I've been looking for these... will take the plunge one of these days. Please do resurrect!

I'd love to see this resurrection

Bumping for more input.

I would love it! Miss the creativity.

I just posted on a thread on the decor forum that these should be restarted.

I love reading these and learn so much. I can't however actually participate as I just don't have the talent/creativity/knowledge.

Looks like you don't need anymore topic ideas but if you did.... I would like to see a thread on using using "arch" style cabinets. These are often maligned and called dated but there are many kitchens with them (in good condition) and they are still being sold/installed. Any threads using common but "dated" materials I like. The one on common oak cabinets was the best. I find these threads are most useful.

Debra, so many people have the attitude that they don't have the "talent/creativity/knowledge." I'm about as far from a design expert as you can get (I'm a numbers geek for work), and my first attempts for the DATs were pretty bad. But as with all things, design, and the mechanics of assembling a board, get better with practice.

Now not having enough TIME, or being too wrapped up in planning your real kitchen to work on a hypothetical one, those I do understand...

I love that the threads give you the opportunity to try out a lot of different ideas in a no-risk way. And in exploring for those design, you find products and ideas your might not have run across otherwise.

I'm not so much looking for new topic suggestions as a vote for what the next topic should be. I'm fine with making unilateral decisions, but I recognize that it isn't always socially appropriate to play dictator.

So IS anyone else going to participate if I start something?

I loved participating, but I have a new job and don't have a lot of time right now. I'd love to contribute the occasional post on them though!

I am probably being

but I am not sure I see it happening. The climate of GW is changing, traffic seems to be down, many of the people who used to post are gone, and the last few DAT threads had commentary that was pretty much between the actual participants themselves. My feeling is kinda that it was fun while it lasted.

My vote is for "Beach House" : )

Oh, and maybe harvest a list of those who particpiated in the past threads and send each a private message with a link to the first DAT resurrection thread. It might peak their interest enough to come back.

My thoughts are, they are a lot of work, so maybe people got burned out. There were a lot of them in a short amount of time. And the last one at least was harder to get started on because it wasn't as much of a focus. Some of the best ones were the ones that were more specific on the topic. I never participated in them other than making the first master list of threads. But I did enjoy them very much.

This post was edited by angela12345 on Sat, Jun 22, 13 at 17:35

I think it's a great idea but I am not able to do the design on my laptop. I am totally out of my league with the software that it would take.

It would be awesome if someone could design interactive software right here on GW.

Plain old MS Paint is all I ever used. It's on every computer around and has been used by everyone at one time or another. It's easy to cut and past. It really doesn't require a lot of expensive software or even very much skill.

I think we should give it a try. There are a lot of new people around, but I see that as a good thing! Maybe we'll get even more participation than before. We'll never know if we don't try.

Holly-kay, many of us use Olioboard. It's easy to use, check it out!

I like the neutral kitchen idea. Basic canvas with elements that pop. This, of course, because it's what I like. Very boring I'm sure but it works for me. Good luck! If the subject has a broad appeal, you'll get more respondents, because most of us are interested in something we might encounter. (Just saying, steam punk... (Sorry marcolo -btw, hopefully some progress? )

Sorry I missed this thread when it came up. I would love to participate in the DAT threads again.

How about tile with texture? Or hexagonal tile? No reason of course, just dreaming and planning...:)

I'd be willing to participate again too. I'm not around that often here anymore, but I really loved those threads. Pal may be right about the nature of the forums changing though, I'm not sure the interest is really there.

Debra, most of us didn't have any idea what we were doing. The point was to experiment, have fun and learn, which I certainly did.

I wonder if a separate forum or site might be a better place for these types of threads, perhaps combined with the educational/informational type of posts Pal often posts. These are the best part of the kitchen and design forums for me. The practical advice on specific issues, be they bathroom, kitchen, etc., are great and important, but I enjoy pushing beyond that too.

Thanks everybody. Pal's post had me a bit discouraged, and then I was on vacation.

But we still don't have anything resembling a consensus. We have suggestions for:
"arch" style cabinets. (or other common but "dated" materials)
Beach House
neutral kitchen (but I don't think Oldbat2be meant the same thing by this that was originally intended)
tile with texture (Our last one was bold patterned tile, although that was a very long time ago)
fashion-inspired (which I now think is probably too "out there" for our first revival thread)

But everything has one vote. Beach house sounds like it might have broad appeal.

I vote for beach house too.

For the resurrection, I think something with a broad appeal, and that also means different things to different people would work. I like the Beach House suggestion. It's seasonal appropriate. It can encompass a slick Miami Vice condo to a rustic Margaritaville shack.

I also liked the stories behind the decor choices. It underscores that there are no choices in a vacuum. Every kitchen belongs in a specific style home, and is owned by specific individuals with their own taste that has it's own limiting parameters. That was what was so successful about the DAT threads. It was educational for so many to see how to combine the choices that the different limitations gave as the parameters.

Even when you are doing a "free for all" with imaginary occupants of an imaginary house, you will have limitations as you begin to make the selections. Each selection narrows the field a bit further for the remaining selections. I don't think many amateur participants had ever looked at design from that viewpoint before. It's both freeing and limiting at the same time. Understanding that there can be a LOT of "right" choices frees you up to be more creative in many respects!

I'd REALLY like it if more people would express an interest in participating, but there are so many new people that some may not even know what we're talking about here! Perhaps someone who has bookmarked the previous threads could insert some links within this post to show people what was done in the past? And didn't someone do a "how to" for the DAT? Perhaps that thread could receive a "bump up" for further conversation about the technical end so as to allay the fears of new participants that it's "too hard" to do.

I've got a couple of weeks of only 40 hour week work here on the front end in the lull of summer, so I'd be happy to participate in a new thread. I'd hope that Marcolo could be coaxed out of his depressive hiding state to at least do a virtual project since his real one is stalled. And perhaps after Pal has finished moving, he might have some time? Sochi and Cawaps are on board, so that's two of the heavy participants of previous threads. (Forgive me if I omitted some names here. I had to drop out of the previous ones after just a few.) If we can get 10 responses during vacation season, I'd think that would be "successful" as a new beginning.

Maybe bring up the technical stuff, and talk about what Mood Boards do for designs, and talk about a Start date for beginning to post the designs?

This might be the only beach time I get this year!

It's summer and Beach House seems appropriate. I just found Paint on this computer, so if I can figure out how to paste more than one image into it, I could do a pocket-change "redo" of a kitchen in an old bungalow, the kind you see on hidden behind overgrown tropical plants on a narrow, sandy street.

I can't believe I missed this! Let's do beach house.

I know the climate on GW has changed (I read a lot of past threads), but I do hope we can make it great again.

I'm dealing with multiple family health emergencies and am not often online these days, but would love to participate in the DATs again where possible.

I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'd love to jump in anyway. I'm already getting kind of excited about the beach house theme. I have no sand in my bicycle tires here in Chicago this summer, but I'd love a go at a grey-shingled cottage.

I will go ahead and post an introductory thread for a Beach House DAT--we can launch the thread for posting designs next week once folks have had a chance to work up some designs.

Yay!! Beach house sounds like a great way to start - thanks, Cawaps, for getting this going again!