Design Archives - Page 15 of 17

Architecture Against Death

November 13, 2007 RH 2 Comments

I heard about this on NPR over the weekend and I said “Oh, puleeze!” But then I saw the photos and ok, it looks pretty cool.

Artist/Architect team of Arakawa and Madeline Gins, both living in New York, collaborated on the Reversible Destiny Lofts in Mitaka, Japan. The living quarters “steer residents to examine minutely the actions they take and to reconsider and, as it were, recalibrate their equanimity and self-possession, causing them to doubt themselves long enough to find a way to reinvent themselves. These tactically posed architectural volumes put human organisms on the track of why they are as they are. To be sure, every loft comes with a set of directions for use.”

In plain English, I believe this means that the space is not convenient or comfortable. It makes a person THINK and interact with their surroundings. So I guess the space keeps you on your toes so you’re too busy to die?

Check out the proposal for the Reversible Destiny Hotel in New York.

Image Tiles

November 13, 2007 RH 3 Comments

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.

Dirt Floors: Green, Cheap and DIY

November 12, 2007 RH 2 Comments

I read about this in The NY Times way before I had a blog and it was one of those things that stayed with me.

I’ve never seen an earthen floor in person (or have I?), but it looks alot like stained concrete from the pictures. It’s beautiful and it’s totally green. Materials can cost as little as $1 per square foot, plus it can be done DIY!

So, what are the drawback? Because you know it sounds too good to be true.

Well, patience, for one. It takes weeks to properly dry before you can seal it with linseed oil and beeswax.

It doesn’t work well in kitchens and baths, where there is water around. Unfortunately, these are the rooms where it would look best.

It dents easily. But then again, that can add to the character, which some say, looks like old leather after awhile.

On the plus side, the most practical benefit of earthen floors is thermal. When the floor receives direct sunlight it can act as a passive solar device, absorbing heat during the day and releasing it at night.

Landerland: DIY
Eco Action
I Love Cob via Materialicious

Casa Invisible

November 12, 2007 RH

Discovered this cool house on Treehugger. It’s a 4000 square foot house in Nimes, France which, in time, will become invisible.

“Spidernethewood” is wrapped in mesh so that trees will eventually grow around it, making it one with the surrounding environment. It will take about 5 years to grow into the architect’s vision.

New Territories
Plataforma

Droolworthy Iceboxes

November 9, 2007 RH

Life is so unfair! Prices for these Klondikerf Iceboxes start at $4450, plus options, crating and shipping. I guess that means I won’t be getting one any time soon. Never say never, though. These custom commercial refrigerators for the home can be built in oak, maple, cherry or hickory.

The Roseland Icebox Company offers 2 models, the Sears and the McCray. They also offer panels for really expensive high end refrigerators such as Sub Zero or Viking. Their hardware is gorgeous, but alas, the $500+ price tag for a set is more than I’d want to spend on the entire fridge.

Hacking Ikea

November 7, 2007 RH

Over on Ikea Hacker, there’s a great renovation of a 1950’s Eichler home by Greenmeadow Architect’s Mark Marcinik.

In the above photo, the bar is made of doors parts, three cabinet boxes and Ikea cover panels. The translucent window in the red wall is another Ikea door. The stainless steel sliding doors against the wall are Ikea cover panels hung on sliding door tracks.

If you’re going to try this at home, don’t forget to hit the damaged section first for bigger discounts!

Ikea
Ikea Fans

Reproduction Hardware

November 6, 2007 RH 4 Comments

I’m just going to do this as a list. I find that the lesser known companies have better prices than your Restoration Hardware or Rejuvenation, but there, I’ve mentioned them too. Some of these sites sell antique hardware as well as reproductions. If you’re on the lookout for historically correct doorknobs, switch plates, hinges or drawer pulls, these are the places to hit.

Ed Donaldson
Van Dykes
Signature Hardware
Kennedy Hardware
Paxton Hardware
Historic House Parts
House of Antique Hardware
Renovator’s Supply

House Blogs

November 5, 2007 RH 3 Comments

I’ve been combing through Houseblogs.net recently. I wanted to share with you some of my favorites.

Of course I must give a shout out to my top 3 faves whom I mention all the time:

I Love Upstate: Priced out of owning New York City real estate (on her terms). Follows the restoration of Greek Revival house built circa 1839 in upstate New York. She has trouble making design decisions and I like to f*ck with her by offering even more choices.

The Kitchen Designer: A Certified Kitchen Designer based on Long Island, Susan Serra knows her stuff. She’s always looking for fresh ideas and materials. I often refer to her blog for the latest info and cool retro designs. Susan offers phone or email consultations as well as design packages.

Howard Hall Farm: Ok, I just did a love fest write up on them the other day. Let’s not get nuts here.

And more…

Brooklyn Row House: The renovation of a 1906 Bay Ridge row house by a guy who really knows what he’s doing. Prior to this reno, he converted a couple of loft spaces in Manhattan. He won me over with his exceptional work and love of dogs, although I could kill him for ripping out that original dining room ceiling. In all fairness, he did replace it with an exact replica. Beautiful, but big no no for an eco-friendly preservationist.

Door Sixteen: From Brooklyn to Newburgh, fixing up an 1890’s Victorian rowhouse. She has a really nice design sense and often scavenges things to transform. But, oh, she had me at Morrissey!

Ok, that’s all for today, kids. If you want to see more, go to Houseblogs yourselves. I have to save something for another day.

DIY Green Bamboo Countertop

November 5, 2007 RH 1 Comment

From Apartment Therapy: Green.

It’s green AND it’s DIY! Teragren is a manufacturer, as opposed to an importer, of bamboo. This means they can control quality and know exactly where the wood is coming from. Furthermore, their butcher block panels are formaldehyde-free and food safe. The panels can be finished with tung oil or other FDA-approved food safe oils, such as mineral oil.

The installation tips seem fairly straightforward. It is only a piece of wood, which is not as scary to work with than other materials. Table, countertop or custom sizes are available.

Atlantic Plywood, with a few locations in the tri-state area, is listing as their local distributor. Other distributors here.

Let There Be Light

November 2, 2007 RH

When you think of it, few things are more important than lighting a room. What good is your $10,000 rug if you can’t see the colors? Professional lighting designers exist for a reason. It’s not easy to properly balance light in a room while trying to maintain the ideal design with fixtures. I should know….as I photographer, I can light a room in my sleep, but I’ve never bothered to do it properly.

A few fairly simple ways to get the most out of light sources:

Natural Light. This paranoid NYer keeps the shades drawn all the time because she feels people are peeking in. I don’t care if I’m on the 23rd floor or in the woods. People are watching. There are shades and curtains that allow light to enter while maintaining privacy. To be honest, I can’t tell you which works best as we’re constantly renovating and the window dressing du jour in Brooklyn is contractor bags. (Great for privacy, by the way) Good window treatment article.

Balance. Overhead lighting is usually one light in the middle of the room, unless you have recessed or track lights. Adding lamps and sconces to darker areas will help set the balance. Accent lighting on artwork and task lights for work spaces are often overlooked when people light rooms.

Ambiance. During the day while I’m working, I want my room well lit. In the evening, when I relax, I need a softer light. Dimmers are a wonderful thing. Cloth or paper shades diffuse light, giving a softer tone. Lights that point up not only deflect negative energy (Feng Shui) but don’t create dark shadows.

Bulbs. There are so many choices in compact fluorescents now! When they first came out, they were all one size. You couldn’t use them with dimmers or 3 way switches. Now you have options. Make sure you are buying the correct bulbs if your lights are on dimmers. If you have bare bulb fixtures, CF bulbs do come in different shapes. Daylight bulbs are also available, with a cooler tone. I purchased boxes of CF bulbs on Ebay. Ikea is also a good source for bulbs of different shapes and sizes.

Relaxation Expert
HGTV
American Lighting Association
International Association of Lighting Designers

Handmade Mexican Sources

October 31, 2007 RH 1 Comment

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.

No Paint ‘Til Brooklyn!

October 31, 2007 RH

Nicole over at Brooklyn Based gave me the heads up on a new zero VOC paint which will be hitting the market in November.

Ivy Coatings will be available in 4 finishes, plus primer. Not only are all color tints zero VOC, they contain no formaldehyede, ammonia, crystalline silica or ethylene glycol. Price per gallon will be in the mid $30’s and it will be sold at Green Depot. The company is also coming out with a low VOC, low odor concrete floor coating.

Brooklyn Based article

Bushwick Ice Cave

October 31, 2007 RH 2 Comments

I saw this rental share on Curbed and thought it was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Then I made my way over to the Craig’s ad and the text made me puke in my mouth alittle.

” We work in film, photography, music, and the tattoo industry- thus you’d have access to a wealth of equipment in addition to great hook-ups to just about anything including the best parties in town & beyond”

“We are internationally traveled & speak 6 languages between us”

“First off: If you need your neighborhood to look like it was pulled out of a Norman Rockwell painting, THIS IS NOT THE APARTMENT FOR YOU. This is not Pleasantville folks, this is Bushwick. It’s dirty, it’s grimy, and it’s fabulous. Street art = YES; White picket fences = NO. If you need a Starbucks just around the corner, THIS IS NOT THE APARTMENT FOR YOU. If you don’t mind grabbing a coffee from the local bodega or neighborhood coffee shop, then perhaps THIS IS THE APARTMENT FOR YOU.”

“…if you like shouting randomly, dancing randomly, or laughing randomly, if you like playing pretend and using your imagination to create or inspire you like when you were a kid, if you like the idea of pretending your kitchen is in the ocean…”

Get over yourselves, kids! You’re not living in Iraq, ok? You’re in Brooklyn. Gosh, I don’t know how us old timers survived on our bodega coffee when the whole city was grimy and lacking in Starbucks.

Scratch and Sniff Wallpaper

October 31, 2007 RH 1 Comment

How cool is this? Saw it originally on Retro To Go.

Flavor Paper, along with Michael Angelo of the Wonderland Beauty Parlor, designed the scratch and sniff wallpaper, which launched during New York Design Week 2007.

The smelly wallpaper comes in 3 flavors: Banana, Cherry and Tutti Frutti. At $360 per roll, I guess I won’t be getting this for my playroom (I don’t have a playroom anyway), but if you can afford it, part of the profits goes to the Human Rights Campaign.

Papers can be purchased online at Rare Chic.

Metal Countertops

October 30, 2007 RH 8 Comments

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

reclaimedhome.com

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