Final Word on Painting My Kitchen

My original post about painting my kitchen cabinets elicited many comments from readers. I was delighted to read so many differing opinions. No where else could one get so many passionate arguments, both for and against, than in this wonderful world of design lovers and bloggers.  Thank you all!

After much consideration and a fighting a very strong urge to DO SOMETHING, I have decided to take the advice of some: sit tight, put my efforts  towards selling my house, and save my time and money for our next house.

I heard everything from "PAINT! PAINT!PAINT ! and never look back!"

to a serious warning that antique long leaf pine is no longer available and it would pretty much be a crime to paint it.

Then,  I moved on to the possibility of painting my floors and wrote a post about that here.

I had one blogging friend ask me, most emphatically, "Ann, what can you be thinking??!!"

Another dear friend reached across the table one day at lunch and took my hand and said "I looked at your blog last night......Ann, are you okay?"

Do I sound crazy? Don't answer that.

 I am restless and wanting a change................a new creative endeavor. We plan to design and build a smaller, more contemporary house when we sell this one. We are staying here in Fredericksburg and hope to find a smaller parcel of land just outside of town.

Patience is my challenge, patience.

One thing I do know and probably knew all along, but just buried my wisdom somewhere deep inside so I would not have to acknowledge it, is this:

The materials used to build this Texas hill country house are to be respected. Indigenous limestone, antique long leaf pine, (everywhere! oh... did I already say that?), old pine floors, some old beaded board ceilings and some beamed ceilings, large, wide porches,  a standing seam metal roof  - they are all a vital part of the hill country style, both historically and aesthetically.

All these things make this house WHO it is, so to speak. I keep wanting to change it and make it more my house and my design, but what I must do is love it for what it is, and hope that someone else will come along who loves it, as it is, as well.

Meanwhile, just one last thought and then I must move on from this obsession! In the latest

 Traditional Home magazine, one of the top twenty young designers to watch is Emily Miller from Dallas. While perusing her website I came across this fabulous kitchen, with, of course, PAINTED FLOORS!! Isn't the subtle, aged pattern great!?

I know, I know, maybe in my next house.

Photo from Emily Miller Interiors website