From drab to glam: The lesson comes in the strangest of places

Once they go faux they never go back, at least that's what I'm finding out. Since last fall I've been working my way around this grand house on a beautiful lake near Seguin. I first blogged about it last fall in "why my neck hurts."

To refresh your memory, here's a few pictures:

In the kitchen just off the glam great room where these ceilings reign is this poor little white island. We can't have that now, can we?

This is the really cool light fixture over the island. When the lights are turned off they look black. But when you turn on the lights, voila! So you can see my client needed a little red in this kitchen.

Here you go: from drab to glam. This picture doesn't show that the red actually has an antiquing stain over it. And there are little distressed edges as well. But not so much as to appear country.

I went over there today to discuss a few more little projects, and now my client is considering a red quartz countertop just on the island. It's a perfect match for the Metallic Red Setcoat I used. That's certainly going to be kind of sexy in the kitchen, don't you think?

Here's the thing I love today about my life. I get to meet the most amazing, wide-ranging people. Usually, each one of them adds some sort of wisdom or knowledge to my life. I never know when it's going to happen or what they're going to say that impacts me but it generally always happens. Maybe it's because I'm paying attention and want to learn from people who I assume have something to offer.

The fabulous woman who owns this house worked hard all her life. She had a job before and after she married. At one point in her life when she "got sick of corporate America," she decided it would be fun to sell cars. Don't you just love her already? Anyway, her husband worked himself to death and she lost him suddenly. She told me one day when I was working in her home that she bought this house so maybe she can have a little fun and relax a little bit
"before she kicks the bucket."

And I think that's something we can all learn from.