My kitchen design clients were a whole other kettle of fish… or should I say family of characters? Joe and Diane have been married for 39 years and are living in a house built in 1979. They’ve also saved up $15,000 to add in to our budget for the remodel. Although Diane has impaired vision, she is the epitome of the “milk and cookies” mom. In fact, she often bakes cookies for her husband, children and grandchildren. Her husband, Joe is a disabled, arthritic, retired Marine who earned a Purple Heart for his service in Vietnam.
This warm and caring couple has opened their home to their daughter Laura and her fourteen year old son, Torin, who has cerebral palsy and impaired vision. Torin, like any teen, has his favorite band (Bad Religion) and can recite more about their history than a woman my age needs to know.
Laura is the go-to woman in the family kitchen and is called on to pull out the mixer and move heavy stacks of pots and pans that are difficult for the rest of the family to access.
Rounding out this good-humored family unit is their dog, Cashew. He’s so named, according to Torin, because, "He's a bit of a nut."
As you can imagine, I was delighted to sit down and share a laugh with these colorful folks, but it was essential to get to the heart of what their needs and desires were for their new kitchen.
We started with the most obvious changes that would make all of their lives easier. I wrote quickly, noting that their wish list included cabinets that are easily accessible with pull-outs, pull-ups or drawers. Laura was really excited about the idea of easily accessible lower cabinets. No surprise there.
Improved lighting in that dated kitchen is a must. We also discussed energy efficient lighting and task-specific lighting as their goal is to remain in the home for the next 25 years. Then the conversation turned to cabinet finishes and that’s when the whole issue of black socks emerged.
It seems Joe only wears black socks and buys them a dozen at a time to make dressing easy. This move towards efficiency through simplicity appears to be a theme in his life. A theme that he felt could easily be carried through to the new kitchen. “Simple finishes are best,” he declared.
I had to suppress a smile because over his shoulder Laura was shaking her head her head no emphatically. I’d had clients like Joe before, so I launched smoothly into a fashion analogy that I thought might illustrate the joys that could be found in variety.
“Joe,” I started, “Although I can see the wisdom in only wearing black socks, you don’t just wear them with black slacks, a black coat, black shirt and black tie, do you?”
After some gentle teasing and encouragement from the rest of his family, Joe agreed to be open-minded about the coming design choices. This family is going to be a heck of a lot of fun to work with… and I’m going to have to buy some black socks.