A watched soft-close toilet seat never closes. ~ New American proverb
Design Thought for the Day
March 8, 2011
Good design matters and it requires patience. Patience to “create, fashion, execute, and construct according to a plan.” (~Webster’s) Behind every beautifully designed space lies a Brain Storm of creativity, deep-probing inquiry, and mettle.
Expensive, exotic, or rare materials do not equal Good Design. Don’t cheap out on the brain power required for Good Design, because no matter how expensive or high-quality the materials: garbage in, garbage out.
Master Bathroom Renovation
February 1, 2011
It’s a Winner!
Update (posted February 9, 2011): At the end of the voting period on February 7th, my project earned one of the top three winning spots in the America’s Ugliest Bathrooms: Solved contest, sponsored by www.daily5remodel.com and American Standard. My sincerest thanks to ALL of you for rallying behind me in my effort to win. I couldn’t have done it without you.The importance of a well-functioning and beautiful bathroom cannot be overstated. These rooms are the closest thing we have in our western culture to a meditation room, where all of our most personal and private “business” takes place, and you commune with water and your true, exposed humanness. It’s the one room in your house where there is absolutely no guilt involved with locking the door and firmly keeping out your partner, your children, your pets, and your worries.
And there is nothing more disheartening and stressful than an old, rusty, crumbling, and dirty, leaky, and ugly bathroom.
In January, I entered one of my bathroom projects in a contest on the website Daily 5 Remodel. Here it is; a great space for a great couple. They lived with a non-descript plain jane Master Bathroom for many years until a leak and some mold remediation convinced them it was time to renovate the room completely.
The results were stunning. They’re so happy and I’m so proud to have helped them design the bathroom they didn’t even realize they were dreaming about.
You can see my contest entry here. There were so many wonderful bathroom remodels featured; I encourage you to look at them all and vote for the one you think was the best transformation from ugly to fabulous.
Voting starts today and runs through February 7, 2011. Please vote!
And special thanks to Leah Thayer at Daily 5 Remodel for including me!
New Year, New Mantras
January 4, 2011
These are my favorite Christmas gifts this year. Double great advice for the New Year, wouldn’t you say? Calm in the face of a storm, and grace under pressure, with my tongue firmly in-cheek. Just good British design, old and new (and I love all things British).
Here’s to 2011! Great beginnings and lots of hot beverages in fabulous cups.
Tree vs. Treadmill
December 22, 2010
We decided to set up our Christmas tree a couple days before Thanksgiving this year, and our usual conversations about where to put it started. The few viable spots for a Christmas tree in our house have been reduced over the years with the location of my office in the Living Room, and since having children has added furniture and toys that take up precious floor space. Keeping some sacred open floor space for me has been a challenge, but I find it critically important for my peace of mind and ability to maintain a fitness routine, especially through the holidays.
The only room to set up our tree is the Family Room, and luckily, I have a good-sized room that allows for a few different furniture arrangements. In addition to the usual stuff (sofa, lounge chair, ottoman, coffee table, etc.), we also have a treadmill. It’s a big, hulking beast; a serious, full-sized piece of equipment and moving it is not easy. This was the one thing I really wanted after having my first child.
A little back story. When I first learned I was pregnant, my husband and I took a trip out to California. We met another married couple in a restaurant that had just had their first baby, and the wife showed us this fabulous ring her husband bought her as a gift for “giving birth.” Sort of like a consolation prize for having endured pregnancy and childbirth. We were…intrigued. My husband turned to me and said, “Baby, would you like a diamond ring as my gift to you for having my child?” And I said, “Darling, I want a treadmill.”
What can I say? Some women like diamonds. I like to be able to chase and play with my kids and wear skinny jeans.
Folding up the treadmill and rendering it useless until after the tree comes down was not an option for me. We found a way. The tree looks great, has plenty of room around it, and I can still use my treadmill.
I’ve managed to keep up a fitness routine by making my house work for me, and allowing opportunities for exercise to exist in it. I had a conversation with fitness guru, Alexandra Williams, regarding this subject recently (follow her on Twitter, she’s hilarious). I asked her for her opinion about whether or not she believed that people are more or less inclined to exercise based on how their house is laid out. You can click here for her answer. She has posted a great podcast, with her sister Kimberly, about this as well with the steps women (and men too) can take to keep the holidays from totally derailing their fitness goals. A lot of this has to do with keeping your home, and its interior design, conducive to a fit lifestyle.
For me, this means treating my treadmill as I would any other piece of important furniture in my room, and keeping it placed in areas where it will get used. If you locate your exercise equipment in your garage, without any climate control (aka air conditioning or heat) and surrounded by stinky, dirty garage stuff, I doubt you will ever use it. Put it in your bedroom, or your family room, or some other room where you can see out your windows, listen to music, or watch TV while you’re on it. The key is don’t hang crap on it and don’t put it away.
The other way I manage to keep exercise possible in my house is by having furniture that’s easy to move. I have two ottomans at the foot of my bed that have casters on the bottom. When I feel like doing a yoga or Pilates video at home, I just shove them against the wall and out of my way.
Who won the tree vs. treadmill kerfuffle? Me, and my health. Cheers to your health, your healthy home, and a very happy and prosperous New Year!
Wordsmithery and My Love of Metaphor
November 17, 2010
The time dilation in effect for most of this year is now over. Time has headed over a cliff and is now falling toward December faster than I can hang on to my safety ropes.
Time dilation allowed me to do all sorts of things this year: gardening, complain about the heat, start a compost bin, and expound on the worthiness of certain kitchen sponges (which, by the way, I’m still using and they’re still the same price.). It allowed me to put together my website and start writing to all of you. I’ve networked, tweeted, joined clubs, and passed a test. I was Matron of Honor for my sister too (though, upon hearing the word “matron” I have an uncontrollable reflex that results in a boot to the head for whomever utters it.).
So, what am I talking about? Time dilation over? What’s that, some weird sci-fi reference? And yes, it is, actually. For an explanation of time dilation, you need to read Orson Scott Card’s Xenocide series. You will thank me, because it’s superb.
And now that time has resumed its regularly perceived, mind-numbing speed, I have had to relearn how to fit 10 lbs. into a 5 lb. bag.
What that means is…I’m busy. See now, wasn’t that all more interesting than opening with, “I’m so busy?” That’s right up there with, “the sky is blue”, and “don’t discuss politics with the family over Thanksgiving dinner,” and other obvious statements.
I’ve been doing a lot of AutoCAD drafting in the last month and a half. Drafting for multiple hours every day on spaces with curving walls, cove lighting, and lots of ceiling changes. That, and my love of metaphor, caused my brain to cough up this little nugget yesterday after I came up for air with bleary-eyed fatigue.
I give you….a poem:
You’re on the line
The straight and narrow line
You’re a curving line, a swerving line, a blurry line
with foreshortened perspective
and no vanishing point
You wiggle and wriggle and try to be invisible
A dashed, almost there, out of line, line
Why can’t you be parallel?
With no intersections?
You’re full of segments and nodes and jumping off points
and that is what worries me.
You’re a line that desires to be something quite else
Something more infinite and three-dimensional, instead of simple, flat, and easy.
I want to break you.
Get back in line.
I think I may have been channeling the Five Man Electrical Band.
Feel free to attach whatever metaphorical meaning you wish to my gold-nugget protest poem. Ah, I can hear the beatniks booing snapping their fingers throughout cyberspace.
Have a wonderful and relaxed Thanksgiving!
That’s just good humor
November 2, 2010
“Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.”
So says Ford Prefect in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (by the late, brilliantly funny Douglas Adams).
I love science fiction, and well, wickedly funny science fiction is just about my vision of nirvana. I would like to give you more quotes from this funniest series of stories ever concocted, but every passage, every line, every phrase is so hilarious, I’d have to write the whole thing down, and that would be ridiculous. Oh, okay, here’s one:
“…and news reports brought to you here on the sub-etha wave band, broadcasting around the Galaxy around the clock,” squawked a voice, “and we’ll be saying a big hello to all intelligent life forms everywhere…and to everyone else out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys.”
I must admit, I seem to be a bit of an anglophile. The people, movies, comedians, books, etc., that have amused me the most throughout my life all seem to be British. Benny Hill, Monty Python, The Young Ones, Douglas Adams, and Eddie Izzard.
I’ve also been following the exploits of some whip-smart wordsmiths: Colleen Wainwright (@Communicatrix on Twitter) and Naomi Dunford (@NaomiDunford on Twitter). Incredibly intelligent and wildly funny women that talk about their boobs and say the F-word a lot. And I can’t forget Kelly Parkinson (@Copylicious on Twitter). Anybody that can give credible business advice by talking about bears in the woods and using a dinosaur sock puppet named “Aaaaaawg” is one hilarious individual.
Which brings me to Madame Sunday (@ModernSauce). Witty, funny, profane, and with excellent design taste, she keeps me laughing almost continuously. I am incredibly jealous of her writing and internet-scouring skills.
My husband continues to make me erupt with hsyterical giggling at least four times a week, and after twenty years together, that’s saying something.
Please allow me to now introduce you to my beloved brother, John Gregorio. He’s an actor, and his specialty is improvisation. He lives in New York, and he is one of the funniest people I know.
He and some friends created a comedy improv show called The Nuclear Family, which is worth every effort you can make to see them perform. Imagine impromptu singing, high-kicks, and lots of wigs.
Laughter- a wide toothy grin, pure delight, a polite giggle, raucous hysteria, snorts, laughter that makes you eject liquid through your nose, laughter that makes your body seize and shake uncontrollably and tears roll down your face. I love it. We measure the good times in our life with the quality of our laughter. Laugh out loud, laugh proudly, with abandon, until you’re hoarse and completely spent, and do it often.
And now watch this (hey, I couldn’t help it. I live with two small children and a man for pete’s sake. There is something always funny about breaking wind.).
Passing the Test
October 19, 2010
This week’s Blog Off topic is “Is there a reason to be optimistic?” My take on this is highly personal, as usual. Be sure to visit the other blog participant’s posts. You can find a list of them here: www.letsblogoff.com
Something wonderful happened to me recently. After a long, downtrodden, worrisome year full of angst, stress, a little depression, and intermittent bursts of crying, I passed an exam. It was the LEED Green Associate exam that is the first tier of credentialing for the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED green-building rating system (you can learn more about it here: www.usgbc.org).
This was big for me. Huge, in fact.
I haven’t taken an exam like that one since the NCIDQ exam, which qualified me as an Interior Designer and allowed me to get my license to practice. That one was not optional (in my view). There are those out there that will argue that point, but I have no patience for that. You want to be taken seriously in your profession and put the fine point on your education, experience, and hard work, you take the damn test. You crush the test, in fact, because you earned it.
The LEED exam was an optional thing for me. I don’t need it to practice design. It doesn’t change my circumstances, or make me an expert on green building, but I believe it was a necessary step for me to take to advance to the next level in my profession. Sustainability, resource conservation, and energy efficiency are imperatives for the Design and building industries. If we, as designers, architects, and builders don’t lead in this department, then who will?
I studied and studied, I made flash cards, I took copious notes, I procrastinated somewhat, I put off scheduling the exam until the last minute. I memorized codes and standards for ventilation rates and brownfields, water use and thermal comfort, and all the while I fought back against that little voice that sometimes creeps into your mind and tells you it’s all in vain, you’ll never pass it, you’re going to fail.
In the week or two prior to my test date, I started looking at myself in the mirror and saying in a loud, affirming voice, with a big smile on my face, “I am going to pass this test! I know this material. It’s all going to be okay.”
And it was. I passed it with flying colors. Along with relief, I am elated. Elevated, full of helium, buoyed, and soaring. And optimistic- for my future, the future of Interior Design and the building industry in this country, and the world. Sometimes it just takes one really good achievement, something really great to happen to you, personally, to alter your outlook on your own world and therefore the rest of the world gets better for it too. It starts with one, combusting from the inside, spreads out and catches on. So many good things have happened to me this year, but passing this test was the hurdle I needed to push myself into Optimism territory.
The fact that the LEED rating system exists makes me optimistic for Architecture and Design, building, development, and manufacturing. It’s not a perfect system by any means, but it is carefully articulated and well-crafted to change the way we’ve been designing and building for so long. It emphasizes consensus and working together to achieve a greater good as well as serving the individual needs of people. It furthers the impetus that is already gaining momentum to change our behavior and to think carefully about everything we consume and use during the course of our lives.
I get excited when I see people carrying their own bags into the grocery store, public recycling bins getting used, and when my kids remind me to turn off the water when I’m brushing my teeth. That kind of action gives me hope, and hope leads to optimism. We still have a long way to go, and this century has gotten off to a bit of a rocky start, but these are just growing pains.
It’s going to be all right.
Designers Hate Shopping
October 1, 2010
Shocking, isn’t it? Yes, I know, it is a generalization. There are plenty of designers out there that love shopping, especially with their Jackie O sunglasses, cream linen suits, and their little dogs in tow. I’m just not one of them. Strange as it may seem, since sourcing out product is an integral part of what designers do (and I love finding new products), the actual act of shopping is my least favorite part of the interior designer’s job (unless it includes lunch, then it’s not so bad. Especially if it’s sushi. If I get to have sushi while out on a shopping trip, then it’s all worthwhile. Or Thai food. Yeah! If it’s Thai food, I’ll be skipping through the rest of the day.). For me, shopping is Work, not a leisure activity.
When it comes to selecting and purchasing furniture, tile, stone, paint, wallpaper, flooring, carpet, etc. etc., most people start to sweat a little and get pale. Why? Because the choices are endless and overwhelming, and unlike shopping for clothes or food, most people have a hard time figuring out what they want. Purchasing big-ticket items like furniture, fixtures, and finishes for your home or office should never be done on “impulse.” These things cost a lot of money and you will be living with your choices for a long time, so good planning is key.
As a designer, even I get overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices available, which is why aimless shopping, without knowing exactly what I’m looking for, is something I avoid.
There are some things you can do to make a shopping trip tolerable (besides lunch, of course) and also productive (because you want to come home with choices made, not more confusion):
Plan ahead. Do your homework. Research what you want to find and make a list of a few places to go and a list of the items you need to find. Group the items by type, like “tile” or “light fixtures” and focus only on those things. Small specific lists are manageable. Humongous lists with 50 things on them will do nothing but freak you out and set you up for failure. Measure your room(s) and sketch out your floor plan. Estimate your quantities.
On the day of your shopping excursion,
1) Wear comfortable shoes and bring snacks. I’m not kidding about this; your own physical comfort is critical to successful shopping.
2) Bring a tape measure! And a camera. Measure everything to ensure items will fit in your room, and that you can get them into your room (Are there any narrow hallways, elevators, small doorways, low ceilings, or stairs?).
3) Bring your floor plan (and room measurements) and a photo of your room for easy reference. Bring pictures from your idea file of the types and styles you are specifically looking for. Stay focused! It’s very easy to be dazzled by fantastic showrooms that have been professionally styled and either end up with something that you regret purchasing later on, or become so indecisive that you can’t make a choice. Research and define your likes and dislikes ahead of time. That way you can put your blinders on and not waste time.
4) Bring samples of anything that has already been decided or used, like paint color swatches, wood finishes, fabric swatches, tile chips, and stone samples for matching purposes. (Anything too big and cumbersome can be left in your car, but at least you’ll have it with you if you need it.) We’d like to think our memories are awesome and accurate for remembering colors and details, but they’re not.
5) Get price quotes in writing along with the name of the salesperson that helped you, and ask if the price quote has an expiration date or reflects a sale price that is set to expire by a certain date. Ask questions, for instance, how long is the production time, what are the shipping and delivery costs?
These are some of the steps I take as a designer to make selecting furniture, fixtures, and finishes a more productive and streamlined process, and to save my clients (and myself) from Shopping Overwhelm. Let’s review: plan ahead, small lists, focused attention, and Thai food (Mmmm). Now that’s a shopping trip.
