DON HOFFMAN/WOOD-MODE CABINETRY

Ceiling-high cabinets let a collector keep beloved heirlooms on view and within reach via that library ladder.

Q: I have always loved old china and silver — my mother and grandmother had beautiful collections that I inherited. We are getting ready to move from our big family home to a new condo. It's just being built so we can help design some custom storage.

We're meeting with the contractor next month, and I'm wondering if you could suggest ideas we might not have thought of. A: If only I were a mind reader, I'd know what you've already mapped out!

Instead I went searching for ideas I hadn't even thought of and discovered designer Nicole Marino, who has been thinking along these same lines for a client of the firm (Cabinet Innovations, cabinetinnovationstx.com), where Nicole creates inspired kitchens.

In the kitchen we show here, one of her unusual storage solutions draws on the conventional wisdom that "the money's in the ceiling." Translation: the more vertical space you fill, the better the return on your use of space.

In this kitchen makeover, Nicole had the cabinets (all by Wood-Mode, woodmode.com) built right up to the ceiling, leaving not a square inch of soffit space to gather dust. No wasted space either. To make the highest shelves more easily accessible, she added a library ladder, a charming surprise in the kitchen that also makes great sense.

Like you, the homeowner cherishes her large collection of heirloom possessions — and uses them frequently. Now that they're never out of sight; they're never out of mind either.

Q: Where do color trends come from? Is there some organization that dictates what the hot new colors are going to be?

A: No, although there are a number of associations and design groups you can go to for such trend information (among them, the Color Association of the U.S., aka CAUS, colorassociation. com; the Color Marketing Group, colormarketing.org and the International Colour Authority, ica-colour.org).

In addition, manufacturers like Benjamin Moore Paints continually put out the word on color trends as they see them coming.

The operative phrase is, "as they see them coming." In each case, "they" are individuals — usually designers of both home dÇcor and fashion apparel — who keep a wetted finger in the winds of change. They study what's being worn on the streets of the world, what's being shown on TV, in the movies, magazines, museums and fashion runways.

They factor in political and economic climates. They observe the overall mood of the world's people. Restive? Cool? Angry? Warm?

Then these seers put their observations together and translate their conclusions into color palettes. That's big business, mind you. The manufacturers of the world have to make their widgets in one color or another.

It's a decision that must be made months, sometimes years, before an actual product appears. So they turn to the color prophets, and we get last year's oranges, this year's yellowed greens, next year's ...? (I'll let you know when the color charts come out.).

Rose Bennett Gilbert is the coauthor of "Manhattan Style" and six other books on interior design.