Reuse. Rehabilitate. Restore. Architectural salvage and repurposed pieces for the home.
WashUp is merely a concept at the moment. Sevin Coskun of Turkey entered the design into the Greener Gadgets Competition this year.
The idea is to store wasted water from the laundry in the flush tank to be reused later. Also a great solution for small apartments.
Just don’t forget to lower the lid before unloading clothes!
A venting toilet that doesn’t stink. Why didn’t they think of this years ago?
It seems simple enough. Instead of (or as well as) having an exhaust fan in your ceiling, the dual purpose fan pulls exhaust directly from the bowl. It also pull humidity out of the bathroom.
As if that wasn’t enough to get anyone whose sh*t stinks on board, the Ventex is also a water saving system.
Starts at $519 for the complete system. Think about how much you’ll be saving on matches, candles and deodorizers.
Here’s another recycled countertop option for ya….Bio Glass is a solid surface material made from 100% post consumer waste.
Coverings, Etc is the company behind Bio Glass. The Miami based firm, founded in 1998, also has a New York showroom. Members of the US Green Building Council, their ECoverings line of products are produced from naturally occurring elements such as sand and clay.
But back to the glass. The slabs come in 4 colors: Fossil Amber, Ocean Saphire, Oriental Jade and White Diamond. The glass is made from almost 100% crystalline silica in the form of quartz. Here’s a spec sheet with a bunch of info I can’t understand.
Beautiful. Eco-friendly. So, can anyone guess what the down side is?
Bio Glass will set you back over $3000 for a 4×9 slab.
Available at A&K Tile in Brooklyn or a dealer near you.
Although slate is not a renewable source, there are some things to consider before dismissing it.
Let’s start with the negatives first. Is it raping the earth? What impact does the mining have on the environment? Does it create pollution?
If you really want your renovation to be green, these are questions you’ll have to ask about every product. You can buy a 100% recycled countertop that is fabricated under the best conditions, but if it’s being shipped from California and will be out of style by next year, what’s the point?
A few things to consider:
Buy local.
Get something that will hold up for many years.
Go with something that won’t go out of style next year. A classic look.
Is it recyclable once the life expectancy is over or if someone buys your house and guts it because it’s “not their taste”?
I found a local (enough) quarry in my search. Sheldon Slate is a 4th generation family owned business with locations in NY, VT, ME and PA. They mine and manufacture tiles, sinks, slabs and roofing.
Beats Italian marble or granite.
Back in November I did an article on cork flooring. I listed the pros and cons, but my own hesitation with cork is that it reminds me too much of the 70’s. I don’t know why I can’t get passed this since my sense of style terminated in the 80’s. But I’m trying.
I just came across cork mosaics at Habitus NYC. They look great, they are waterproof and best of all, you can stain them some funky ass colors! Since they’re waterproof, they can work perfectly in a bathroom or kitchen. I was also informed that they have antibacterial qualities.
The cork mosaics look like penny ceramics and need to be grouted same as any other tile. They’re made from recycled wine stoppers. Since they start at $12 per square foot, I’m thinking of drinking more wine (lots) so I can make my own mosaics.
A&K Tile Studio in Park Slope has allocated 20% of their showroom to recycled tiles. Before sitting down in the lecture hall, I had a chance to speak with Gerrard Owens, the managing partner. He later presented with Jennifer Napoli.
I also saw some of the samples they had on hand. We’ve covered some of the recycled products here in the past, such as Brooklyn manufactured Ice Stone and Teragren Bamboo, but it was nice to see some other items in person that were new to us.
A&K carries lines from the following companies:
Sandhill Industries, 100% recycled glass tiles
Ekobe Coconut Tiles
Wicanders Cork Flooring
King Louis XIV Throne
Yet another project I’d like to try. Build myself a toilet throne. The two shown here are the only ones I came across in my search and neither one is really my taste or budget. I love the idea so much that if someone offered one of these up for free, I could live with it.
Vintage Tub has the best price on the Herbeau. It can be yours for the low low price of $9799. They are $12000 elsewhere. You’re paying for their sense of humor as well as a toilet. “Le Bon Roi Dagobert” plays when lid is raised, a song about a king who arrived at the minister’s council with his pants on backwards.
The King Louis XIV toilet is a mere $3250. A drop in the bucket, so to speak. This is a good DIY design. The toilet bowl caulks to the furniture in the same fashion as an under mount sink. There are sliding panels on each side for access.
Husband, get nervous. Very nervous. My rubber ducky and I want this tub! I saw it on the wonderful Designer’s Block and can’t find any more info on it. That’s fine, because I’m sure it’s more than I could afford anyway.
So here’s what I’m thinking. Take an ordinary tub and frame the exterior to make it “boat like”. Ok, so the tub is oval and the boat is….boat shaped, but that just means you have places to put your shampoo and soap.
Think it can work? I’ll need to buy another house since I’m running out of bathrooms to work on.
Image Tile of Clifton, NJ offers in stock designs such as the one pictured above. They are fabulous, yes, but what excites me about this company is they can do custom tiles with any digital photograph. And as a photographer, I’m loving that, baby!
The ceramic or porcelain tile is commercially tested and rated. It is unaffected by sunlight, strong chemicals, fire, water or wear. It’s ADA compliant and slip resistant.
Here is the process as described on their website: “Imagine Tile uses a process in which ceramic glazes act like printing inks. Pure minerals and ores are ground micro-fine and suspended in a liquid to produce ink-like substances similar to that a printer uses. The mineral and ore based image is put onto paper and coated with a refractory material that puts a glass finish on it. At Imagine Tile’s production facility in Texas, the glazes are placed on the surface of a glazed ceramic tile. When the tile is fired at temperatures of approximately 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the glazes fuse with the body of the ceramic or porcelain tile.”
The company manufactures wall tiles and custom murals as well as flooring.
Neatorama lead me to this Weird News article.
9 year old Iowan, Jake Wulf invented a foot activated toilet seat lifter which he named the “Privy Prop”. That beat out “Jake’s John Jack” which I actually prefer.
He created the handy device for his school’s Invention Convention, with the help of his dad who designs equipment for a living. Jake built the base out of plywood, then cut thin pieces of steel and fashioned a teeter-totter at the bottom. Step on: seats lifts. Step off: it closes.
The item was such a hit at the fair that he got a call from the Ellen Degeneres Show. His interview will air on Friday.
I know I’m saying the same thing wives and girlfriends are saying everywhere….”Where can I get one for my man?”
I saw this on Low Impact Living. Although it seems kind of icky to me that you’re washing your hands with toilet water, I’ve gotta admit it’s a cool idea.
The hose is directly attached to the supply line, so it’s not water from the tank. When the toilet is flushed, the water that is normally used to refill the tank will come out of the faucet. This becomes grey water after washing hands, which is then used to fill the tank.
I still wouldn’t want to brush my teeth with it though.
Sink Positive sells for $89 and $109 for the deluxe.
I visited Mexico nearly 20 years ago and vowed to return with a van for a home decor shopping spree. I never got back there, but luckily the internet was invented, so I’ve been able to order handcrafted pieces online. I love Mexican arts because they are colorful and bold, yet earthy. And inexpensive!
Artesanos has been my favorite source over the years, even though many other options are now available. They carry hand painted glazed tile and Saltillo floor tiles (anyone remember when Home Depot carried them?) as well as talavera and copper sinks, hardware, lighting and furniture.
Tierra Y Fuego has similar items. They are a bit pricier, but they do offer a larger selection, such as the kick ass toilet pictured above. Their newly arrived beautiful cement encaustic floor tile is just under $10 per tile, which actually seems reasonable considering I’ve seen encaustics for as high as $100 per tile.
Ebay has been an excellent source for Mexican goods. I’ve been happy with my copper sink purchases from Mexicopper, but there are a number of companies offering similar products.
Zinc
Copper
The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of metal countertops may be stainless steel, but there are so many other types available. Stainless is the most durable as it won’t ding as easily as softer metals and it won’t patina. The color can be varied with laminate and finishes can be customized. It is the least expensive of the metals, which is probably why it’s the most popular.
Being an old home buff, I say “Feh” to stainless. Give me something warm and antique looking! Copper is all that and has bacterial properties too. So you can let your cats jump on it while you’re cooking and it will be ok, right? As if I cook. Anyway, the drawbacks are price and the fact that copper is not scratch resistant. Patina is one thing, but scratches may not look so terrific. Bronze has similar qualities.
Zinc and Pewter have similar tones to one another. They differ from stainless in that they have a grayish hue to them, therefore giving them a less modern look. In fact, it’s pewter that is used on many bars in France and Italy. Zinc is often used on Oyster Bar tops for it’s antibacterial qualities.
These are costly countertops if you have a pro fabricate it for you. My thinking is…you buy the sheet and do it yourself. Even better, see if you can find recycled sheet metal! If you screw up the edges, you can put some molding around it and voila, there’s your beautiful, inexpensive metal countertop!
DIY Forum
HGTV article
Sheet Metal Supplies
Recycled Aluminum
Brooks Custom, Mt Kisco
Handcrafted Metal
Purcell Murray
Cutting hole with jigsaw
This isn’t a very difficult project and hey kids, it can be fun and creative too!
I disagree with HGTV when they say pick out the sink first. I think it’s more difficult to find an antique piece of furniture. Soo, I suggest you find the perfect piece first. Height should be around 32 inches, but you can make it higher or lower (if it has legs). Large dressers and sideboards work well for double vanities.Continue reading DIY: Sink Vanity
