Cool power source for a kitchen counter

This is a pop-up power strip for use on kitchen counters from Doug Mockett and Company out of Torrance, CA. Mockett and company have a host of variations on this theme available on their website and they are a pretty great solution to the problem of not enough power along a kitchen counter.

However, there are a couple of things to consider before taking buying one of these for use in a kitchen.

For starters, they are a power strip and they need to plug into something. If you don't have an outlet inside of the base cabinet below the area where you place this pop-up you need to get one installed, Festoon Lighting Sydney that specialize in lighting installation and hires estimate that it will cost between $150 to $300.

Secondly, even though they feature a water proof gasket and a UL listing, they are non-GFI outlets and are therefore not up to code for use in a kitchen. Insisting that all kitchen outlets near a water source be GFI is overkill if you ask me. However, my opinion of the building code doesn't make the building code go away. You cannot pass an electrical inspection with one of these babies installed. For that reason, you can only use them as retrofits.

So even with all of that said, I still think they're pretty cool.

Sherwin-Williams' color picks for '09: neutrals

And last but by no means least, Sherwin-Williams weighed in on their predictions for neutrals in '09. Sherwin-Williams does a better job with neutrals than any paint manufacturer out there. So much so that their neutral palette is my default mode when I'm specifying colors. SW 7037, Balanced Beige has been an easy crutch for me for years. I'm feeling a need to branch out and SW's predictions for neutrals in '09 might just give me that opportunity.

The new neutrals take their inspiration from wood, stone and natural fibers, obviously. And for the last couple of years, neutrals have been getting increasingly black and gray. SW predicts that all that will change as they start to slide back toward brown and yellow and they take on a more direct influence of wood and metal.

SW 7695 Mesa Tan

SW 6146 Umber

SW 6148 Wool Skein

SW 7019 Gauntlet Grey

SW 7504 Keystone Grey

SW 7667 Zircon

Color scheme missing from the predictions

I see and alcove and I want to paint it black. This is so sharp looking I can't stand it. What a great idea. Take an already big room, paint the walls stark white, put in a dark floor and paint the alcove matte black. Man, a living room like this would force anybody to live efficiently and intelligently. And really, who wouldn't benefit from such an arrangement? This was spotted on Emma's Designblogg and she spotted it in an Australian magazine called Belle.

Great stairs!

This is my new favorite storage solution. It's interesting how the room's baseboard runs over the bottom drawers and breaks right along with them. Genius! This photo appeared over at Apartment Therapy a couple of times last week and I'm repeating it here. Thanks guys!

Is this a joke?

I took this photo about an hour ago. I was standing in front of a Starbucks and there's a Wamu branch next door to it. They were open for business and still taking mortgage applications apparently....