Suzy,
We have decided that it is finally time to get rid of our Harvest
Gold
kitchen. Now that we are jumping into the Nineties we don’t quite know
how to
proceed. We will have to do this renovation in phases due to monetary
concerns
(of course, who else would still have a gold sink?). What is the most
logical
manner to proceed? Sink first, countertops, floor – which one?
– Michelle M.
Dear Ms. M.,
Welcome to this decade. Don’t let those futurists chide you that it
is, in
fact, more than half over. Anyone who has lived with a Harvest Gold
decor this
long deserves a little suspended animation in their timetable. Be
honest,
though. Do you have pink rubber daisies glued to the floor of your tub
and a
bean bag chair in the den? Just thank your chromatic stars it wasn’t
Avocado
you had to endure. When I was growing up, our family moved into a
trailer house
while our home was being built. We thought we could withstand the
puke-green
shag rugs, fiberglass tubs and sinks, appliances, sheet vinyl, and
light
fixtures for the six months it would take to build the house. Two years
later
we were all snarling at each other in that pea-hued hell like rabid
badgers and
this nervous tic I developed would have been much more severe if we’d
stayed
there much longer. I know my parents wouldn’t still be married.
Consequently,
my whole family takes off running if someone tries to serve us
guacamole.
Now for the rules and regulations of the Grand Order of Demolition:
1. The
counter tops, sink, and stove top are so closely related they make West
Virginian hillbillies look tame. It’s a big chunk-o-change at once, but
unavoidable. 2. If you don’t have to rebuild the cabinet for the oven,
this
would come next. If you do, move this to number one. 3. Are you going
to paint
or refinish your cabinets? Don’t let any of those con-artists talk you
into one
of those astronomically expensive and tacky “re-facing” jobs, okay? 4.
The
floor is always last.
Come on, confess the sins of your decor. Write me at the
Chron, PO
Box 49066, Austin, TX 78765 or e-mail me at Suzebe@aol.com. (Better
send Coach
some, too. He gets so jealous about my loaded mail bag.)
This article appears in July 7 • 1995 and July 7 • 1995 (Cover).