Airings on Design by Area Aesthetics

For Something Different in Bath Tile, Work Outside the Box

Bathrooms are fun - that is if you're a designer and not the person cleaning them. There are literally thousands and thousands of choices when it comes to tile and a wide ranging selection of bathroom fixtures to complement any choice.

One thing I tend to avoid studiously is overworked trends - and that's how I was feeling about mosaic glass and subway-style tiles in the latter part of 2008 with three bathroom renovations, in three different homes, on my upcoming project list.  One of the baths, in a condo that was going on the rental market, was very small, lacked any character or style, and was sorely in need of an update. The homeowner wanted the room to feel modern and special, and be a real selling point for the apartment.

From my design perspective, two considerations were key. The first was that to appeal to the broadest possible audience of potential renters, we should keep to fairly a neutral palette. Secondly, to visually enlarge the space, we had to keep the room light, the design simple and the eye moving around the bath without any unnecessary breaks in the flow. For the wow factor, I looked to materials.

High quality  "wood-look" tile has been around for a while. With lots of wood-toned colors to choose from, it's an easy means of extending your wood floor into wet areas or outdoors where real wood can be very high maintenance and become problematic. Inspired by a Zen sensibility as well as the construction of saunas, I decided to clad the walls of the bathroom in plank-sized wood-look porcelain tiles.

Selecting the lightest one I could find that noticeably retained the character of wood, I used Rex's Abisko in a plank-sized 4' x 24", in betulla, a color which looks like pickled wood. The tile is rectified so very little grout is seen, enabling you to avoid the traditional "boxy" look of tile. The long planks helped as well in this regard, minimizing the number of vertical lines and keeping the eye flowing in a horizontal direction. To really get the look of a wood-walled bath, we decided to mitre the tile corners throughout the room, as you would do with real wood. It worked beautifully - the first words out of everyone's mouth upon seeing the room were, "Wow! You put wood on the walls!"

Another great source for wood-look tile is Mission Stone and Tile  which carries the LEED-certified, green-friendly Vintage Wood Planks collection, a great look for your weekend home or anywhere else you want a more rustic look.

  

Mary Elizabeth Hulsey, who owns the company and runs it like a family, regards Mission as a "bargain boutique" for stone and tile and is committed to selling at affordable price points. 

(Click on pictures for full-sized photos.)

Design with a Sense of Humor - Home Accessories to Make You Smile

Finally after 12 days of rain, the sun came out yesterday, only to disappear again behind this morning's thunderstorms.  It's been a gloomy two weeks of gray skies and and indoor living.  It helps to have things in your home that make you smile.

For me, it's framed photos that bring back memories of fun times and some of the pieces in my collection of John Lennon's artwork. (A great songwriter,  but also a great humorist, which comes through in many of his drawings.) Then there's the "happy mistake":   The bathroom the painter painted the wrong color - but which I ended up keeping because every time I walked in the room, it made me smile.

Walking thorough ICFF this year, there were a few home accessory designers who set out, tongue in cheek, to give you a chuckle and, perhaps, bring a smile into your home.  

The first table I saw at the back of the show in an area known as "The Mart"  was Heather Lins Home. I immediately loved this couple. They were having a great time exhibiting their line of  screen-printed accessories and were fun to talk with. Heather calls her business a "doodle factory" where sketches grow up to become real things. She's inspired by the ordinary and has based her collection on images that are readily identifiable but show up somewhere unexpected.

Her square and rectangular "Conversation Pieces" are a series of  throw pillows that she calls "an ode to the art of conversation."   Her "Eye Chart," with what appears to be a slightly blurry rendition of the familiar on a  17" x 17" pillow, is packaged with a pair of 3-D glasses that will bring this playful take on an icon of modern life into full focus.  Heather also showed a line of place mats, napkins and coasters called Numbered Edition.

Further down the aisle where the British were bringing their wry humor to the party, I found Thelermont Hupton. This award-winning team of designers from London reinvent everyday objects with an irreverence for the mundane.  They showed a range of witty home accessories and table top items, but it was their collections of wall hooks that brought a smile to my face.  "Hand Jobs,"  lacquered coat hooks - or wall art, if you prefer - are modeled on familiar hand gestures.  The kitchen themed "Stuck on You Hooks" are described by the designers as "pre-thrown cutlery."

(Click on pictures for full-sized photos.)

Mother's Day - 2009

My mother taught me about unconditional love. And peace.  Not in so many words, but by her actions. Actions that I could easily take for granted when directed toward me, but which I could see so much more clearly when directed toward others.  She also taught me about design, again not in so many words, but by the homes she created and the care that went into making each room something special.  And this, I never took for granted.

She loved things that were finely crafted, finds from fleas markets in London and Paris, carpets painstakingly woven in Italian nunneries, antiques speaking to the pride that long ago craftsmen took in their day's labor.   Her rooms were brilliantly arranged and finished, never pedestrian, and never like anyone else's.  And, as expensive as many of the furnishings were,  even as children growing up on Long Island we were encouraged to live in them to the fullest.

In later years, in her homes in the Florida Keys and the Bay Harbor Islands, she showed me her range,  moving from the traditional periods of my childhood homes to  contemporary and Asian sensibilities and, finally,  bringing it all together in  a display of eclecticism that spoke to the entire experience of her life.  In these homes, she honored the local culture and the local artist alongside elements that spoke as clearly as a memoir about the journey of her life and the times, places and people that she loved.

She informs everything I do as a designer, most importantly, that rooms are for lives to be lived in, that a wonderful setting is only a foundation to accommodate and celebrate life as it unfolds long after the designer has left.   I remember her in her last home In New York City,  having just put the finishing touches on the living room and summoning her family into the room.  We stood off to the side, remarking on how great the room looked and taking delight in this detail or that.  But she took no pleasure in our praise, until we piled into the room and began to live in it.

Mother's Day 2009