Four Favorite Design Books

My bookcase is loaded with books about design, remodeling and architecture.  The first one I ever picked up -- before I was even a designer -- is still tops on that list.  In no particular order, these are my recommendations for starting your design library.  I hope you'll add my first book, New Kitchen Ideas That Work, (Taunton Press), when it publishes in December.

FYI, you can click on any of the book photos and buy them on Amazon.com today.  Each purchase helps support this blog.

Not So Big House
Sarah Susanka
Taunton Press

This book was published in the heyday of the McMansion.  I love, and share, the author's philosophy on building smarter, not larger.  It's even more relevant today than it was when it first came out about 14 years ago.  Build what you need and build it as well as possible.  Amen!

PreFabulous
Sheri Koones
Taunton Press

I came across this wonderful book when I was researching a piece for the Tampa Tribune about five years ago.  I had seen some fabulous prefab homes at the International Builder Show and was impressed with the huge strides in quality and style.  This book shows why prefabs are worth considering and what's possible.

Kelly's Kitchen Sync
Kelly Morisseau
Springline Media

Yes, Kelly is a friend of mine and a fellow Blogger 19 member.  She's also a Certified Master Kitchen and Bath Designer and a really sharp writer.  This is a must read before embarking on a kitchen remodel.  

Pottery Barn Bathrooms
Judith Nasatir
Oxmoor House

I'm a long-time devotee of PB style and this book is just pure eye candy for me.  I have to confess, I don't spend much time reading it; I pick it up for the pictures.  Quite frankly, it's my Playboy design porn!

Four Favorite Bath Products - Fixtures Living

Can a plumbing showroom be cool?  You bet!  Fixtures Living is one of my favorite design spots in San Diego.  They've got gorgeous displays, knowledgeable reps, great events and a free, fabulous chef-prepared lunch every Friday.  (They also have Rancho Mirage and Costa Mesa locations for my farther-flung friends.)  Maria Swanson, (@MariaSwanson on Twitter), Fixture's Marketing Director, responded to my call for Four Favorite Bath Products.  Here is her must-have list.  (It coincides with my own must-have list, too!)


***


Let me start by saying, Happy Fourth Anniversary, Gold Notes! When Jamie asked if I’d write a guest post about my four favorite bath fixtures, I wasn’t sure how I was going to choose! So I went shopping! And as I did, I considered a variety of things - price, space, moxie, and of course, sheer indulgence! 


Aimes Ceiling-Mount Showerhead with LED lighting by Toto

Beautiful and sustainable. This hydro-powered shower head by Toto has an 11” spray face, rubber nozzles to prevent lime scale build-up and LED lighting that is powered by the sheer force of the water running through it! 

Eco-friendly Aimes shower head brings the rain forest home
(Photo Courtesy:  Toto)

Uplift Cabinet by Robern


This is not your grandma’s medicine cabinet! This unique vertically-opening no-swing door from Robern allows for use in spaces that… well, might not have a lot of clearance. The sliding door stays in position so it can be opened just a little or a lot. And it comes with all kinds of options including a TV mount that accommodates up to a 19” flat screen or LCD! 

Uplift brings innovation to your medicine cabinet
(Photo Courtesy:  Robern)

Washlet by Toto 


Not sure how ready you are to step into the world of personal cleansing? Is the price tag one of the reasons? Then you should definitely consider the Toto Washlet. A lot of the same fun functions as the expensive toilets (auto and remote control flushing, aerated warm water, front and  rear washing, massage feature, warm air dryer , auto air purifier, heated seat and more) at a fraction of the cost. 

The Washlet brings high-end hygiene to your home
(Photo Courtesy:  Toto)

Vedana by BainUltra 


This is indulgence with benefits! Vedana combines five proven therapies:  aromatherapy, light therapy, sound therapy, chromatherapy and thermo therapy into one integrated therapeutic care system. And not only does BainUltra strive to recreate harmony in your body, it makes every effort to progressively integrate eco-design principles in production to minimize their ecological footprint. 

Vedana brings smart and luxurious showering
(Photo Courtesy:  BainUltra)

***


Fixtures Living has luxury plumbing, indoor and outdoor appliance showrooms in San Diego, Rancho Mirage and Costa Mesa.  

Four Favorite Bath Fashions - Carmen Natschke of The Decorating Diva

I met the delightful and talented Carmen Natschke of The Decorating Diva about three years ago at a trade show.  She's also a fellow Blogger 19 member.  Carmen and I have been writing guest posts for each other for almost as long as we've known each other.  I'm thrilled to have her apply her expert design eye to Bath Week, part of Gold Notes' month-long Fourth Anniversary celebration.  Here's her take on what's next in bathroom design.


***


One consistent bath design theme seemed to dominate the European and North American design shows I’ve attended over the last 12 months. This design direction is strongly embracing the bathroom as a place of fashion, beauty and artful design. Function is still paramount, but the days of boring and tired fixtures, furniture and plumbing are quickly coming to an end. 


Famed designers like Spain’s Jaime Hayon and Patricia Urquiola, France’s Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, and others are energetically and vigorously reshaping bath product design as we know it. 


I’ve selected four bath design products that I believe are leading the way in the bathroom design revolution. 


Passion for fashion


Passion for fashion patterns on display on Olivier Lapidus’ bathtub designs for Aquamass at Maison et Objet 2012. 

Chanel style


Porcelanosa Bath channels the quilted finish of the iconic Chanel handbag on their bath cabinetry at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair 2011. 

Making a splash


Patricia Urquiola livens bath design with unexpected color splashes as seen here in her bath sink, (part of her collection for Axor), at a design showroom in London- spotted during London Design Festival 2011. 

Mystical magic


A mystical and mythical bath design that I think would have intrigued the great fashion designer Alexander McQueen - spotted during London Design Festival 2011. 

***


Carmen Natschke is the Editor and Creative Director at The Decorating Diva.com, a digital publication about living an inspired life surrounded by all things beautiful. You can connect with Carmen on Twitter: @decoratingdiva, Pinterest, and Facebook.

Food for Thought #7 - Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

I find myself using this line fairly often, so I thought I’d share my perspective on its importance to your kitchen or bath update.


Project scope

It’s not uncommon to find enthusiastic homeowners ready to rip down walls and shake up their entire home to get the kitchen or bath of their dreams. Web sites, TV shows and magazines all encourage consumerist fantasies that cost tens of thousands more than makes sense for your home and neighborhood, often in styles and layouts that won’t mesh with your existing architecture.

The most egregious example that comes to my mind was a couple building a new Florida home at the height of the boom. The wife brought me a picture of a lovely cottage-style kitchen with handsome wall cabinets rising from the countertops surrounding the main sink. “Your sink is on an island,” I pointed out. “This is designed for a sink wall.”

“My builder will create a support frame,” she replied. It didn’t matter that this frame would look absurd in the middle of her kitchen and defeat the openness that an island generally offers. She could get it done so she was going to make her husband and builder crazy doing it. Just because you can make something work, doesn’t mean you should!

Another common example is squeezing an island into a kitchen too small to accommodate one. I’ve had clients insist on including an island that will barely allow for 36-inch clearances, even though I’ve suggested that their space limitations will make the island more of a negative than a positive. Someone convinced them that a kitchen had to have one and darned if they weren’t going to! Just because you can squeeze something in, doesn’t mean you should!

Don't try to squeeze an island where it won't fit!
(Photo: Jamie Goldberg Kitchen and Bath Design, LLC)

Budget-busting

This happened more during the boom years than it does today, thank goodness, but over-spending on your remodel rarely makes sense. Your budget might handle the extra funds just fine. You might be totally committed to having a $40,000-plus La Cornue Range but does this really make sense for your home and your neighborhood?

• If a particular item doesn’t make Sensible Style for your home, but you’ve dreamed about it for decades and not including it will come as a great personal sacrifice, OK.
• If you’re a professional caterer who works out of your home kitchen and need certain equipment, OK.
• If you run a spa business at home and having a spa-level shower is a corporate necessity, OK.

Otherwise, put your money to better use, please! Just because you can afford it, doesn’t mean you should!

This gorgeous range isn't a Sensible Style choice for every kitchen
(Photo: La Cornue)

Care and feeding of your new kitchen

I always advise clients to use trivets and cutting boards on their new stone tops. Yes, they are heat resistant but you can still damage them with a pot straight off the burner. “I’ve put hot pots on my granite tops for 20 years,” declared one homeowner.” I shook my head sadly and repeated my recommendation of using a trivet. About a week after she got her new Absolute Black granite tops, she scorched a deep ring into the section next to her range. She couldn’t remove this mark. The fabricator came back to her home. They couldn’t remove the burn either. A lovely bowl sits on top of it today. Just because you can probably get away with doing something when absolutely necessary, doesn’t mean you should do it all the time.

Stone tops are durable, but they are not indestructible!
(Photo: Jamie Goldberg Kitchen and Bath Design, LLC)

Bottom line

Choose professionals in line with your lifestyle and project type and listen to their advice. Yes, it will still be your kitchen or bath. Yes, you can still have what you want. But be smart about it, please!

Food for Thought #5 - Is Russia the New Wild, Wild East?

I had the splendid pleasure of visiting Spain last week as a guest of that country’s tile manufacturers’ trade representatives, Tile of Spain or ASCER. They took our press group to Cevisama, a major trade show in Valencia featuring tile and bath fixtures. I’ll be sharing top trends and products from the show, and a Molten Gold or two, in the coming weeks.

Today, I’d like to muse on a particular trend I spotted there, one I hadn’t given any thought to before. Yes, I’m fascinated by kitchens and baths from other countries. Last summer, I was treated to a guest post by the Kitchen Mogul on the top UK favorites of that British blogger. I recently requested a guest post on Japanese kitchens and baths from an interior designer’s US publicist.

With this post, I openly invite a Russian blogger to share his or her thoughts and images on Russian kitchens and baths. I can only imagine their style from the tiles I saw at Cevisama that were slated for export there in the coming months.

Every time I asked a booth rep whether an over-the-top tile style was heading to the U.S. market, I got the same reply: No, Russian. That got me to thinking about that grand nation, the country of my grandmother’s birth and emigration more than a century ago.

The patterns I saw were as large as Siberia, and as fanciful as a fabled Faberge egg. The trend was formal and highly stylized – palatial even. It all reminded me of the grandiosity of an historic Texan oil baron’s mansion, or a saloon or bordello in an old movie western set.




I realized that the comparison is not terribly off. Nor is it meant to offend. Both cultures exemplify the triumph of energy, masculinity, exploration and discovery. Like the Wild West of American legend, Russia today is a land tapping into its vast natural resources, and enjoying great wealth as a result. Just as our tycoons did a century ago. He who finds the most treasure wins fame and fortune. Showing it off in your home is a relative benefit, and a recent one for many Russians. It must also be a refreshing change from the drab days of communist scarcity.

One of these years, I’d like to visit Russia myself. In the meantime, I’ll savor the glimpse this trade show afforded me. Let me know what you think, too!












Photo Notes:

> I took all of the Tile of Spain booth display shots with my iPhone 4S at Cevisama.
> Faberge Egg photo is from Wikipedia.

MOLTEN GOLD - Rock Stylish!

I've been a fan of upscale sink manufacturer Stone Forest for a number of years. I've written about their stunning onyx sinks in the past and am now gushing over their basalt beauties.

I readily admit to not knowing a ton about this material. Here's what the experts say about it:

Basalt Basics

As the most plentiful rock on earth, basalt has designers reveling in its abundance. Grey to black in color, its fine crystal grains offer a unique composition as a result of rapid cooling lava. Whether used in its organically-weathered surface or polished to create streamlined contours, the duality in its texture creates a stunning aesthetic contrast.

Origin: Oceanic crust is composed predominantly of basalt, produced from upwelling mantle below ocean ridges or at the surfaces of volcanoes.

Uses: Due to its durability and utilitarian nature, basalt is often used in railroad construction, highway engineering and as an aggregate in roads and asphalt. Basalt also lends itself as a main structural component in floor tiles.

Healing: Stone therapy -- if you're a metaphysical enthusiast! -- is the combined use of hot and cold stones in re-establishing energy balance. Therapeutic basalt massage stones are renowned for their healing energy and are based in Oriental disciplines, where the duality of temperatures is believed to improve blood circulation and the elimination of toxins.

So... with all of this going for it, it's no wonder we're seeing a terrific basalt collection at this juncture. Who couldn't use some durability or healing energy these days?


The Collection

Wave Pedestal Mimicking the movement of water, the Wave Pedestal by Stone Forest in honed basalt captures a graceful current frozen in time. I love how its old world material meets new world design. Wouldn't this be a smashing powder room fixture?




Slab Vanity in Basalt The Honed Basalt Slab Vanity on Stainless Stand is a stylish contemporary fixture. It can be drilled to accept any faucet hole configuration and its lower shelf can hold towels, as shown, or storage boxes or baskets.



SYNC Drop-in Vessel Sink SYNC by Stone Forest is an award-winning modular concept offering multiple combinations of sinks, countertops and shelving made from natural stone and stainless steel. The first ones I spotted several years ago were made of elegant onyx. The newest Sync addition is part of this basalt collection. All of the components slide into wall-mounted, stainless steel brackets that also double as towel bars at each end of the floating vanity. The honed basalt and stainless steel components look earthy and rich together, better even than the onyx or bamboo pairings, in my opinion. The system also features stainless steel drain covers.





The Stone Forest Brand

Stone Forest has been creating contemporary elements for the kitchen, bath and landscape using natural materials since 1989. Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the boutique manufacturer has a unique understanding of the tolerances of different stones and precious materials. All of their architectural designs are sculpted from organic sources, such as limestone, marble, bamboo, copper and onyx.

Stone Forest’s collections include vessel and pedestal sinks, bath tubs, furniture, fountains and outdoor sculptures. The company has won numerous awards, including the Good Design Award and Interior Design magazine’s "Best of Year" Award.


The Facts

Warranty: Five years

Pricing/MSRPs:

Wave Pedestal $2,200
Slab Vanity $1,150
SYNC Drop-in Vessel Sink $990

Website: http://www.stoneforest.com/kitchen-bath/