My friend Amanda installed this Marmoleum floor in her laundry room. I think the color choice is great in this small, mostly white room. It might be a bit busy in a bigger room with more colors, objects, and activity. Marmoleum is a great product – It is old fashioned linoleum made from “linseed oil, rosins, wood flour, jute and ecologically responsible pigments.” It comes in a wonderful array of colors…most are subtly speckled so dirt and crumbs and scratches don’t show so much.
Posts Tagged ‘patterns’
Cheerful Marmoleum Floor
Posted in Found Objects, Information, tagged color, flooring, green, linoleum, patterns on January 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Jamestown Creativity
Posted in Found Objects, tagged color, houses, Jamestown, paint, patterns, whimsy on January 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Last week I visited a friend in Jamestown, RI, a stoic New England farming and vacationing community adjacent to Newport. I spied this unusual house while walking up Narragansett Avenue. I am curious about the personalities who created the musical arrangement of windows (painted two different colors) and unusual decoration and painting scheme. Someone was having fun. Perhaps a carpenter 100 years ago started the theme, preserved and continued in a recent remodel.
Black and White Burgee for Fall 2011
Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, burgee, color, patterns, small buildings on October 7, 2011| 2 Comments »
We installed a new black and white burgee on the little studio this weekend. It looks pretty sharp!
A Few More Manhattan Photos in the Evening
Posted in Found Objects, tagged historical styles, landscape, lighting design, New York, patterns on September 28, 2011| 2 Comments »
I spent Monday traversing Manhattan studying (loosely) the evolution of building technology over the last two centuries. I was hoping that I could get a peek inside the Chrysler building, one of my favorites, but visitors are only allowed a few steps into the lobby. The facade patterns created by the windows and wall between is very elegant: vertical lines in the middle and horizontal bands around the corners. The base is more decorated with chevrons and circles and rectangles, and then the glorious top! The Cloud Club once occupied several floors of the crown. The small triangular windows make for a rather inglorious space on the inside.
The lighting in the lobby is very architectural. By this I mean that it is integrated with the structure so that is helps define the space with areas of light and dark. 
James Maher has some better photos of the lobby on his website. Here are some more photos and information about the building.
I made it to the High Line, on the other side of town, in time to take a few picture at sunset.
Brooklyn Federal Savings Bank Blue and some other Blue in Brooklyn
Posted in Found Objects, tagged Brooklyn, color, New York, patterns on September 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »
This building caught my eye because of the bold color choice that seemed unusual for a money-lending institution. The simple bright blue base complements the brick patterns above that are reminiscent of Native American designs. This shade of blue reminds me a bit of Mexico. I find the overall effect to be bold and quite pleasing…but I imagine that many might consider the blue too bright for such an application.
Below are some other shades of blue in the same neighborhood. This blue door is rather jarring with the red brick and dark trim. I’m not sure the “mexican blue” above would be any better for this house.
This blue is softer and has a bit of grey-brown mixed in. It reminds me of colonial American houses and New England.
and another blue door that is a bit more subdued and softened with white and grey.
Personally, I am actually not a fan of blue paint with red brick in any shade, bright or soft.
The Apartment Kitchen with Ash Veneer Cabinets, Solid Ash Bar, Richlite Counters
Posted in Design Projects, tagged ash, kitchen, lighting design, patterns, richlite, tile, wood on May 23, 2011| 5 Comments »
The before shots of this custom kitchen are here. It was an enjoyable design process with a creative and very involved client.
This is a view of the kitchen from the entry hall
Warm glow of orange glass pendant lights
Iridescent orange and gold accent tiles are like music notes in the field of white rectangles
Shimmering figured ash cabinetry with simple mortised drawer pulls (Freedman and Chesley Custom Cabinets)
Close-up of the beautiful solid ash curved bar top (also by Freedman and Chesley, Emeryville, CA)
Custom designed cabinetry to fit the client’s tansu pieces
Intersection of black, white, and warm wood (the black Paperstone countertop matches the tv cabinet across the room)
Laundry and pantry are conveniently close at hand behind a subtle white-painted pocket door
Architect and client in the new kitchen!
A trash & recycling container cobbled together from woodshop scraps
Posted in Design Projects, tagged fir, furniture, green, paint, paperstone, patterns, recycled, rope, salvaged, wood on January 20, 2011| 3 Comments »
This Cadillac Trash Can has a top shelf for plants, a shelf for holding tuna for the cat, and a space below to push the dog bowls out of the way. It is built from remnants, so I didn’t have complete control of the proportions: Richlite top, fir sides, plywood shelves, door, & back panel
Decorated with pencil and Bioshield Aqua Resin Trim Enamel (zero VOC and compostable)
The door flips open on and is held at the proper angle by rope salvaged from a sailboat. Small clothespins attach the bags to the door for easy access
HVAC design ideas
Posted in Found Objects, tagged HVAC, patterns, Rem Koolhas, Renzo Piano on January 16, 2011| 3 Comments »
This is an art museum in Houston designed by Renzo Piano called the Menil Collection. One particularly cool detail there is the floor registers that are turned into an artistic accent. Long straight lines with smaller lines within in the long straight hallway….nicely contrasting with the accentuated wavy wood grain. It is also nice to have such an even distribution, rather than small holes in one corner of each room.
Rem Koolhas’s team also likes to carefully consider their HVAC details. This elegant supply register is in the Seattle Central Library….scattered throughout the lobby punctuating the varied pallet of flooring materials.
Architecture in the Grand Canyon National Park
Posted in Found Objects, tagged bright colors, camoflage, color, desert architecture, desert colors, grand canyon national park, landscape, Mary Coulter, metal, metal railings, national park architecture, patterns, railing, stone on November 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The architectural highlights of my visit to the south rim of the Grand Canyon were a study in contrasts.
Mary Coulter’s Lookout studio, perched right on the rim is built of the canyon limestone and meant to blend right into the backdrop.
Lookout Studio from afar
She is successful in this goal. Up close, once you realize there is a building, the rustic charm is clear.
Lookout Studio: 1914, Designer Mary Colter, rough cut limestone to blend with the surroundings
On the other end of the spectrum, there are many buildings and parts of buildings painted vibrant colors. These sorts of color schemes are best in the bright clear sunlight of the desert or tropics.
The bright desert sun on some bold color choices
Bright painted doors
I included a photo of the curving metal railing that follows the rim just because it is simple and elegant without being institutional.
elegant curving railings at the edge of the canyon
Shiny new tile tub surround
Posted in Design Projects, tagged bathroom, color, patterns, process, tile, value on August 31, 2010| 2 Comments »
I kept this elegant tub surround alive for a few extra years by patching it with fiberglass and epoxy, but I think it was time for an upgrade.
partially demolished, you can see both layers of old surround – fiberglass on top of coated masonite – with a european street scene in sepia….perhaps from the early 60s?
pacific tile putting on a layer of thinset mortar over the wonderboard (over building paper & moiststop at the tub lip)
the first row of tiles – cut to fit the curved tub
I don’t have any photos of the plumber at work, but he installed copper rough plumbing for this shiny new shower faucet. It has a modern take on the cross handle for the valve, and a nice curvy tub spout.
I would not recommend buying the cheapest shower curtain rod or brackets. I did, and I notice spots of rust already forming on the chrome.
The tiles are 4×4 white (0100) Daltile Rittenhouse Square with a god’s eye pattern in yellows and blues. Keeping the pattern in the middle meant that all my trim tiles and fussy cut tiles would be white. Extra ones when we ran out were easy to come by. It also made finding a recessed soap dish easy and repairs down the road possible. Affordability is another advantage.
We used bright white unsanded grout and white adhesive caulking to complete the clean white look.
Daltile white 0100 4×4 squares with a god’s eye pattern in blue and yellow
I don’t think I got a screaming deal, in part because I was in a rush, trying to reduce the inconvenience for my renters. The plumber was about $575, the tile setter $1300, the tiles, grout, caulk, and sealer, about $250 and the plumbing hardware another $375 or so. Call it about $2500 + a few more hours of carpentry work, sheetrock repair, clean up, and a dump run bring it to about $3200. I still have to repaint the ceiling on the lower level where we had to open it up for plumbing access.
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