I can make a dress out of a feed bag and I can make a man outta you

Making pillows, ottomans and upholstery from vintage grain sacks is the medium of choice for fabric artist Kym Fraser. To celebrate the opening of her website and online store, 3 Fine Grains, Kym has teamed up with my pal Gina Milne to give away one of Kym's pillows through Gina's great blog, Willow Decor.

The rules are pretty simple. Go to Gina's post from 25 March and leave a comment. That's it. Gina will select and announce a winner on Thursday, 2 April.

These vintage fabrics are the real deal, some of them are 160 years old --talk about character! Some of these are really fascinating too.

This sack with the stork once carried lentils.

And as a pièce de résistance, this penguin sack once carried penguin guano. I need that penguin pillow for that reason alone. I've long been of the opinion that every object you own should have a story to tell. Man, that penguin sack could write an epic!

So go spend some time with Gina and Willow decor and leave her a comment. Even if you don't win anything, you'll see some great stuff and you'll learn a lot from Gina's research and design passions.

I love me some Kohler

I read a blog called The Consumerist every day. The Consumerist doles out great helpings of consumer advocacy and financial advice and it's delivered with a smart alecky sense of humor that I find irresistible. Usually, their consumer advocacy takes a decidedly negative spin and a lot of their content comes from Consumerist readers who detail their customer service nightmares. Had a lousy experience with an airline? Tell it to The Consumerist.

For all of the horror stories Consumerist runs, every once in a while a reader will tip them off to a really great customer service experience. This happened the other day when a guy wrote in to report his positive dealings with Kohler.

I specify Kohler fixtures for a reason and this guys' experience proves my point and further cements my loyalty. Check this out:

Enough negative news gets tossed at your site (which I love, btw) that I thought that everyone would appreciate a little positive story.

I have a leaky faucet in my kitchen. It's been leaking for a year and I have, for a year, planned on fixing it. Well, I am home on paternity leave and it had become that much more annoying being home 24 hours a day!

I, as most red blooded Americans would do, headed to Lowe's to find the replacement part. No such luck (mostly because I had no idea what I was looking for). Don't get me wrong, I've replaced leaking faucets before, but the bathroom style 2-handled sinks are a different bag.

Next, I did some research online, trying to find a DIY guide for this particular faucet. What I stumbled upon was a number and a mention that Kohler has a lifetime warranty . . . . interesting.

So I called Kohler and got a pleasant support lady named Ashley (I think). She was absurdly patient. I mean, so patient she let me go down to my basement and try to find the paperwork that came with this faucet a decade ago so we could verify the model number. Once we had done that, she actually walked me through taking apart the faucet over the phone so we could figure out what was wrong. Once we had done that she VOLUNTEERED shipping me the replacement part, free of charge. I didn't ask. She offered. She never once was accusatory or hesitant in providing the service and by the end of our conversation, which had to have been at least 30 minutes, I had a new thing-a-ma-bob on my way to my house to stop the leak. (which I will know how to install since I've already gone through the process!)

Bravo Kohler. I do believe I will buy your faucets in the future.

This guy's experience echos every experience I've had with Kohler. Kohler makes great fixtures and all of them carry a lifetime warranty. Odds are, you won't have a problem with a Kohler fixture. But it's good to know that they'll stand behind their products should the need arise.

Check out Hakatai's revamped website

I've waxed rhapsodically about Hakatai's great glass tile a couple of times here and I was researching mosaics for a job the other day and found myself on their website again. Man, nobody, and I mean nobody shows mosaic tile as well as Hakatai does. All of the photos I have scattered around this posting come from their website.

Hakatai is a one stop shop for all things related to mosaic tile. Their retail prices are what I'm used to seeing as wholesale prices. This means that Hakatai is a great place to buy your own materials and save some money.

Hakatai's photo galleries have to be the most extensive on the web. If you're ever in need of some inspiration or if you've ever wondered how to use glass tile, spend some time combing through that photo library. 

Hakatai does a lot of custom work too and you can order their custom work through their website. Amazing. In looking through their custom mosaic library I'm struck by the amount of skill that goes into their murals in particular. Mosaic murals are an ancient art form and the gang at Hakatai pays homage to the ancients and then ratchets up the bar a couple of notches. Beautiful stuff, all of it.

Check out their home page for special deals and sale items too. Thinking about glass tile? Look no further.

Well worth a second look

I have been laughing about the photo of that 1961 kitchen I ran yesterday. It's a peppermint carousel! It's a stripey fantasy! The model's outfit matches the throw pillows and the shrubbery outside! Man, this is precisely the sort of thing that keeps me from taking what I do too seriously.

However, this is a pair of Levi's 501 jeans. 501s assumed their current form in 1960, a year earlier than the peppermint fantasy kitchen above. Granted, it took them another 20 years to get completely mainstreamed, but to men of my generation they were and are part of the uniform. Those same 501s remember the Beatles, watched Richard Nixon resign, got caught up in the Reagan revolution, followed the Grateful Dead around, showed up when casual Fridays became a substitute for a fringe benefit, counted down to the new millennium and cried when Barack Obama won an election. So sometimes, some things withstand the test of time and the winds of change. Who knows? Maybe a blue Dacor refrigerator is the new Levi's 501. I doubt it, but maybe.

Reader question: What never goes out of style?

Help! My husband and I are about to renovate our kitchen and I want to know what never goes out of style before we start spending money on this project. What style, in wood type and color never goes out of style?

Hmmm. I hear this question a lot and I'm going to answer it by not answering it. At least not yet. First, let's start by taking a stroll through some kitchen designs of the last 100 years. This is by no means an exhaustive survey of every kitchen style that's come and gone in that time period, but it will help me make my point so bear with me.

Here's a kitchen from 1921.

Here's one from 1931.

Here's 1941

1951

1961

Here's 1971

And 1981

Here's a kitchen from 1991

2001 already looks pretty dated already

And here's what's being billed as a traditional style right now.

As you can see, the words timeless and kitchen don't belong in the same sentence. Even the last photo, the "traditional" one, is pure trend. That layout, those appliances, that cabinetry... it's all very right now. It may take a page from some past styles, but in the era it's invoking (1910-1920), a kitchen looked nothing like that.

Contemporary kitchen design is new, regardless of the style of the room. The idea of a kitchen being the center of activity in a home was unheard of until 30 years ago. Pretend for a moment that it's 1955 and you're talking to your grandmother. Imagine her reaction to the news that you're planning to spend the equivalent of half your annual income on a kitchen renovation that will become the focal point of your home. She'd think you'd lost your mind and then she'd tell you to get out of the way so that she could get back to boiling the pot of diapers she'd been working on all morning.

Kitchen designs change because our culture changes, and it's not just a function of trends in taste. Social changes, technological changes, economic changes, etc., evolve and reinforce each other over time. You'd hate an authentically period kitchen because you don't live the way people lived 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ago. How things look is inextricably linked to how things work.

I say that there's no real answer to your question. Renovation and construction always look like the time when they were built or renovated. The minute you start swinging a hammer is the same moment that time stops and how you live right now gets preserved for all time. Or for as long as whatever you're building lasts. So even though I say that there's no answer to your question, here's some advice as you go about deciding how to spend your money. 

The first being that quality doesn't go out of style. Well-made cabinetry and appliances that are made to last will get you more years of use and satisfaction than cheap stuff will. In it for the long haul? Stay out of big box stores and get ready to spend some money.

Second, I'd advise you to avoid specialty finishes on your cabinetry. That means anything with a glaze, a distressed paint or anything intended to give new cabinetry or furniture instant character. Character has to be earned and that's as true of your cabinetry and furniture as it is about your personality. Short cuts to character don't work. 

Third, avoid adding colors that are right now to things you can't change easily. A good case in point is the light blue and brown color palettes that are still all over the place. Getting light blue appliances, a finish color available from Dacor right now, might look good for now but five years from now you will hate them. If you love that blue and brown palette, get blue and brown throw rugs, not appliances. A blue throw rug costs $20 a blue fridge $3000 to $4000. You tell me, which would you rather replace in a couple of years? So the lesson here is to accessorize with trendy colors, don't build them in.

Finally, do some research on where kitchen design has been and where the experts think it's headed. You cannot anticipate what's next with any degree of certainty, but you can take steps from getting yourself locked in the past too tightly. The idea that the kitchen is the center of a home in 2009 is not something that's going away any time soon. But this Old World style that can't go away fast enough is a recipe for heartache later. Where to turn for guidance you ask? Hire a professional kitchen designer to help you realize your dream. Explain very clearly to him or her what you want to do and have this designer be standing in your home while you do this explaining. Think this through and have a detailed plan before you start writing checks and you'll be a lot happier in 10 years than you would be otherwise. Whatever you end up with, be sure that it reflects your life, your hopes, your needs and your wants.