Kevin Henry’s latest blog for this collaborative got me thinking. He wrote about the amount of choices we have today, not just limited to kitchen or bath design, but across the board. And how perhaps our choices are too many. Clients start to get that “glazed over” look when he starts to review all the options that are available in materials today. He also mentioned that you can’t even get a cup of coffee today without a plethora of choices, and although we are all fortunate to be able to have all these choices in a land of plenty, it can backfire on you.

This morning I picked up a design magazine that’s strictly focused on homes in my state. I won’t mention the name of the magazine, as I really like the folks who are associated with it (not to mention the fact that they have published several of my projects in the past), but some of the content leaves me shuddering. If overblown, over-done, over-the-top decorating (I won’t call it design) is what people want, stop the world, I wanna get off…

For some reason, people seem to equate large size, overdecorated grandiose rooms with good design. I’m guessing it started back in the ’80s with the emergence of the McMansion. I think I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been in and admittedly designed several homes that could double as bus terminals. Thankfully, this trend has gone away, replaced with better-scaled, more energy-efficient smaller homes.

The current economy has made most of us not only scale back, but there are still a lot of people out there who equate bigger with better. And designers who will load up these homes with way too much “stuff.” I’m talking not only about the living rooms and bedrooms, but also the kitchens. Are any of you designers out there still doing those huge “French”-style kitchens with tons of corbels, crown molding and center islands that you can’t even reach across? When I’m in one of these kitchens, I feel like I can’t breathe and that I’m being strangled by stuff.

Maybe you’re already thinking that I’m shooting myself in the foot by eschewing this type of work. The more stuff you pile in, the more money you make, right? Perhaps I have too much of a conscience, but I can’t do it anymore.

As a green designer, my first priority is to deliver a well-designed space that not only meets the needs and requests of my clients, but is also kinder and gentler to the planet. I can still do this and make money without going completely crazy with an over-the-top, overblown design.

Designing spaces with high-quality materials, energy-efficient appliances and lighting, as well as water-saving toilets and plumbing fixtures, can be just as beautiful and profitable, without all the overblown “stuff.” I love designing simple, classic kitchens that work. Kitchens that give me a good feeling when I walk into them, and let me breathe.

—Patricia Gaylor

Designers, here’s the subject of the next installment of “What Goes With That?” article: Aquatic’s Serenity Studio 23 in red!

Those who went to the Builders’ Show may remember it from the Nationwide Sea Breeze House, where it was featured in the master bathroom. Here’s a link to a press release about it.

This time around, we’re looking for vanity ideas to complement the tub. Send your ideas to me at aliao@kbbonline.com. Please be specific about the vanity model name and/or number, include a few lines on your reasons for your choices and send me your name, company name and headshot.

To give you an idea as to how the completed online article will appear, check out the responses to:

What Goes With Lenova’s Bronze Oyster Sink
What Goes With Top Knobs’ Aspen

Can’t wait to hear your answers!

—Alice Liao

While researching tiles to be used in the VISION house in Orlando for this year’s International Builder’s Show, I wanted to find something that was a little different and “edgy” for the master bath flooring. I found the perfect solution on Daltile’s website, in a new product they are offering called “Traditional Terrazzo.” It’s one of four different styles of terrazzo in the line.

I wanted to find out a little more about what terrazzo is, and I did some investigating on the internet about its history. The word “terrazzo” is from the Italian word for terraces. In the 15th century, Venetian stone workers began utilizing their waste chips, left over from marble slab processing. They mixed the chips with cement and laid the floors of the terraces around their living quarters. The surfaces were durable but uncomfortable to walk on. So they began hand-sanding the surface to make it flat and more comfortable. It was considered a good-looking durable floor. They even began to make designs in the floor that couldn’t be achieved by traditional marble laying. In the late 18th century, European craftsmen brought an advanced, smoother, more polished terrazzo to America. It was used mainly in historic and monumental architecture. It was durable, seamless, good-looking but required continued maintenance.

Why is Terrazzo so popular again? It is beautiful and long-lasting. And nowadays, it is very easy to maintain. Many Floridians—especially in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, as well as the College Park area of Orlando where I’m designing this home—are lucky because there is a treasure trove of original 1950s/’60s terrazzo buried in their homes, under the carpet, under the tile, even under the linoleum. In the 1950s to early 1970s, terrazzo became the floor of choice for most Florida homes. Formerly, when building a home the contractor would put up the exterior foundation walls, and then pour the 5/8-in.-thick terrazzo floor in place. The floor would be ground smooth before installing the interior walls on top of the terrazzo. What caused the popularity of these mid-century modern floors to decline? There was no easy home maintenance; and professional maintenance workers were lacking. So many floors became scratched, stained and damaged. When the mid-’70s arrived, carpeting became popular, especially shag carpeting. Shag carpeting led to the great Florida “cover-up.” (OK, shag carpeting is back in style, too; but let’s save that for another blog post.)

Next door to the VISION house is a home built in the 1950s. It’s a traditional “4-square” design with simple, straightforward lines. The original front porch flooring has been uncovered, revealing a beautiful light-green terrazzo. What’s better than that? Very durable, high-quality, low-maintenance flooring that’s particularly timeless. So I wanted to bring that look into the new house, and Daltile’s terrazzo products certainly fit the bill. They also have a line with more than 20% recycled glass chips.

Here are some photos: I’m using the “jute” color in the VISION house…

—Patricia Gaylor

I admit. I’m tired from today’s judging of our K+BB Product Innovator Awards, which went pretty smoothly (thanks to the wonderful designers and architect who served on the jury!). So I really didn’t have anything in mind to post.

That is, until I started going through a press kit from Newform that I picked up at Cersaie. I was happy to come across these photos of a fun and funky installation that appears similar—if not exactly the same—to the one I saw in the company’s booth. I was so intrigued by it that I tried to take photos of it myself, but with little success.

The installation, as it turns out, was a showcase for a Newform brand called “Newform Life,” which was launched with the idea of creating complete environments featuring everything from ceramics, fixtures and fittings to shower systems, heating systems, furniture and accessories—all of which would be 100 percent Italian made.
At the center of the vignette was Libera, a tub formed of Cristalplant and equipped with a pillow formed of Technogel, a non-toxic polyurethane material. A detail that I liked was the mobile of snapshots that hung above the tub and gave the installation a more personal feel.

The vanity area had a similarly intimate and casual look, despite the streamlined modern appeal of its wall-mounted cabinet, the round, squat Solo sink and its sleek faucet. The vanity is part of Modulo, which is made of water-repelling multilayer poplar wood and comes in a variety of sizes and shapes in opaque white, whitened oak wood and wenge.

A toilet and bidet from the brand’s new Fluida line of bathroom ceramics were also included, as was a shower base, Prima (below), which is also formed of Cristalplant. Available in three sizes—90 cm x 90 cm, 90 cm x 120 cm and 90 cm x 150 cm—it’s got its own hip thing going on with a circular motif.

Of course, for me, in addition to the products themselves, I really enjoyed the vignette’s unconventional approach, its sense of intimacy and its messiness. It made me feel (just a little) at home…—Alice Liao