One of my projects this week involved finishing up the final punch list on a house I’ve been building in stages for a couple years. One item was a tiled backsplash for behind the range.
The customer’s wife ahd selected a hand painted medalion to insert. Of course the size didn’t work very well with the standard tiles. Any way I laid it out looked kind of klunky and gaumie, until I hit in the idea of running some diagonally. He really liked it and we were both enthusiastic about the way it turned out when his wife came home.
He said something like, ” You’re going to love the way piffin solved that problem with the way the medalion looked!”
So her instant reply was, “I hope you didn’t do anything weird like putting them on diagonally…”
We looked at each other, rolled our eyes and swam through the thick silence for a minute. I felt like I was on the set of tool time and Jill was ‘expressing’ herself.
After she saw it, she admitted that it was just right!
Now you can see too.
Excellence is its own reward!
Replies
looks great, piffin!
TThanks, Part of the rest of the house is here -
http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=23877.1.
Excellence is its own reward!
Same thing happened last week to me ,tile guy and I decided to lay the tile on the counter on the diagonal when the home owner came home and we told her the counter was done first thing she said is you didn't do it diagonally both of us were shocked . But she came in and looked at it and said that it looked better than she thought it would. Man you never know do you.
ANDYSZ2
Very nice ! Interresting also. Thanks for sharing .
Tim Mooney
UUhhh Uhhh Uhhn UUUhhhhh OOOOOh!
Do not try this at home!
I am a trained professional!
A work of creative genius!
But tell me...do people really have kitchens that look that clean and tidy? How long does the look last after the picture is taken? I always marvel at kitchen pictures in FHB and elsewhere.
EllenVic
[Who has a very high tolerance for mess and clutter, but who admires the when she can achieve it.]
Well, I can tell you from having photographed a number of those houses that they're almost always spic and span when I get there. Now, frequently the homeowners look exhausted and mutter things like, "What was I thinking.....", and it does seem that I pass a lot of Merry Maids cars on the way to quite isolated homes. <G>
By and large, the owners of the homes we photograph tend to be wonderful people, and the houses are as nice in person as in the mag.
Andy Engel, The Former Accidental Moderator
do people really have kitchens that look that clean and tidy?
Just goes to show- didn't even notice the clean- focused totally on the clutter.But, but, its SUPPOSED to taste like that!
"A work of creative genius!"
That may be overstating it a little bit - geniuses don't have to work at it, they just are, and since I'm not, I'll settle for plain old "creative"
LOL
Thanks,
Interesting what you said about clean. No way would I embarrass the owners or myself by posting pictures that were uncomplimentarly. Suffice it to say that the house is 'liveable'. It is a second home so it may be less cluttered than mine would be for something this small..
Excellence is its own reward!
Geez, Piffin, why WOULDN'T you want them diagonal? It's perfect--look at the little diagonal cross-hatching in the trim around the vent thingy. It coordinates. And the vent thingy (range hood?) has diagonal lines in it too. I think it looks great!
"I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets." --John Glenn
And the vent thingy (range hood?)
Don't they teach dictionaries in Library school anymore? Just on-line googling ?{G, D&R}
Oh, is it spelled "thingie"?
Oops. I'm embarrassed!
How can I look it up in the dictionary, if I don't know what it is?"I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets." --John Glenn
I understood and got a chuckle out of "thingie"
Andy could learn a lot from your choice of words to spice up FHB
;)
BTW, You're not blonde yet are you?
LOL.
Excellence is its own reward!
piffin your the bomb man Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
Yet? Aaack--was there a deadline I didn't know about?"I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets." --John Glenn
You win, Theo. I'm laughing too hard to come up with a better one than that..
Excellence is its own reward!
Oh, and we were discussing the public library in your town the other day--someone referred to it as the "Taj Mahal of Public Libraries."
'Scuse me Piffin, for interrupting."I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets." --John Glenn
Nice solution. I always enjoy it when someone with a preconceived notion backs off!
Piffin,
That does look great. Clearly the correct solution to the layout problem.
I dont' think I could bring myself to do the work without an OK from both customers.
Rich Beckman
Rarely get that without multiple delays - but I know these folks well enough to anticipate on most things. Putting my designer hat on means that sometimes I have to trust my judgement (scary) but it's clear going in that they need to do so to.
Speaking of multiple delays - the more people involved in a decision, the longer it takes to come to agreement and since most folk can't visualize, you occasionally have to shoot from the hip. Instinctive shooting isn't for everyone..
Excellence is its own reward!
Piffin the shooting from the hip theory sounds like another posting you could start .
ANDYSZ2
And, what, exactly, is wrong w/ "Thingy"? I get it all the time from women in the glass business that I work with, and I ALWAYS know exactly which "Thingy" they are talking about. Kinda ranks up there with the "Gozinta."
Pif: I loved the towel draped across the oven handle and the water bottle on the sink. Now THAT is realism - not the perfection Andy gets in his. I recall Regis Philbin talking about photos of his house in CT that were published in some mag. Said he didn't even recognize the place, it was so unlike the way it normally looked.
DonThe GlassMasterworks - If it scratches, I etch it!
Bob W is right, I really ought to learn about that...that...
that big book thingy!
Edit: Oops, Robbit J, I just spun around in my chair to check Webster's 2nd which sits on the huntboard thingy, and found out I've been using thingy all wrong. It's an adjective meaning "of, belonging to, of the nature of, a thing or things; real, material; also practical."
Oh, well, sounds like a Breaktime word anyway.
"I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets." --John Glenn
Edited 10/11/2002 10:04:48 AM ET by Theodora
OK, Okay already. I'll rewrite my posting...
One of my projects this week involved finishing up the final thingy list on a house I've been building in stages for a couple years. One item was a tiled thingy for behind the range.
The customer's wife ahd selected a hand painted medalion thingy to insert. Of course the size didn't work very well with the standard tiles. Any way I laid it out looked kind of klunky and gaumie, until I hit in the idea of running some of the tiler thingies diagonally. He really liked it and we were both enthusiastic about the way it turned out when his wife came home.
He said something like, " You're going to love the way piffin solved that problem with the way the medalion looked!"
So her instant reply was, "I hope you didn't do anything weird like putting them on diagonally..."
We looked at each other, rolled our eyes and swam through the thick silence for a minute. I felt like I was on the set of tool time and Jill was 'expressing' herself about my thing-ee.
After she saw it, she admitted that it was just right! .
Excellence is its own reward!
<giggles>
I looked up "gaumie," too."I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets." --John Glenn
"And, what, exactly, is wrong w/ "Thingy"? I get it all the time from women in the glass business that I work with"
Really ???!?
What is your secret ?
Do you think that I could use a modified version of your secret so that I could get thingy, even from women who are not in the glass business ?
It's been waaaaaaay too long since I have gotten thingy from any woman, anywhere, anyway, anyhow.
Don't bogart the Ghost
Quittin' Time
Luka,
STOP!
I'm suffering here from pretzels and beer coming out my nose.
That laugh was too much!.
Excellence is its own reward!