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Yes, You May Have Turquoise Cabinets and Still Sell Your Home
Pierrette Rouleau, PhD
About Pierrette: Pierrette is most fulfilled when she is working on behalf of someone else...
About Pierrette: Pierrette is most fulfilled when she is working on behalf of someone else...
It doesn't really take that much to please a girl. Honest lines. Tight seams. Just enough sophistication to the presentation to elevate the experience out of the ordinary. I lie on my sofa in the soft light of late afternoon and smile, satisfied, at my crown molding.
My home is a tiny, hip roof 1950's rancher in West Asheville. I say "tiny." It's not a tiny house, technically, by real estate and zoning regulations, but it's my perfect little home - 850 heated sq. feet and a rockin' 850 unheated sq. feet of dry basement for storage, laundry, and yoga, though my Labrador does more downward-facing dogs on my mat than I do.
This is the first home I have owned as a single woman, all grown up with stunning, turquoise kitchen cabinets and chiseled arms. Lifting weights and Inspire Gym are my physical fix now. Maybe, you don't fantasize about turquoise cabinets but strangers want to touch my arms. I am just sayin.
Before I dared dream about owning a home and then, heaven forbid, owning a remodel just for my taste, I rented a cabin after my separation and divorce. My ex, an excellent provider, believed that off-white is a color with which every girl should be satisfied. So the cabin, when I hauled my depressed ass there, was devoid of life and love. That's not completely fair: my ex liked tan, too, and I had some yellow, silk daisies in a white pitcher; antique red, throw pillows; and a photo on canvas of a peach sunrise over the Blue Ridge Parkway.
My old friend, Susan Chaney, does know color, and she presented herself at my side door one day with a glass candle holder.
"Here," she said, "You need some color, Bitch."
"Turquoise," I asked. "I knew you loved me." And thus began my love affair with turquoise.
Turquoise goes by many names - Aquamarine, Cerulean, Robin Egg Blue, Teal, Tiffany Blue. It's a shade of pigment cyan, with yellow and magenta the other two primary colors.
I knew that I wanted turquoise cabinets for my new kitchen. That single bit of design clarity guided my entire remodel, which included a new kitchen; new bath; a conversion of two bedrooms to a master bedroom w/ ensuite full, second bath; the addition of a linear, gas fireplace w/ built-in cabinet; new doors, new window treatments, new lights, and new crown molding.
Oh, and a long, deep covered front porch for lazy, people watching.
I can just lift a finger to extend a causal, good 'ole girl "hi" to dog walkers, bike fiends, and strollers of infants and toddlers being pushed along by fit, young parents.
When you go this daring with color out of the gate, you must make each next design choice carefully. See how each addition FEELS to the sensibility. Do the granite countertops add enough mystery and movement to be worthy of a conversation with Tiffany Blue?
Turquoise goes by many names - Aquamarine, Cerulean, Robin Egg Blue, Teal, Tiffany Blue. It's a shade of pigment cyan, with yellow and magenta the other two primary colors.
I knew that I wanted turquoise cabinets for my new kitchen. That single bit of design clarity guided my entire remodel, which included a new kitchen; new bath; a conversion of two bedrooms to a master bedroom w/ ensuite full, second bath; the addition of a linear, gas fireplace w/ built-in cabinet; new doors, new window treatments, new lights, and new crown molding.
What about that massively important decision -- Do I hang a light over a kitchen table? And forever be plagued with an off-center light. IT. NEVER. FAILS. I chose wall sconces instead of an overhead and couldn't be more satisfied.
More soon on the finer points of a kitchen remodel -- Farm sink or double? Microwave mistakes. 50 shades of grey floor tile. And a range hood that will suck your smoke and your steak out of the pan.
Happy Sunday.