Steve Batie: Problems with trendy decor
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Back in the mid ’80s I gutted and remodeled my first kitchen. In the process, I had to make several design decisions.
For example, I chose to cover the wall behind the sink with lath — sanded, varnished and nailed vertically to strapping let into the plaster wall. There was no window over that sink, so I used the space to hang my cast-iron pans.
Over a butcher block-topped cabinet I attached shallow shelves (also backed by lath) for spices and such, and I added a slot for knives on one end.
The floor was original yellow pine that I had sanded and varnished, and the lighting was cans recessed into deep over-cabinet soffits and a central fluorescent fixture with decided Craftsman features.
The cabinets I chose were Euro-style, sheathed in almond plastic laminate and trimmed in oak, and most of the counters were covered with maroon ceramic tile.
Now, the lath business was my usual hard-core frugality at work. I wanted something tough and cleanable behind that sink, and lath is as very nearly free as anything at the lumber yard.
I’m a tad wealthier today, so I’d tile that wall — although probably not with maroon.
Spice shelves and butcher block counters remain personal favorites. I installed the latest set just last winter in the kitchen at the new-new house. When I get around to it, I’ll top its other counters with tile, which I also still prefer.
But the Euro-style cabinets …
Look, I liked them then and I still do. But I’m not even sure you can buy them these days. They were trés trendy in the ’80s, but they’re trés passé now.
That’s the danger, you see. Even with the lath-covered walls and the maroon counters, it was the cabinets that made the major statement in that kitchen. And now that statement would be: This is very dated.
Lately I’ve noticed the shelter magazines (always good places to spot what’s in) have been featuring a lot of dark oak kitchen and bath cabinetry. Ten years ago, people were sending that stuff to the dump, replacing it with white-on-white and pickled maple cabinets.
It’s the sort of thing that keeps kitchen designers in business year after year.
Color can get you into trouble elsewhere in the house.
Not so very many years back, pastels were all the rage, and many a wall was covered with paints labeled “Seafoam” and “Sunshine” and “Morning Apricot.”
Before that, we enjoyed the “Harvest Gold”and “Avocado” years, the Earth-tone years and the minimalist (read: white) years.
There was even a (blessedly) brief flirtation with primaries.
Through it all, I’ve clung tenaciously to “Navajo White,” a beigey shade that’s been on paint-store chips since years before I was big enough to wield a brush. Some colors have a forever quality, and “Navajo White” is one of them.
It appears today on all the ceilings in my house, as well as the walls of the bathroom and kitchen.
The other walls, however, are painted with a collection that I like to call Tuscan Modern: “Creased Khaki,” actually a golden yellow; “Olive Drab,” really more of a sage than the stuff tents are dyed with; and “Terra Cotta,” which is exactly the color of a flower pot until it’s hit with direct light and turns rather pinkish.
Not one of those colors is going to stand the test of time.
The whole Tuscany thing, in fact, was about a year out of date before I ever bought the house.
But I liked the style when it was trendy, and I saw no reason to ignore it just because folks with ateliers in New York, Milan and Sao Paulo had tired of it.
I assume my readers in Tuscany would agree.
Send your home repair and remodeling questions to: HouseWorks, P.O. Box 81609, Lincoln, NE 68501, or e-mail: houseworks@journalstar.com.
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