In the past 31 years of residential and commercial construction, nothing has continued to make work and living spaces warm and inviting like wood moldings everywhere.

Crowns at the ceilings, chair rails midway up the walls and a nice stacked, 3 piece floor base molding all make homes and offices comfortable, and soft. As I get older, now 50, I find real wood doors, real wood paneling, and lots of moldings more and more intoxicating. I want them everywhere. The most beautiful homes and offices I've been a part of constructing all have them. They can be painted or stained clear, doesn't matter. They muffle sound, and I like the quiet more and more just like I like creaky wood floors. They remind me of the old house my 4 brothers and I grew up in in Tarrytown, NY. Most people like to return to their childhood memories as they age.

I also love the beauty of craftmanship. I was a carpenter apprentice when I was 19 and had the honor of working for an absolute expert craftsman, Billy Mulldoon. He hand cut and carved every single piece of wood molding in a library we worked in for a Greenwich, CT couple out of red oak. We closed the room to everyone and two months later when we exited, no one could believe the transformation. It was like something out of the movies. How did he know all of the exact angles to cut when the moldings wrapped around corners? Every piece of wood called your hand to come and touch it so you could feel the magic of his expertise. I'll never forget it. It was one if a kind and the owners could not have been happier.

I've worked on some of the most modern of places, see 40 Mercer St.com for one of the most modern, expensive condominiums in the world, but it has no warmth in it for me. The place sold out like hotcakes, but if I could have afforded it, I would have remodeled my condo with moldings. I never get tired of them. They make me feel luxurious and my home feels more solid and better built.

That's my feeling. Hope you share it with me!