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          The Place: Seattle’s International District 

The Restaurant: Tamarind Tree at 1036 South Jackson Street    www.tamarindtreerestaurant.com

The Cuisine: Exquisite Provincial Vietnamese                                         

The Review:   Upon my suggestion of having Asian food for dinner last night, my boyfriend Mike further suggested that we go to Tamarind Tree.  What a fabulous suggestion that turned out to be!   The restaurant is tucked away in the corner of an Asian strip-mall that abutts a rock wall and an over crowded parking lot.  Walking up to the restaurant, you are quickly brought into a foreign place.  To the left was a 30″ concrete ledge with a cascade of water pouring over it.  Above that was a wall of goldish-orange panels against steel posts.  Sounds unusual and it was.  Upon opening the oversized front door, I quickly found the scent of lemongrass, basil, mint and a host of other ingredients, bringing my appetite to life!  The restaurant had a fabulous atmosphere, a bit dark and sultry but busy and full of patrons. 

We were seated outside on the patio that was warmed by propane heaters and refreshed by a seven foot wall of water cascading down a concrete wall.  On the other side was the backside of the water ledge from the entry with the evening sun shining thru the goldish-orange panels and a small fire pit.  What an incredible ambience.

Vietnamese cuisine was a new culinary experience for me.  For appetizers we had “Crispy Prawns Baguette” that were actually pieces of french bread that were coated in a batter and fried.  I’d never had anything like that before - I’ll sum it up in five words.  I’d have it again.  Our dinners were wonderful - loads of earthy flavors, fresh colors and proper sized portions.  (Although I was served more than I could eat.  If we had skipped the app’s, I probably would have eaten my entire dinner.) 

Of course, with food that was so rich in flavor and color, and an ambience that sent you to Asia - Mike and I decided that we’d eat our way thru the menu over the next year, one meal at a time.  Of course, I know we’ll find our favorite items and return again and again, just to satisfy our hunger for that “favorite” food. 

One word sums up the our dining experience at the Tamarind Tree:  A Most Satisfying Dining Experience!

PS.  My last blog was about the color red and the photo was my best example of where the color red works - in a powder room.  But, I found that the Tamarind Tree has THE BEST example of a red powder room.   When you’re there look at the floor - it’s done in a heavy concrete texture and has been painted red to match the walls.  Impressive design.  I give the Tamarind Tree’s designer high praise for a creative, expressive and unique look and feel.  Actually, it was outstanding.

 My overall dining experience was:   4 Chopsticks!  ****      “:O)

          I’ve worked with a number of homeowners that have brought red into their homes as an accent color.  As an accent color on one wall it usually has too much impact.  Okay, here it is…. most of the time, it’s just not right.  I’ve recommended painting out the red wall more often than not.

In some situations red can be a fabulous dramatic color that makes a huge statement.  What I’ve found is that if it is used in conjunction with other strong colors and used on more than just an accent wall it can have the impact the homeowner is trying to achieve.  (The photo above is an example of when red paint totally works in a room.  In this case, the area is small, they’ve used an enamel paint so that the light bounces off the walls which reduces the amount of impact that the color has.)  When it’s used on just one wall it gives the viewer the feeling that you want to be bold and daring, but you got nervous with the intensity and impact of the color.

If you want impact or more intensity of color, try something other than red paint.  Red is the most difficult to paint over.  Try a deep blue, purple, or even orange.  A couple examples would be Sherwin Williams “Underseas” blue #6214 or “Tango” #6649.  Both are rich colors and actually they work really well together.

I’d like to know about your red paint experiences - Please comment or drop me an email with photos of what you’ve done in your home.  Have a great weekend!  “:O)

                I love all the “Re” words these days.  The ones I’m going to use today are Re-Purpose and Re-Arrange, which I did recently with the three rooms on the second level of my old house.   Here’s how and why.

On the second level of my home, the largest room was the master bedroom,  the middle sized room the “dressing room” and the smallest room, (probably the original attic bedroom) was my office.  As the years of being an entrepreneur flew by, the amount of space I needed for my office also grew with it.  At year three, I moved my desk from the west end of the room away from the magnificent view of Puget Sound (my watching the water traffic and catching glimpses of the train definitely slowed down productivity)  to the east side of the room.  By doing so I gained a foot of width that brought a lot of elbow room.  Looking out to the east side of my home wasn’t so bad, it gave me terrific views of my gardens and the neighbor kids coming and going on the school bus.

My “dressing room” was a necessary indulgence.  My master bedroom wasn’t technically a “bedroom” because it lacked a closet, so I used the middle sized bedroom as my walk-in closet.  This room has a wonderful built-in set of drawers and huge cupboard, as well as a very deep closet with two clothing rods and five shelves for shoes.    

The master bedroom is the room on the second level that gets the most daylight.  It has french doors that open to a glass solarium that leads to one of the decks.  It’s very open and bright.  When I moved in I wasn’t in need of a home office and never considered using anything but the largest room for my bedroom.

For several months I contemplated repurposing the rooms, to gain office space as my primary motivator.  Well, my answer came when Cynthia Chomos came into the picture.  www.cynthiachomos.com  I had been receiving Cynthia’s newsletters for a couple years and in a recent one she offered a “Personal Directions Chart”.  It’s based on your birth date and reveals your lucky directions for Prosperity, Health, Relationship, Harmony and Clear Thinking. 

With my chart in hand I figured out how to repurpose my rooms to maximize the luck in all aspects of my life.  (Frankly, I feel lucky just to have met Cynthia and have her guidance.)  I then went to work on moving all my furniture from one room to the next.  The dresser in my dressing room was emptied and moved out to the solarium and my bed and nightstand were moved into the middle sized room, pointing west, for success with relationships.   Cozy and hopeful.   Then my desk and the 105 electronic cords that connect an office these days were moved into my former master bedroom, of course, facing the southwest corner for prosperity!  My former office is now the home of my sewing maching…recently uncovered after many years of neglect.

Back to my Personal Directions Chart.  It seemed to be working because in a short amount of time, I had an offer from a close friend to work for her and I’ve begun doing office interior redesigns for her marketing clients and my personal relationships are soaring!  

So now, over the long weekend try using a room in your home outside it’s usual purpose.  Set up a dinner for friends in the living room instead of the dining room or sleep in your guest room - see what it’s like to be a guest in your own home.   Also, consider contacting Cynthia for your own Personal Directions Chart then call me and we’ll Re-Arrange your rooms!Enjoy the weekend!  “:O)

Creating a bouquet of fresh flowers can be simple.  All you really need are two types of flowers and some folliage.  The first being a flower that steals the show - it’s best to have at least three stems of that flower for the bouquet, although five is even better.  Then select a contrasting flower that is smaller in size and different in color which will compliment the “show stopper”.  And then some all important folliage which can be any greenery from your garden.

The vase you choose also has an impact on the overall  look of your bouquet.  Consider using something you wouldn’t normally think of - the martini shaker (unless it’s in use), a coffee mug from a trip you took recently, or the ceramic water pitcher that waits patiently to be used each Thanksgiving.  A couple others that come to mind are the old cookie jar that is no longer in use or the ice bucket sitting on the top shelf.  There are no rules when it comes to bringing beauty into your home - just have some fun and keep it simple!

                I was enjoying a recent issue of Traditional Home magazine and found myself tearing out short articles and quotes frequently.  In fact, quite frequently.    There were so many loose pages laying on the floor that I realized I should have probably left the magazine in tact!  Anyway,  I do have a quick item from my tear sheets I wanted to share today. 

There was a mini-infomercial about a lovely yellow paint color by Behr Premium Plus (Home Depot) called “Daffodil Yellow”.  A very pure, clean yellow.  The quote beside the picture of the paint can caught my eye, “This is no time to be beige!  Make a bold move. Slipcover all the furniture. Paint a room shiny Daffodil Yellow.Be as confident as you possibly can.” - Jeffrey Bilhuber www.bilhuber.com  

Take a chance…experiment…stretch your creative side, or for some, unleash your creativity.  You may find new confidence in yourself.  One thing that will happen is that you’ll learn more about yourself. 

Acceptance of change takes at least three days - allow yourself to experience all the feelings you may have about the change.  And then tell me about it.  Enjoy your weekend!  “:O)

I found I could say things with

color and shapes that

I couldn’t say any other way-

things I had no words for.

                                 -Georgia O’Keefe

“:O)

             It feels like a late summer morning. 

The kids will be heading to school soon and the thoughts of Halloween and the holidays will be upon us.  The grapes will be harvested.  This is a bountiful year for my ”ornamental” grapes - well, I was told that they were ornamental.  They were a birthday gift from my mother a few years ago. 

Sharing the love of gardening, she took me to the nursery that year to pick out a plant as my birthday gift.  It was the beginning of October and the grape leaves were beginning to turn colors that were exquisite.  I couldn’t resist choosing a Vitis - vinifera Purpurea - all for it’s color, of course.  Well, it’s taken about four years for my little Vitis to produce a healthy crop, but now its now here, abundant with rich color and tight clusters of grapes. 

Every season has it’s own richness, but a late summer morning is the best.    “:O)

            I’ve been painting for so many years that for me, painting is like riding a bike; you just get on and go.  Well, okay… I’ve fallen off a few times.  When I say, “fallen off”, I’m referring to the possibility of making mistakes in either the paint color selection or the quantity of paint you purchase.  I’ve made them all.  This was the time I was getting ready to paint my living room.  In one weekend I had purchased 16 gallons and 5 quarts of paint.  It’s true.  I have the receipts to prove it.  Here’s the story.

My friend, Tom Hall, and I had been working on renovating my wonderful old 1927 home.  He was the very first handiman to work my house and in fact I was his very first client when he became an entrepreneur.  Tom had recently gone through IT school, thinking that he would join the techies after being laided off from Boeing for the VERY last time.  But that wasn’t Tom, so he decided to utilize his “honey-do” skills and start doing small home-repairs for people.  In a previous career, he had been the Head Pastry Chef for the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Seattle, creating delectable desserts for their famous dessert bar.  We all knew Tom was talented, creative and loved the food industry, but not the hours it required.  I needed help and Tom needed a job, so we got started. 

I began doing projects on my house that I could work on during my off hours from the Bank.  One of the first jobs I tackled was to remove the many layers of wall paper from my  living room walls.  Well, soon I discovered that my house had had many “personalities”.  As I tediously scraped away at the wallpaper I found a very deep, rich red wall paper with a bit of fuzzy texture buried beneath many other eras.  As I tried to remove a patch of this paper, the red color ran everywhere.  (I could only imagine that at one time my house was “the bordello” on the hill in Edmonds - who else would have red fuzzy wallpaper? and be a quarter mile from the main section of town!)  I stopped right there and made the executive decision to find another way to deal with the  layers of wallpaper.  That’s where Tom’s talent comes in.

 Tom and his wife, Clarice, also have a wonderful old 1920’s home in Ballard.  Tom had applied a texture to their walls that was very much the style that was applicable to that era.  And that’s what I asked him to do for me.  Tom did an incredible job creating a texture on my walls, that to this day, I’m still receiving compliments on.  Stepping back one day to admire his handywork, I realized that it was probably his years as a talented pastry chef that contributed to the beauty of my living room, as it looked like frosting on a cake!  It’s truly the work of an artist!

With the texturing complete, my job had just begun.  I had the joyful task of deciding on the paint color and purchasing the paint so that Michelangelo and I could finish the living room and move onto the next project at hand.  So off I went to the store with my paint chips in hand.  My first purchase was on 4/6 at 8:56 am at Sherwin Williams for 2 gallons of tinted primer (because we needed to seal the spackle Tom used for the texturing) and 3 gallons of paint in “Sachet” green.  (Total purchase: 5 gallons) 

Next I went to K-Mart to purchase my sealing and trim paints.  I love the Martha Stewart colors and the only place they were sold was where stale popcorn couldn’t smell any worse, but at K-Mart.  (MS paints are now sold at Sherwin Williams, ironically.)  At 9:42 I bought 2 gallons of “Wicker White” in a flat finish for the ceiling and 2 gallons of “Fine White” in semi-gloss for all the woodwork that would eventually be painted during my renovation.  (Accumulating total: 9 gallons plus two dog toys)  

In renovating my house I found that I learned to rely on my “feelings” a lot.  The question, “Does it “feel” right?” came up frequently.  Well, in painting the ceiling the answer was…. no.   It was too bright -  I loved “Wicker White”, but I didn’t like how it drew my attention to the ceiling when I walk a the room.  I knew I had missed on that color so we stopped.  I realized that the ceiling should have been the “Fine White”.  It’s a softer, grayed down white, while the Wicker White is creamy and has a yellow undertone.  2:30 pm, back to the Big K for the Fine White.  Two gallons, please.  (Accumulating total: 11 gallons)

Of course, now I’m getting a little nervous about my choice to use “Sachet” on the walls, so I decide to test it.  OMG, what was I thinking!?!?  It was way too green, too bright, just NOT right!   4:57, off to Home Depot to purchase my back-up wall color.  The other lighter, softer green.  (Accumulating total: 11 gallons and 1 quart)

Well, that one was a bust… let’s try a couple more.  Sunday morning, back to Home Depot for 4 test quarts of various shades of green- SeaFoam, Haze Green, Misty Glen and probably Margaritaville…  and 1 gallon of something else, (which ended up being a wanna-be Wicker White - don’t try to have a paint store match a white - it doesn’t work.)  I’m even loosing track at this point.  (Accumulated weekend total… so far: 12 gallons and 5 quarts) 

We’re not done yet.  At 11:04 am there was one last trip to the Big K to purchase 2 gallons of Wicker White semi-gloss for all the woodwork and 2 gallons of a Martha Stewart sage green for the living room walls.  That’s my decision and I’m sticking to it!  Which I did.  (Weekend accumulated total: 16 gallons and 5 quarts)

I learn from trying and testing, from living with and living without.  I choose to live with colors I love.  “:O)

Today we’re going to start the interior Color Makeover project on this adorable home.  It’s as charming on the inside as it is on the outside!

It’s been a couple weeks since we’ve chosen our colors for the “Color Makeover” and what we selected has been given the  seal of approval by the homeowners, so we’re going SHOPPING!!  Since the colors we selected were from the Benjamin Moore and Ralph Lauren line of paints, we’ve got two stops to make - which is fine.  First, we’ll go to Benjamin Moore then over to Home Depot for more paint, and all the supplies we’ll need to get started.  Home Depot is my paint supply store of choice.   When you order your paint, remember to pick up a couple wooden stirring sticks.  Most often you don’t need to stir the paint, but occassionally there is a little tint swirling around on top.  Mmmm… I love opening new can’s of paint - there is something very exciting about beginning the project and having that feeling of accomplishment and refreshing or renewing your home with a new coat of paint.

The list of supplies is moderate:

Rollers - There are a lot of choices in paint rollers these days.  I like the “hotdog” rollers.  They work especially well for ceilings, and for other projects too.  They don’t hold as much paint, but are much lighter to work with, since they don’t have the quantity of paint that the traditional rollers hold.  Don’t use the foam rollers.

Roller tray AND Tray LINER - The key here is quick clean up. The liners are brilliant.

Angled brush - about 1.5 - 2 inches - I like then small because you have more control when you’re painting an edge, and again they aren’t has heavy loaded with paint.  I’ve used foam brushes, but the control you have over them is not good - use them for applying a paint sample to the wall or for touch ups.

Paint can opener - Invaluable…nothing opens a can of paint easier - simple little device.  Wish I had the patent on that one!

Drop cloth - skip the plastic sheets… they don’t absorbe anthing and you end up tracking paint all over the house.  Not good.  I like using old bath or beach towels and just moving them along with me around the room as I paint.  Old sheet work well too, but often they are thin and let the paint drips go through to the floor.  Not good.  Also, a couple old hand towels or absorbent kitchen towels will be great for little jobs on your hands, the baseboard, etc.

4″ Paint Edger - These work great for going along woodwork and the ceiling, as long as you keep the paint off their little wheels.  More on this later.

Spackle and a spackle knife - For patching those little nail holes and hairline cracks.  Sometimes your paint will fill these but occasionally they don’t and it’s just best to catch them with some spackle before you start painting.  A great paint job is all in the prep work… so they say.

Sanding block - This is for smoothing over the spackled spots so your touch ups don’t show as much.  These look like sponges and are so easy to use in comparison to buying a sheet of sandpaper.

Step Ladder - something sturdy that will get you up near the ceiling.  I used to use an old chair but now my favorite is an old bench.  In our Color Makeover project, we’ll need a ladder because of the vaulted ceilings.

So, stick with us on our Color Makeover journey - I’m sure we’ll have a few lessons and laughs along the way!  “:O)

July 30th - A refreshingly cool morning in Edmonds. 

I was on the freeway yesterday going thru the U-District at 5:08pm and it was 108 degrees.  If I wanted that heat I’d be in Phoenix - what are the weather gods thinking?  Don’t they know we don’t have air conditioning or swimming pools abundant in our backyards in the Pacific Northwest?  Today we’re all feeling much more normal!  “:O)

I’ve put together an “Action Plan” for my friends color makeover, which looks something like this:

1.) My darling brother John will shoot “before” photos for our project - www.johngranen.com He does incredible photography work, often seen in articles in Traditional Home, Sunset, Metropolitan Home, just to name a few.  John was also Jerry Traunfeld’s photographer for his latest cookbook, The Herbal Kitchen.  Thank you, John!

2.)  We’ll prep the rooms by removing the art and patching the nail holes and spackling the fine, hairline “settling” cracks, that ALL new homes get with time.  (I’m sure that under the multiple layers of paint, my old 1927s home has a whole head of hair…  line, settling cracks.)

3.)  Time to SHOP!  We all love to shop, don’t we, and shopping for paint and supplies is right up my alley.  At one point, while renovating my old home, I realized that I was more familiar with the departments and where to find things at Home Depot than at Nordstrom.  My life had changed.

4.)   Rollers and brushes and paint pans, oh my!  I’ll do teach Dorothy and Toto all I know about the art of getting the wall color to the walls without dripping on the floor or kicking the bucket.  Trust me - I’ve been there.  There was one fall morning when I was carrying a can of “misty” green paint up my back steps when I somehow tripped.   The gallon of paint flew open and spilled everywhere, I landed in the middle of it and my three dogs stood there laughing.  It was a mess.  My saving grace was that it was outside and I could hose it all down.

5.) Painting and more painting.  I find painting to be my form of meditation.  I love it as much as I love gardening.  It gives me a time to myself, to feel productive, to create something new.  I prefer to paint by myself.

6.) Time for an Interior Redesign - I can’t wait for this part!  We’ll finish our “makeover” by placing the furniture, lighting and art where it works the best and changing the purpose of a couple rooms.  (More on this later.)  We’ll use just what they have and with the new color and new placement of their furnishings - it will feel incredible! 

So let’s get started!  Emerald City awaits us!