stainless across the entire backsplash to give continuity.

Draw the warmer, neautral tones of your breakfast bar top across the room by getting a butcher block topper for your the left side of your counter and a neutral (sisal-colored) rug. This way, the warm colors migrate throughout the room but aren't glaring color. You can tie those colors into the window treatments as well.

For a final splash of rich color: Change to a red kettle, bring in some red on the barstools, and incorporate a small but discernable amount of red in the window coverings.

I don't even really mind the wall color. I'd say put down a contrasting rug and affix a backspash to cover up the white behind the countertop. You could continue the stainless steel or even consider doing multiple picture frames. I've seen that done in houses and pulled off quite well.

This is a great idea but I think it's better in theory than in practice. I don't know a very level kitchen floor, seems like all the sweepings would make their way in there, I'd hate to get all crouched down to even open it, and I think it's a hell of a lot of work for an extra 2" of space. This might be the only way to gain space if you live in a super tiny apartment. I personally file my manuals in a filing cabinet. As for the cookie sheets, if you take tension curtain rods and put them doing vertically in a bottom cabinet, that will keep your cookie sheets lined up on their sides without getting into a big mess that falls over.

I bought some vintage samsonite luggage. I put the suitcase next to my dresser. It's both decorative and holds the things I always forget to bring on a trip: swimsuits, swim excessories, baggie with sunblock and mosquito spray, earplugs, sleep mask, cell phone charger, etc.

Mjoe. For an old chest or something like that, you can cut a piece of MDF or plywood slighly smaller than the actual piece and attach the casters to that. Then, you can set the piece onto the castered wood. If you don't know how to get it to move around without tugging on the fragile object itself, you can add a strap to the rolly-part (it can be removable).

...which of course just means that someone made it all up (just like actual Fung Shui practices). While some of these modern suggestions make sense, you can't just label something Feng Shui to make someone want to hear it anymore than you can call a new pharmaceutical a traditional medicine.