In praise of red

Red has always been my favorite color. Sometimes I'll wander away from it, but I always come back. My first room of my own in Minnesota I designed in orange, yellow and green, a combination of stipes and floral wallpapers. I'm sure subsequent homeowners stripped it right off immediately.


Then in Alpine, I went through a blue phase. I'll always remember both my parents helping me with that and allowing me to do my creative thing is planning that room. Then there were the bubblegum pink twin beds I painted for me and Debi's one-bedroom apartment in San Angelo. ("Hey Debi, how's San Angeloooooo?") Just thinking of that place can keep me giggling for days.


Somehow I've never really decorated with red. But get a load of this kitchen.

My only role on this job was trying to fix what had been done by someone else they mistakenly let paint and "antique" the cabinets. The paint scuffed everytime you touched it and they not only have two big teenager kids but also a huge, ferocious dog that barked and growled at me (while I was trying to be in my groove ...)

These cabinets are now luxuriously beautiful if you ask me. My antiquing process sealed in the paint, whatever it was and whatever its problem was. Who could say? That painter flew the coop.

Here the paint looks a little orange, but it's really just my flash washing it out. I love the use of drawers under the stovetop. People just don't usually have enough drawers in a kitchen. Lower cabinets, if they don't have pull-outs, are just a hassle.

The lesson here -- painted cabinets are just cool. And see how much more beautiful and fun they can be when they are red? Mine are the color of cardboard but they have been done with this same technique.

I am helping a builder friend pick some colors for a spec house -- that really cool one on the lake Lavenderchick told you about. I asked about cabinets and they told me: "We'll probably do a stained, oak cabinet ...."

When I got together with the interior decorators they use for selects, we promptly vetoed that bad, bad idea right away. Not in a lake house. Not with travertine. As my daughter Mary would say, "it's just not correct."