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What? Curtis was on Martha?

Hey boys & girls!

Curtis here! I hate to double-post, but it looks like this is the thread that everyone is reading, so...

YES! I did get into the audience and I was one of 5 people who did get to talk to her in person on the air! So, you simply MUST watch it if you can. That is -- if you wanna see me. You can't miss me, I'm wearing an apple-green long-sleeve shirt and I'm the second one of the people in the audience she talks to, and I think she actually says my name, Curtis, which you know. I'm still not believing it.

I sent kind of a longer, blow-by-blow account of the whole thing to the AT folks, along with the few photos I was able to take with my digital camera, because there weren't enough moments where it was OK to use camera phones in between, so I wanted to do slightly better ones, having no choice but to wait until the end.

Re-broadcast on Time Warner cable is on TLC at 6:00pm, which I simply must see. It was just heaven.

I'm home sick and just saw Curtis on "Martha." :)

Didn't make it to CB2 while i was in Chicago this weekend...didn't make it much of anywhere, actually due to aforementioned sickness, but thanks again for everyone's suggestions!

Yay, Curtis!!! Can't wait to hear his recap!!!

Curtis on Martha!
I want to tape this!

Does it repeat??

Don't know about repeats..this is the first time I've ever seen Martha...but it was a quick thing where Curtis was in the audience and was showing his lovely rainy Paris paint by number (the theme was ebay), and he got a $50 ebay gift cert! yay! So, I'd like to hear from Curtis, though, what the show experience was like!

Curtis was on Martha?!?! She's probably going to try to hire him. I would, if I were her.

I just saw the martha show also....sort of new to AT here. Who is Curtis??

Martha repeats. Each morning's episode runs that night on TLC.

Another Martha daytime tip: Her best guests and episodes tend to air on Thursdays for some reason.

I've got a cabinets question -- am choosing kitchen cabinets today, and am trying to decide whether to use the standard pressed wood, or upgrade to real wood.

Pressed wood option -- I like the door design better, and it (the door) is also sturdier. The shelves are 0.5" thick. Door and frame section immediately behind door is real wood. (~$900)

Real wood option -- What I'm considering is actually the combination real wood and pressed package -- everything (ie whole frame plus door) is real wood, except the shelves. The shelves however are 0.75" thick of pressed wood. With this option the drawer (I'll only have one) is also of better construction. (~$1200)

The cabinets currently in my kitchen are very similar to the pressed wood option, about 20 years old, and are still okay.. though the long shelves sag a bit and there is some water damage under the sink (not too much, but it is there).

So, I think the pressed wood option will likely last for awhile, but I've heard many times to make sure I get real wood.. any thoughts? Thanks!!

Michael--
Welcome!
Curtis is an AT "regular" who is uber-talented when it comes to all things paint-treatmented. He's posted past work (his bathroom in the bathroom contest, his amazing paint-by-numbers driven wall treatment for the "I've Got Color Contest!") and is always quick to lend his thorough and wildy varied expertise when the subject turns to paint (selection, color, technique, preferences, etc, etc...).

He's also a DANDY story-teller, and his hilarious yarns about the "real story" behind some of the "Chair &" photos have had us all spewing Diet Coke out the nose on numerous occasions...

(This of course is only the Curtis "highlights reel" as his talent, wit and interests also extend well into the "unpainted"!)

Patrick-thanks for the clue in to Curtis. I saw the shw and the pics he had of his paint by numbers mural-very cool!

1) YAY Curtis!

2) chickpea: something else to consider is that most pressboard is glued using formaldehyde and off-gasses terribly. I had a friend install press board cabinets in her kitchen and actually *rip them out* 2 months later after endless headaches because of the fumes. Might be something to check. Just one more data point. Good luck with your redo!

3) I ran into an odd little magazine last night: Atomic Ranch. Anyone else seen this? It was a die-hard mid-century enthusiasts mag. A little extreme for me but nice pics and kooky folks in the stories.

Chickpea, you might want to join Consumer Reports online for a month. They have interesting review of cabinet construction and manufactures.

kyra, thanks for the tip! That would be miserable, and probably make me a bitter and angry person :) But I do know others who have used these cabinets without off-gassing issues so hopefully that would be the case for me as well.

Chris, thank you too! I do actually already have a subscription to Consumer Reports online, and my mother just reminded me to check them too, so I've just finished reading the article :)

WOW! I need to catch the TLC rerun! Woo-hoo. Go, Curtis, go!

What an amazingly fun little cheering section you all are, and patrick (the other excruciatingly wickedly funny one) is about to have his own media event this Thursday on Small Space Big Style, so it's kind of a big week for AT folks, hunh?

No way! Curtis, give us the postmortem! What did she say? What did you say?

Curtis and Patrick,

I can't wait to catch both your tv debuts!

Reef

(Well, I guess Maxwell is off on a jet plane designing stuff somewhere, so I'm gonna go ahead and put the whole little schpiel in here, although it's VERY cumbersome. I sent him photos from my digital camera, and I don't know if he'll have a chance on put them on, but I'm still putting the whole text in here of what I sent him, while it's still fresh on the minds of those who seem to clammer for this:)

I DID get on Martha!

We couldn't take photos until the very end, so what I'm sending were taken at that point with my regular digital camera.

I arrived at 7:40, a full 50 minutes earlier than I had to be, and there was no queue outside, so I
thought I was the first one there. I showed up to the door and was rushed inside and put through an airport-style security thing with very polite and attractive staffing it.

One checks one's coat, etc., and gets a coatcheck
number and gets a couple of forms to fill out -- a
release waiver thing, and another thing to let the
producers know what you've brought, etc. You're also given a seating number (Mine was 19).

I was among the first to arrive, and eventually a
small, thin perky, affable and very smart woman named Suzanne came around to ask people about the items we had brought in. When I showed her my pair of paint-by-number paintings of Paris and Night with Wet Streets and the photographs of the mural, both "after" and "at the blue lines and numbers stage", she seemed to "get it" immediately, and so after she left, the woman next to me said, "She did a huge highlighting on
your sheet, so I think you'll definitely speak to
Martha." Well, I was hopeful, but not convinced.

But at a certain point, Suzanne started taking certain people away and said, "Paint by numbers?" I said, "Yes?" "Come with me!" She assigned me #2 of only 5 people who would end up speaking to Martha from the audience. I was so excited I could barely see straight.

Joey the warm-up guy was this bespectacled teddy bear guy who showed us all the signals we'd need to respond to, to make the applause happen right, and when to fade out and listen to her. Another Joey, the stage manager cued HIM, and Suzanne was (wisely) coaching us 5 pre-set people to speak clearly, hold our item right in front of us, and speak quickly. Another guy put microphones on each of 5 people, and someone else placed us exactly where they wanted us along the aisle.

Jamie Lee Curtis (no relation) was the guest and she talked about Habro, for which she is the new spokesperson, and all the audience members got Scrabble games!

Anyway, I had gone there by myself, but they ended up putting me next to a blonde woman named Karen from the Mid-West who graciously took a couple of photos of me with my camera, and also held my 8"x10" photos of my mural, so I could
grab them after showing my actual vintage
paint-by-number paintings to the camera and to Martha.

It all went so smoothly I was ecstatic. Afterwards, they had to do some little promo things for which they still needed an audience, so by the time they let us out, the actually airing of the show was in progress (it was taped at 10am, and aired at 11am) I managed to go to Best Buy to try to watch the show on one of their TV's. (As it turned out they use some kind of
closed-circuit thing to show off their TV's - so if you EVER go on MARTHA, don't go to Best Buy!) So, then I went across the street JUST in time to go into the P.C. Richards and DID see my segment like 3 minutes after I got there!

They gave me a $50 gift certificate on eBay, and then gave the whole audience one, as well. So, that was a wonderful thing to have for Christmas gifts this year!

Afterwards, I did get to take a couple of photographs, which I've attached hereto, including with Suzanne. No... none with Martha, herself. Heck, I was actually
on TV with HER! That was good enough for me!!!!

I wonder if it is possible for somebody to tape this segment and then put it on AT so everyone can watch?

Wow Curtis - good for you! I'm definitely going to try to catch your TV debut (as well as Patrick's!)

Looks like I have date on Thursday night with HGTV! Can't wait to see p(too)'s debut, too!

I'm so excited to see both of you on your shows, but I'm going to have to catch both in reruns--waah! I know that SSBS is on multiple times, but is this Martha episode on again sometime after the 6pm showing tonight?

That is so cool, Curtis! Thanks for the recap.

Congrats Curtis! I also had the opportunity to see a taping of Martha (her premiere show!) and it was, indeed, heaven! I have her program TiVo'd, so I'd be happy to forward a tape to you to have. Just let me know... :)
I can't wait to watch when I get home tonight!

HELP! Which is the best color for a leather daybed--creme, black or brown? Each would go in the room but I think each would give a different feeling to the room. I trust you to share which is the most chic and enduring.
Help!

What's the daybed look like? Can you post a photo?
Brown and black are masculine and earthy. The cream color is going to have a softer, more delicate feel to it.

ebrown--

Context is everything, so tell us more about the room. (Any of the "natural" colors of leather you are considering will be enduring, so it's more about what vibe you want the room to have.)

The wood floors are a medium oak. I have a red Bokhara. The wooden parts of the furniture tend toward dark. Gray upholstery on the couch and 1 chair, which like settles, though more ornate than Mission style. 1 chair has red upholstery. I'm thinking of reupholstering the furniture...but the daybed is calling my name.

How do I post the pictures of the daybed?

wende, you so crazy. stop surfing the web and get back to work!!!

ebrown - if the photo is already on the web at a store's website just copy and paste the url on your post.
example:
http://www.roomandboard.com/rnb/prod.do?pfid=324938&grp=RB2097-1&grpType=0&collid=RB2097&collname=Duncan&dept=RB199

Wow, that's a long one!

That's what she said.