Project Day 64 - Exile Day 14 - Progress continues on the remodeling front. We continue to have to make small design decisions. By we, of course, I mean Ginny. My advice is rarely sought and then when provided, it is discarded. There is always a reason, of course. Not sure what the reason is in most cases, but there must be some reason.

Today Ginny had to decide the style of texturing to be applied to the new Kitchen ceiling. I was asked to make an appearance for a "consultation." So was her designer friend Melinda. I think you see where this might end up. I am free and Melinda is (1) a girl and (2) a paid consultant. So anyway, I opined that I would like the stomp and drag texturing that was there previously. The suggestion was not met with hostility, really, let's just call it skepticism.

In reality, I really liked the previous ceiling style and thought it might be fun to try some psychology. I have been around Ginny and her goofy girl friends long enough to have heard many, many home design conversations. You get familiar with certain phrases that seem to be tossed around with great frequency. Some of those phrases are meant to be deroguatory and some of those phrases are meant to be positive. I know that you don't want to have something that is too "common." Kiss of death. I know that "out of style" and "in style" are opposites. You want the latter but certainly not the former. I know that things can be "too busy" or "too plain." There also seems to be a great interest in understanding the "theme." Hell, as far as I am concerned the theme of a kitchen should be cooking food and chilling beer in the refrigerator. How hard can that be?

So anyway, I decided to have a go at using one of Ginny's favorite design words. "Honey," says I, "I think the stomp and drag ceiling texture would add a lot of "drama" to the kitchen." I could see immediately that word had an effect. The best course of action was going to be returning to the hotel and leaving Ginny and her designer friend to make the call. Several hours later she called and said that she and Melinda had decided to do the ceiling with the stomp and drag texturing. SUCCESS! Dang, I finally got one. Not holding my breath for another one.

So that gets us to today's picture. Apply dry wall compound with a big square brush, wait a while until it sets up a little, then drag a dry wall knife over it to flatten the peaks. Now you have achieved instant "drama."