How The Demise of a Kitchen Aid Appliance Sent Me On A Home Improvement Mission

Photo courtesy of Blink Inc.

ABOUT A MONTH ago the inevitable happened: an adorable small white coffee maker I had carefully selected for my new life, in my new kitchen, stopped working. Despite repeated button pushing, plugging and unplugging, it wouldn’t turn on. I had spent much time finding the exact right appliance and was sad to see it go. The one that KitchenAid very graciously sent as a replacement is perfectly fine looking — it’s bigger and a matte charcoal — but just doesn’t make me smile when I walk into the kitchen. I am not unique in my quest for an aesthetically pleasing abode, but I feel like sometimes I care more about things like color, mirror placements and chairs than I should.

The demise of the little coffee maker inspired me to put together a 10-page Google doc of home design to-dos; I even created a hashtag on social media to keep me motivated and moving forward. It was sort of like saying, “Hey world, I’m going to lose 10 pounds,” but this post was a lot less personal. “Hey world, I’m going to stick with these projects until I’ve created my next nest.”

For help, I’ve enlisted the D team: my friends Debra, Dyer, Donna and Dawn, the latter of whom wrote “Confessions of a Serial Remodeler” in this month’s issue. Dawn Denberg and her husband, Josh, have been beautifying our community and environs one house at a time for over 20 years. I’ve known her for decades, and their first home in Mill Valley, in the late ’90s, stood out from those of the rest of us first-time home buyers. While my family’s house was a well-intentioned mix of hand- me-down furniture and one extra-large brown leather couch (I hadn’t measured the room), the Denbergs’ place was perfectly appointed. They had gone to a salvage yard and found old doors, a giant orange Foremost dairy sign and a gumball machine. They are fun and creative and walking into a home they design always puts me in a good mood.

Speaking of homes and neighbors, I was thrilled to see Ashely and Riley Hurd profiled in this month’s feature “Fostering the Future,” about Marin’s foster care system. Riley is the son of my former neighbor, and I’ve watched his career and family life blossom. Reading about the Hurds opening their homes to three different little girls in the foster care system is not only inspirational, it destigmatizes what can seem a complicated process. The simple fact: these kids needed a home. It reminds of the Hawaiian practice of hanai, where the aim is to give a child as much love as possible. Like hanai, foster care works both ways: the adult caregivers also receive the emotional blessings of love and connection.

Our team has worked hard to bring you home-centric stories this month, from “Better, Not Bigger,” describing what’s new in tiny home design, to “Van Life,” about folks living in even tinier homes, on wheels, to “Disaster Planning,” about rebuilding in the post-fire North Bay. And Backstory columnist Dawn Denberg turns her remodeler’s eye on a Sausalito couple’s Craftsman home redesign.

As for that KitchenAid, I would love to find it another home, one where it’s better appreciated for its industrial color and clean lines, and find myself a better fit. I’ll happily donate it, so any Marin nonprofit wanting to adopt a new coffee maker should post a photo of where it would live and tag @marinmagazine on Instagram.