This Week in My Life

Sunrise on the North Rim

I spent last week traveling around Southern Utah and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (and then a quick trip back to Michigan for a wedding).  This is why you haven't heard from me in a while.  As you can see from this view, I had a great excuse to not be working.  (If you ever get the chance to head to the Grand Canyon, I suggest finding Crazy Jug Point in Kaibab Nation Forest for primitive camping.  This view was just a few steps away from my tent!)

Taking a week off always makes the following week that much harder.  Which means I'm thrilled the holiday weekend is approaching, because I need another vacation!  

I thought I might recap the progress on a few of my projects this week:

Glass was installed in the custom door / window systems in an office project:

Countertops & glass backsplash installed in a kitchen project (see it here):

Custom bedroom set was delivered to a site:  

(This set is beautiful!  It's figured mahogany, and just stunning.  Will post more pics once the room is put back together.)

I finally got a photo of this custom hutch in its new home:

And I've done some very basic design schemes and budgeting for a new office project:

Aside from that I've measured for a new kitchen remodel project, committed to a small office renovation consult, shopped for rugs, furniture, and lighting with a client, and drawn more custom furniture designs.  It's been a busy week!   As silly as it sounds, I'm excited that I have NO PLANS for the holiday weekend (except for a really long bike ride), and I can finally get caught up on yard work.  

The Remodeling Roller Coaster

While at KBIS, I attended a seminar called "5 Steps to Clear Communication" by David Lupberger of Remodel Force.  The seminar was great, a good reminder of the importance of things like pre-construction walk-thrus and keeping signed records of meetings and decisions.  But my favorite take-away from the seminar was this Homeowner's Emotional Roller Coaster graph.  What a great visual representation of the ups & downs a client goes through during a typical remodeling project!  The thing is, EVERY client goes through this in some way, yet so many clients come into the project expecting that every step in the process is going to be fun & exciting.  And it is - at first.  But by the time you're 80-90% complete and you're waiting on the final items to come in, trust me, no matter how much your clients love you, THEY WANT YOU OUT OF THEIR HOME!

I love the idea of showing this graph to clients in the early phases of design, as a warning to let them know what the experience is going to be like - to let them know they will get frustrated, and they will get impatient, and these ups & downs should be expected (no matter how smoothly the project goes - it still happens).  

Knowing this in advance and setting expectations will ensure that the down moments aren't quite so bad.

KBIS Eye Candy

While my previous post was my soapbox, in this post I promise you fewer words and more photos.

Things that caught my attention at KBIS:

I'm loving the new & updated cabinet accessories.  Hafele now has walnut(-look) accessories, like the plate racks and peg boards below.

Another Hafele piece:  Their lift mechanism typically used for TV's was installed behind a shallow wall cabinet, and lowered into the backsplash area to reveal spices and knives.  How creative is that?

Robern has new vanity sizes.  At only 30"w x 18" deep, there's a surprising amount of storage space in that cabinet!  And check out the outlet in the front of the drawer.

I always love the Element Designs booth.  Shelves with integral LED lights:

More Element Designs:  Their aluminum frames (available in black, white, and oil-rubbed bronze, in addition to the standard aluminum finish) have several profiles.  And not only do they offer Parapan (a high-gloss acrylic insert that I love), but now they've teamed up with 3-form to offer even more insert options.

I really want to use one of their aluminum cabinet bases.

Not just cabinet accessories, but sink accessories too.  Both sinks from Kohler:

 And I did a lot of drooling at the Toto booth:

Check out the LED-lit lavatory (and mirror)

 More & more possibilities for curbless showers and semi-enclosed glass doors/panels:

Another glass enclosure & linear drain from Fleurco:

And then, just for fun, I loved some of the creative details in the "Contained" exhibit.

Light fixture made from quartz countertop samples and what I believe to be Plumen designer CFL bulbs:

Light fixture from beer bottles:

A floor-mounted faucet for the dog's water:

What I Took Away From KBIS

(This is part 1 of my KBIS posts... I will follow up with another post showcasing ideas and inspirations later.)

Last week was KBIS (Kitchen & Bath Industry Show).  KBIS has gotten a lot of bad press among designers over the last few years, and I get that.  When I first started going to the show back in 2001, it was incredible.  It was HUGE, and manufacturers went all out when it came to grabbing attention and introducing their new products.  Kohler had a stage every year, with dancers, waterfalls, and even trapeze artists!  I used to go with all my co-workers, back when I worked for a large company, and our KBIS trip was really just one big party.

And then the economy crashed.  Exhibitors pulled out of the show, and those who remained downsized.  People stopped exhibiting at KBIS, and people stopped attending KBIS, including me.  I had quit my job and moved to Utah, and nobody I worked for had the money or interest in sending me to the show, so I didn't go for a few years.  But then I started my own business, and I realized that as a single-person business, I don't have reps knocking on my door to show me new product.  On top of that, I'm not exactly living in the trendiest, hippest spot, so new products sometime take a while to get to my part of the world.  But I feel it's my job as a designer to keep up on new products and trends, and even though KBIS isn't the same as it used to be, and will probably never be the same, it still has a lot to offer to someone like me.

So, despite the lack of flair, and the still-downsized show, and all the nay-sayers who feel it's not worth going to, I headed to Chicago last week.  And it was totally worth it.

I didn't spot any new products that are going to change the world, or even the industry, however, there was one obvious thing that will change the industry, and has already done so:  Twitter.

I had the chance to be a part of a live tweetchat, #kbtribechat.  I've honestly had a hard time grasping the concept of Twitter until KBIS.  It can be so overwhelming, and hard to keep up with, and quite frankly, I just don't have the time.  Yet last week I realized the power of tweeting.  I was at the show by myself, yet somehow in the course of an hour, I was suddenly surrounded by people with common interests and passion, and I felt like I was part of something so much bigger than my little business.  And suddenly I have a whole new network of people at my fingertips.  Terry Babij (@tbabij) posted a panoramic shot of the live tweetchat group here.

Because I experienced it firsthand, I learned that Twitter is a great community and an endless resource for quick information.  This is probably the best thing I (accidentally) took away from KBIS.

That being said, a blog post is just plain boring if it doesn't have any pretty pictures, so I'm including some eye candy details from the Poggenpohl booth, which is where the tweetchat was held.

invite from kbtribe

The +Artesio kitchen utilizes a decorative arch that is functional as well - it houses task lighting and also this beautiful integrated hood.

Stylish plate racks (the handles tie in very well with the other design details in the kitchen)

Beautiful drawer inserts!

More beautiful drawer inserts.

For more photos of the original Artesio kitchen, see a blog post I did back in 2010 here.

My "Grown-Up" Living Room Rug

Our Previous Rug:

We had our old living room rug for almost 3 years, and though I love the FLOR product, there are a few things that weren't working for us:

1.  Most noticeably, solid & light colors do not work at all when they are in the traffic path of the dog door.  The white is now more of a light brown color.  And the yellow just looks bad.

2.  The size was actually a bit small, and made the seating area feel small, despite the pretty big room size.  Yes, I could have ordered more tiles, but considering the abuse the existing tiles were getting from the dogs, I didn't want to spend the money on more carpet for them to destroy.

3.  Though the colors were fun, they were a bit trendy.  I still love yellow and gray, but I feel that love already starting to fade.  And we had all these geometric pops of solid colors, but nothing really bringing them all together.

Well, yesterday I had an ASID meeting at Regency Royale, and Kathy Emery took some time afterwards to show me some rugs they're getting ready for a big clearance sale.  She specifically pointed out this one (knowing my size and general color requirements).  While it's not my typical style of bold/defined geometrics (see pillows), I fell in love.   After bringing some finish swatches in to the showroom to make sure it worked, I bought it and they delivered it today.


It fits the room so much better, plus it gives it a warm and grown-up feel that I just wasn't getting before.  

 

It's more classic than trendy, so I'm hoping I love it for years to come.  And since it's good quality wool, I expect that we'll still have it for years, despite the dogs.  

P.S.  Do you see the little preview of our TV wall?  That "little" project was my birthday gift from my husband, but we're not quite finished (i.e. floating shelf is crooked and needs to be fixed) so I'll have to wait a bit longer to show it to you all.  

Custom Cherry Hutch

This custom hutch for a project has just been completed.  I only have shop photos, but I love it so much I couldn't wait to share it!  I hope to post more photos once it's in it's new home.  

This was a joint effort.  My client found a piece he loved that was too big for the space, so we used the photo for inspiration, and I worked with RiverWoods Mill to rework the style, proportions, and materials to fit his place.  

Lowe's Creative Ideas is Creative Marketing

Wooden Floor Mat

I gotta hand it to Lowe's.  Their marketing / advertising team made a smart call by appealing to woman-centered DIY projects in this pinterest-dominated era.  And in my opinion, this puts them at a different level than the other big box store.

It's springtime, and I'm dreaming about having some time to work on my garden & patio.  But since that's just a dream for now, I thought I'd at least post some of the fun garden & patio themed projects featured on Lowe's Creative Ideas site.

Herb Crate

Vertical Garden Planters & Rack

Freestanding Trellis

Tall Birdhouse Trio

Hanging Globe Lanterns

Dog Bone Window

All of these projects, and more, can be found at Lowe's Creative Ideas website.  And no, I'm not sponsored by Lowe's in any way.  I just think it's a really really smart marketing concept, and I'm impressed.