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New Year Resolution

 NeilKelly10kitchencabinetsYou say you want a resolution? Well, you know, we all want to change the world. Just don’t expect everyone in the household to like it.

 

Way back when, my mother decided to install swinging doors between the hall and living room. They looked like the type of doors cowboys swaggered through in old Western movies to order shots of whiskey at the bar. They looked like the doors bartenders tossed rowdy cowboys through during the inevitable barroom brawl scene. My mother was not a huge fan of the genre. I’m not sure where the idea for the saloon doors came from. Maybe it was one of her “women’s” magazines, the pages of which no men dared look upon. Or maybe her interpretation of our “ranch”  home was too literal. In any case, her six kids pretty much hated those doors from the get go.

 

It wasn’t the Wild West theme in an atomic ranch we objected to.  It was the fact that the springs on those things were wound so tight that when you tried to push through them cool as Chuck Connors in an episode of The Rifleman, you were likely to get smacked back into the hall. Hard. It made you feel less like a horseman and more like the backend of the horse.

 

Our mother was sure that with time the hinges would loosen.

 

They didn’t. For the taller people in the house, this meant suffering the occasional bruised shoulders and such. To the shorter kids, these doors were Babe Ruth: They swung and hit. You know how in cartoons when a character gets bonked on the head and his skull is encircled and orbited by cute animated birds or stars? I know from experience that reality more closely resembles stars than birds. And they are not cute.

 

My brothers soon discovered that if one kid climbed and hung on the doors while another pulled back, they could have the equivalent of a human catapult. It was all-good and fun until the saloon door broke from its hinges hurling a kid off course and scratching the Bill Cosby Why Is There Air album in the process. 

 

Not all home improvements end so badly.

 

The Neil Kelly company offers top 10 interior design trends for 2013 excerpted below. It includes no saloon doors.

 

10. Kitchen Cabinets: 
A clean, simple, contemporary look will be popular with homeowners looking to economize and eliminate unnecessary clutter and fussy details.


9.  Countertops: 
Granite has been dethroned. The new king of countertops is quartz composite.
 (See image.)

8.   Floors: 
Pre-finished engineered wood flooring will become more popular because it has a hard, durable finish,  saves installation time, and avoids the dust associated with onsite finishing. It’s also compatible with under-floor heating systems.


7.  Glass Backsplashes: 
Glass mosaic tile is on the way out. Glass/stone/tile mosaic is uptrending. Be on the lookout for back-painted, solid glass panel backsplashes.


6.  Simple Sinks: 
Goodbye double-sinks, hello deep single-bowl sinks which are convenient for washing large roasting pans and baking sheets. Stainless is still popular but quartz composites are a durable option.


5. Color Palette: 
Charcoal is the new neutral.


4.   Bathroom Stone: 
Calacatta marble, white with gray veins, will find its way into both traditional and contemporary bathrooms.

3. Sparkle: 
Polished nickel fixtures are trending upward as are glossy glass tile backsplashes.

2. Living In Your Home Longer:Living In Your Home Longer: 
Aging baby boomers aim to stay in their homes as long as possible. Watch for easy kitchen and bath upgrades to enhance function, comfort and safety.


1.  Healthy Home: 
 More people will takeadvantage of federal and state incentives to evaluate their home’s energy efficiency and overall performance, and improve indoor air quality.

Click here for more details on the Neil Kelly list.

 

Vivian McInerny is managing editor of Oregon Home.