Thank you Jamie Goldberg!

Due to a recommendation by my colleague and pal Jamie Goldberg, I was selected to attend this year's GE Experience at GE's Experience Center in Louisville, KY. The GE Experience is an invitation-only, two-day presentation and training session. Here's GE's description from their website:

A theatre for the senses, the Monogram Experience Center is a 9,000-sq.-ft. complex filled with an array of stimulating and appealing spaces - all designed to showcase the latest in Monogram appliance innovation. Among the highlights is a professional culinary studio, where guests have a unique opportunity to prepare meals with a gourmet chef. Guests can also find something delicious to savor in the wine-tasting room, a facility that elevates the art of wine to state of the art. A showcase gallery with full multimedia capabilities provides further insights into the remarkable design and performance potential of Monogram appliances.

After a full day of sensory indulgence, guests can retreat to rooms at 21C, which was named a 2006 Hotel of the Year by The New York Times.

So on July 6th, my new pals at GE Appliances are flying me and a handful of other lucky souls to Louisville where we'll be feasted, feted and trained in all things GE Monogram. We get to cook in the GE Monogram kitchen theater under the tutelage of GE's chefs, and that has me more exited than anything. This is an honor and I'd like to thank the gang at GE as well as the brilliant and lovely Jamie Goldberg.

Jamie's on her way to New York this week to investigate a number of kitchen and bath showrooms. Jamie's going to write a guest post here where she'll report some of the highlights of her trip. Stay tuned and thank you again Jamie. Check out Jamie's blog, she does a great job.

Paint that porch ceiling Haint Blue

I spend a fair amount of time specifying paint colors for people and last week I was working on a color scheme for the exterior of an older home. The clients warned me that they didn't want anything wild. I took that as a good sign because clearly, they'd seen some of my more adventurous work and they still called me.

So I came up with a scheme that involved three shades of taupe, white trim and a black front door. Ho-hum, but it was pretty refined and as instructed, "not wild." However, this house has wrap-around porches on the first and second floors, after all it's an old, traditional Florida house. I specified Sherwin Williams 7608, Adrift, for the porch ceilings. Adrift is a light, neutral blue. In an effort to sell the idea I referred to the ceiling color as Haint Blue and they were smitten and signed off immediately.

Painting a porch ceiling blue is a very traditional effect, even though it doesn't show up very often anymore. It's a southern thing, but I'm a Yankee's Yankee and I grew up in a house with a blue porch ceiling in Pennsylvania. Ours were blue because that was the color they were painted when my parents bought that house in the '60s and we never changed it. I think that there was some vague story about the color keeping spiders away. Like I said, they were vague stories and really, we never really talked about it very much. But every time we painted the house, those porch ceilings stayed blue.

Well, about a year-and-a-half ago, a great friend of mine moved to New Orleans. Within days of his landing there, he turned into a combination of Marie Laveau and Tennessee Williams. In a matter of hours, he'd absorbed all of the lore of that fable-filled city and was spouting it back like a lifetime resident. I have never seen someone make a geographic transition with that kind of ease and thoroughness. I envy him his sense of place sometimes. Anyhow, when he was telling me about his house on about day two, he mentioned that its front porch had a Haint Blue ceiling.

I'd never heard the term before, but I knew exactly what he meant. Apparently Haint Blue still figures prominently into New Orleans homes. I asked him where it got its name and he said that New Orleanians use that paint color to keep away haints, or or spirits of the dead with bad intentions.

Well, I did a little digging around, and the practice of painting a porch ceiling blue did start in the American south. The expression Haint Blue comes from the Gullah people of the South Carolina and Georgia  low country. They painted the entries to their homes light blue to keep the bad spirits away. The blue color represented water, and as everybody knows, haints can't cross water.

If you were an impoverished descendant of slaves in the coastal south in the 1800s, you got paint the same way you built your house --from scratch. Powdered pigments were mixed with lime, white lead and milk. The lime and lead content of those early paints probably had the added benefit of poisoning insects that landed on it. So even though the pigment got all the credit, the credit was actually due to the toxic soup the pigments were suspended in. Any color of those old, home-brewed paints would have poisoned insects, but the Haint Blue got all the glory. This is interesting, because a blue ceiling is credited with repelling insects even now. Paint doesn't have lime or lead in it anymore, so it's not surprising that modern Haint Blue (and all house paint) is completely ineffective as a bug repellent.

All of the woo-woo nonsense not withstanding, painting a porch ceiling blue is an interesting, and depending on where you live, unexpected touch. So even if I don't buy the myth, I appreciate the connection to the past. If you're in the mood for an exterior color change , think about adding some Haint Blue.

Porch furniture – a few tips

If I had to choose one word to describe a good choice of porch furniture it would be “inviting”. The look, feel and comfort can change the whole dynamic and make the difference between enjoying long “lemonade afternoons” and having a porch that hardly ever used.

The second rule of thumb would be easy care. Most wicker, teak and cedar will handle whatever the elements throw at them.

On the other hand, if your furniture is not exposed but on the roofed part of the porch, you have more room for experiments, like going with inflatable furniture. The days when air mattresses and chairs were just for the beach are long gone and some of today’s inflatable furniture looks like it belongs on the cover of a “Veranda” magazine.

The best of inflatables and air mattresses can add a tasteful touch of a modern and inviting look that says, “Forget about that presentation due tomorrow and come sit with me.”

Support the 3/50 Project

The 3/50 Project is a nationwide, grass-roots effort to save independent businesses that were already reeling from the incursions of the Wall Marts and the Home Depots of the world before the bottom fell out of the economy. The 3/50 project is really simple.

Here's how it works.

Pick three independently-owned businesses you'd miss if they disappeared. Stop in. Say Hello and buy something. Anything. Your purchases are what keep those businesses afloat.

That's the three part. Now spend $50 a month, every month at one or each of those three businesses.

If half the employed population spent $50 a month at independent businesses, it would generate $42.6 billion in revenue. Imagine the impact if 3/4 of the employed population participated.

Something as simple as changing where you spend the money you'd spend anyhow could change the face of the landscape. Instead of complaining about the demise of mom and pop businesses, why not do something to help them stay in business?

And if you need a little more convincing, according the the US department of Labor, for every $100 spent in an independent business, $68 stays in the local economy through local taxes, payroll and other expenditures. When you spend that same $100 at Wal Mart, only $43 of it stays in your local economy.

Think about it. If you'd like to participate, just do it. If you'd like more information or if you'd like to be listed as a supporter, the 3/50 Project has a great website. Check it out and keep driving the next time you see a big box.

I'm cleaning my light fixtures today

Oh joy. I like cleaning lampshades almost as much as I like cleaning ceiling fans. To commemorate this happy occasion, I found an image of a lampshade that right out of my nightmares.

Don't look at it for too long, it's hideous I know.

Cleaning lampshades and light fixtures properly can be a daunting task, but if you take your time and think it through, it can be painless and relatively quick. My pals at the Lighting Style Blog put together a couple of pointers on how to clean various fixtures. Their post this week is what prompted me to tackle mine today.

Glass Shades

• Regularly dust with a soft lint-free cloth or dusting wand.
  
• Occasionally, remove the shades from their fittings and wipe both the inside and outside with a damp cloth. If you are at all concerned with using a damp cloth, rule of thumb would dictate use of a dry cloth.
  
• Care should be taken if there is any sort of pattern as excess water or rubbing may damage transfers, hand-painted surfaces, coloring or lead solder.
  
• Wipe with a soft, dry cloth until dry.
  
• Before re-assembly, dust the light bulb and fittings.
  

Fabric Shades

• The best tool to dust a paper shade is an unused, clean, soft-bristled painter’s brush or a hairdryer with a cool/cold setting. Contrary to popular belief, fabric shades should never be vacuumed.  Most vacuums on the market today are too powerful and may stretch or damage the fabric.
  
• Starting at the top of the lamp shade, use a downward long stroke to dust, rotate the shade and repeat. Do not brush too firmly as this may snag, tear or stretch the shade.
  
• The inner surface of shades with inner plastic/hard liners can be wiped down with a clean, soft cloth. Shades with such surfaces should never be washed or dampened as the two materials tend to separate and fall apart.
  
• Some fabric shades that have been stitched to their frame may be washed in a bath of warm, soapy water utilizing a delicate laundry soap. The fabric may stretch or sag when wet. Most fabrics will regain their shape as they dry. Rinse the lamp shade in a bath of clean water until no suds remain. Attach a string to the center frame, hang and let air dry. Do not immerse in water if the shade has delicate trim, beading or has been glued/ taped to its frame. If you are concerned with the fabric type getting wet, contact your local dry cleaner.
  
• Before re-assembly, dust the light bulb and fittings.
  

Paper Shades

• Paper shades are especially delicate to handle and clean.  The best tool to dust a paper shade is an unused, clean, soft-bristled painter’s brush.
  
• Never vacuum a paper shade as it may snag, tear or stretch the paper.
  
• Starting at the top of the lamp shade, use a downward long stroke to dust, rotate the shade and repeat. Do not brush too firmly as this may snag, tear or stretch the shade.
  
• Never use water or damp cloth on the outside of the paper shade.
  
• The inner surfaces of shades with inner plastic liners can be wiped down with a clean, soft cloth.
  
• Before re-assembly, dust the light bulb and fittings.
  

See? Simple. Anybody else have any good pointers to share?

As if the Snuggie weren't bad enough

The Snuggie's summer cousin, The Wearable Towel is here. These things are intended to be worn outside. Can you imagine? Who knows if it's a tunic or a toga and frankly who cares? And who in their right mind thinks something like this is OK to wear outside? 


If you need more evidence that we live in a world gone mad, here it is.