When I bought my condo, I acquired a kitchen that was built almost 30 years ago – 70s-style cupboards and all original appliances. Within the first year the stove began to act up. The timing buzzer would go off randomly, any time, day or night. If you overlooked this very annoying glitch, the stove worked quite well. I investigated repair, but ultimately concluded that it was not money well spent.

A shiny new stove arrived, all slick stainless steel and black glass, and moved into this very 70s kitchen. It positively glows in contrast; hence I call it The Shrine. Above The Shrine hangs a builder’s grade hood fan which had an almond finish with a brown plastic trim strip. Although pulling off the trim strip improved it a bit, I decided to paint the hood with stripes.

Here is what I did:

• Cleaned the hood thoroughly to remove grease spatters and sanded the almond finish.
• Blocked off stripes with masking tape.
• Painted several background coats with my favourite milk paint, colour brick red.
• Painted stripes with colours mixed from tubes of acrylic paint.
• Painted 3 topcoats (recommended by the manufacturer) of urethane finish.

Here is what I learned along the way:

• I f I were doing it again, I would paint the red background colour over the entire surface before masking out the stripes.
• When you paint stripes with acrylic paints, you need to pull off the masking tape while the paint is still wet. If you wait for it to dry, you will pull off part of the stripe with the masking tape.

I am happy with the result. The effect is a colourful awning with a finish which I hope will last until I update the rest of the kitchen. And it makes me think twice about renovating the kitchen. I'm still having fun with the old one and feel a lot less inhibited about experimenting with old surfaces.

If you want to see what an expert can do, check out Annie Sloan's Painted Kitchen. She tackles walls, cupboards and furniture.

No hood fans.

One of my favourite sections of our interior decoration books is the area that shows interiors from around the world. It’s a happy mix of design, culture and exotic locales.

Chinese Style: Interiors, Furniture, Details is a new addition to this collection. Author Zhu Wen goes beyond the clichés of Chinese decorating to explore the philosophical traditions that are embedded in the design and way of living.

She examines the influence of art on interior design: the colours borrowed from paintings, how calligraphy affects the structure of space as well as the influences of literature and carving.

She explores regional design within China and the incorporation of outside influences, such as Art Deco, and other foreign elements.

China Living (2007) by Sharon Leece reveals exciting new directions in contemporary design across China, both in rural retreats and homes in the big cities.

Two of my favourites are artist’s studios in Beijing. One is the minimalist home of a Chinese-Japanese photographer couple designed around a serene courtyard (p.140). The other is a loft that was formerly a cluster of state-owned military factory buildings (p.158).

In Chinese Style: Living in Beauty and Prosperity (2006), author Sunamita Lim explores Chinese cultural heritage in an American context. For example, Chinese red lacquer wedding cabinet highlights a cozy room with a moon window in an adobe home in the American Southwest (p.95).

So many places to explore in the comfort of your favourite chair.

It’s craft season in Calgary. In the past two weeks, I have received emails from friends about sales of hand-blown glass, hand-made jewelry and pottery. The weeks preceding Christmas are the perfect time to shop for artisanal objects, not only for gifts, but for your home.

We have just received a lovely new title called Hand Made Home: Living with Art and Craft by Mark & Sally Bailey. The Baileys live and work near Hay-on-Wye, near the Welsh border in Britain.

They write, “The handmade home is all about creating an integrated space where you can live alongside the pieces that make up and define you and your family’s tastes.”

In the first part of the book, they examine the elements of decorating with craft, such as texture - “the badge of honour of the handmade home”. They advise the reader to think of walls as a blank canvas for display and to choose neutral and natural colours.

In many of the rooms shown, lively patinaed finishes offer a beautiful background for display. For example, a collection of hand-turned wooden boxes and vessels are arranged on steel shelves which hang on a lime-plastered wall.

The second half of the book takes an international tour of homes of designers and craftspeople. The tour includes a rural cottage in Hampshire, the Dutch farmhouse of a textile artist, a compact Tokyo apartment of a cookbook author as well as a Finnish forest house.

Generally, the look is the popular combination of rustic with modern.

It will have you hitting the sales.

Author Caroline Clifton-Mogg makes a persuasive case for designating personal space for homework, business and creativity in every home. “In a moment,” she says, “you will find yourself more productive, more organized, even more creative.”

A Space of My Own: Inspirational Ideas for Home Offices, Craft Rooms and Studies takes a look at both the practical and decorative aspects of home work spaces. She offers ideas for reclaiming neglected corners to create multipurpose rooms. As well, she provides tips for choosing furniture, storage, shelving and lighting.

Although she advises not to sacrifice comfort for style and offers a specific list of dimensions for creating an ergonomic office, not all spaces pictured adhere to that mantra. A quibble, perhaps. There are serious work spaces pictured including some very attractive studios for craftspeople.

Speaking of craft, if you have been thinking about making money from your passion, check out How to start a home-based Craft Business, a recently revised title by Kenn Oberrecht and Patrice Lewis.

They will help you plan the enterprise with information about working from home, marketing, financial planning and management. Although the legal advice is American, the outline of topics will alert you to issues that should be considered.

The chapter on computer use includes taking advantage of social networking to build the business.

For those who enjoy design books about vintage style, a slick new title has just arrived: Patina Style by Brooke and Steve Giannetti. She is an interior designer and the creator of a popular blog called Velvet and Linen. He is an architect, artist and furniture designer.

The authors love patinaed finishes that result from weathering and years of use; they celebrate the beauty of the old and imperfect. The design aesthetic features vintage and antique furnishings and natural materials that age with grace.

A calm palette of warm neutrals - creams, gray-greens, and blues - provide a soothing background. Velvet fabrics and worn rugs with mellowed hues add texture and softness to the mix.

Think wabi-sabi design with a luxurious edge.

Most of the photos come from their homes or projects. The text is peppered with phrases like, “At our house in Santa Monica...” “At our beach house...” “Our house in Oxnard...”

My favourite photos feature a room that displays Steve’s water paintings. In this comfortable space, the art work is accentuated by the aqua velvet of cushions and sea-green glass of insulator caps.

The Gianettis exhibit considerable flair with collections and offer advice about displaying them. For example:

• 
  Amethyst bottles and old-fashioned top hats stand atop vintage metal cabinet drawers.
• 
  Pocket watches and clock faces combine with bound leather books.
• 
  Vintage globes are surrounded by architectural remnants and carved wood blocks.

Patina style goes into the garden as well with weathered furniture and plants that have soft pastel flowers and grey-green foliage. Very pretty.

It's eye-candy design at its best.

Today, I was flipping through a new House Beautiful title: 1000 Sensational Makeovers. It offers a fairly predictable collection of lovely rooms from the pages of the magazine. If you enjoy the magazine, you will like the book.

It offers a lot of good ideas in a condensed format; they are numbered and organized by six basic design elements. However, if you are expecting to see transformations demonstrated by before/after photos or a description of the process, you will be disappointed.

I am often intrigued by the quirky things I notice and enjoy in new design books. Two ideas that impressed me here involve the clever use of maps. In an attic study, a map of the world was used to paper a canted wall in an alcove. Framed maps on an adjoining wall reinforce the idea. (#445 on p. 439).

Another designer used a framed series of maps – sand-coloured plats of Miami Beach in 1943 – to cover a large wall from baseboard to ceiling. (#480 on p. 470).

These ideas made me think of the map-covered boxes in Design Sponge at Home and sent me out to see what else I could find with a Google search.

A lot, it turns out.

Freelance writer, Kit Pollard, gathered some nifty ideas into a story about decorating with maps and globes.

Nate Berkus offers a video that shows an attractive chest of drawers with a map applied to its surface, while Martha Stewart decorates a fireplace screen and roller blinds with maps.

At home, one of my favourite accessories is a reproduction of an old planning map of Calgary bought at the Glenbow Museum shop many years ago.

Apparently I am not alone in my fondness for maps.