Anybody heading to Rome sometime soon?

I bought a beautiful cashmere and silk men's pashmina in Rome last year and when I went to grab it the other morning I couldn't find it. I'm pretty sure that I left it somewhere the last time I had it on and I'm pretty sick about it.

Granted, it's just a thing so it shouldn't be a big deal. But sometimes, the loss of a thing can be a real kick to the gut. My beloved niece Sarah lived in Rome while she was in school and she gave me a great lead on a little shop that sold great scarves inexpensively.

I found the shop one day while I was walking around and it's run by an older woman and her daughter. It's a tiny storefront jammed to the rafters with nothing but scarves. The shop keepers were a delight. My Italian vocabulary increased tenfold that afternoon and between my survival Italian and their survival English we had a blast. In addition to all of that, they were selling men's pashminas for five euros a pop.

Now I love meeting new people but what I really like is meeting new people who sell one of the greatest bargains I've ever encountered. These scarves were an incredible cashmere and silk blend and I bought a bunch of them to give away as gifts. Five euros! No lie!

I saved but one for myself and now it's gone. So I'm throwing this out there: if anybody's heading to Rome let me know and I'll pay you for the trouble of buying me a replacement scarf. The store is on the Via Tomacelli, just a stone's throw from the River and the Tomb of Augustus. It's easy to miss but such a reward when you find it. Anybody?

Check out Kohler's Karbon faucet

I saw a Karbon faucet by Kohler in a plumbing showroom yesterday and I was impressed by it. It's a pretty modern design, with that no one can argue. But it has a level of utility I don't think I've ever seen in a kitchen faucet before. Check out this video from Kohler.

The Karbon is available as either a deck mount or a wall mount fixture. However it ends up being used, this thing is pretty cool and you can expect to see the functions of this cutting-edge faucet to work their way through the market and before too long, having an articulated kitchen faucet will be as common as a sprayer is now. Bravo Kohler!

Guardate questa bella nuova tabella!

That means "Look at this beautiful new table" in Italian, and being in the presence of Carrera marble makes me wish my Italian were better.

This is another beautiful, honed Carrera counter that went in this week. The room in question was an addition made to an existing bungalow in a historic district. The kitchen needed to serve as a gathering place for the homeowners and so we decided to put a large kitchen table in the middle of the room.

Originally, I wanted to find an old table base and just get a marble top on it to match the marble kitchen counters I'd already specified. But I couldn't find a decent old table base to save my life.

So I drew one and had it made instead. It was nothing remarkable, just a set of base columns in cherry to hold up a table that measured 42" x 72". Well, it arrived this week, it's beautiful and my clients are thrilled. In looking at it now that it's done I'm pretty proud of it too. Lesson learned? Honed Carrera is my favorite thing on the planet. I love it even more than I thought I did.

Got a plan? Need a plan?

I've been thinking of ways to increase the size and scope of my business (the brick and mortar kind) lately, and at the same time I've been reflecting on the growing presence of Kitchen and Residential Design on the Internet. So it's occurred to me that I ought to find a way to combine them.

I've done a fair number of jobs remotely --that is, kitchen and residential projects that took place in places as far ranging as Rural Arkansas to lovely Lancaster, PA. I did everything I'd normally do for a client (draw plans, talk to contractors, specify appliances and finishes, be an advisor/ shoulder to cry on) and they've worked out pretty well. So why not pursue more assignments like that? Well why indeed. So I'm going to throw this out there.

If you have  a set of plans and you'd like your home to have a Paul Anater kitchen, just contact me. It can be something as simple as my drawing you a floor plan with a set of elevations; or we can kick it up a notch and I can provide plans and all of the supplies you'd need to complete a kitchen as either a renovation or as part of a new home. My long distance clients get the same devoted attention I give my local ones, so give it some thought. This could be the start of something great.

Hey! Somebody painted one of my photographs!

On Sunday, I posted a couple of photos of my 2008 visit to Ravello, in the Campagnia region of southern Italy. Well, the lovely and talented Fifi over at Fifi Flowers Design Decor was so inspired by one of them, she painted it.

Here's my original photograph.

And here's how it looks through the eyes of Fifi the Magnificent. 

I'm touched, no one's ever painted one of my photos before.

Anyhow, Fifi has a great blog too, and she's in my permanent blogroll. She has a delightful take on life and she's a talented artist and designer as well. I appreciate her efforts on my behalf tremendously and I think it would be great thing to pay her a visit over at Fifi Flowers Design Decor.

Fifi paints wonderful, whimsical still lifes and she sells prints of them (as well as notecards and bookmarks) on her store on Etsy. Please, give her a peruse!