Traditions + Friends = A Happy Thanksgiving

This year we decided to stay in town and host a small gathering with a few friends.  Though we couldn't be with our families, they were close at heart, as evident in the traditions we followed, the food we shared, and the accessories we used.  

My husband is very into the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and he was proud to serve all of these dishes at our meal.  While I was able to contribute to the meal by baking Grandma Z's apple pie, the rest was up to him, which meant I got to have fun with the table settings!

We love any opportunity to use our collection of serving dishes.  While we've added our own items to our collection (this year it was the table cloth, napkins, and napkin rings), most of our serving pieces and decor has a family story.  From the candelabra centerpiece to all our wonderful bowls, serving spoons, pie servers, and carving set...  these pieces made our families a big part of our Thanksgiving, despite being hundreds of miles apart.

We are fortunate to have great friends to share our traditions with!

 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family, friends, and great traditions!

Concerts in the Shower

Apparently the folks at Kohler are all about singing in the shower.  As I recall, they were one of the first to introduce sound integration into the shower with their DTVI & DTVII controls, which allowed you to control music, light, and water from a single digital control inside the shower.

Then, a couple years ago, they introduced their VibrAcoustics bath line, which incorporates into the tub a "soothing sound vibration technology that resounds throughout your body to relax and calm you like never before."

And now they've come out with the Moxie Showerhead + Wireless Speaker.  A showerhead and integrated removable speaker that syncs to your media player via bluetooth technology.  

There's a great video I wanted to embed, but it wouldn't let me do so without automatically playing, and I hate when a website plays videos without prompting you first.  So instead of embedding the video, here's the link.

Black Rooms

In honor of Halloween, I wanted to post some photos of black rooms.  Take a look and be as inspired as I am... using black is definitely bold, but it isn't as scary as you might think!

by Atmosphere Interior Design via decoist.com

by Kelly Wearstler via Elle Decor

By Christian May of Maison21

Home of Andrew Corrie and Harriet Maxwell via remodelista

source:  Canadian House & Home

source:  Canadian House & Home

Source:  Canadian House & Home

Source:  Greg Natale via Desire to Inspire

Work of designer Carrie Hayden of Great Jones Home based in Seattle

Happy Halloween!

A Modern Midwest Kitchen

photo credit: renee j. photography

Last year I designed and supplied the cabinetry for the kitchen (and other rooms) in a new lake-front home in Michigan.  A clean contemporary home, with crisp lines and bold contrast, yet just enough warmth to keep it cozy during those cold, grey Michigan winters that I grew up with.

There are some incredible photos here taken by renee j. photography, filled in with some of my own not-quite-so-incredible photos to show more viewpoints.

(my photo)

We used cherry cabinetry with an espresso finish, white quartz countertops, white glass tile, and aluminum with white glass accents in the upper cabinet doors.

(my photo)

photo credit: renee j. photography

I think many kitchen designers will agree with me that microwave drawers are a lifesaver when it comes to kitchen design aesthetics.

photo credit: renee j. photography

Here's a close-up (though not high quality) photo of the bar area, where we created a custom wine rack with a 3-form tip-up door above.

(my photo)

photo credit: renee j. photography

Architect:  Visbeen Associates

Contractor:  White Birch Builders, Inc.

Cabinetry:  RiverWoods Mill

What do Dwell Magazine and I have in Common?

We can't get enough mid-century modern, and we both LOVE the Green Ant!

The October Issue of Dwell Magazine features my favorite local furniture store in an article called "Utah Bound".  Local blogger Creede Fitch, of Grassroots Modern, writes about the somewhat unknown history of Mid-Century Modern in Salt Lake City and the influence of such architects as Taylor Woolley and John Sugden on local modern architecture.

But back to the store... the Green Ant.  Ron Greene has done a great job with this amazing collection of Mid-Century Modern furniture, all at surprisingly affordable prices compared to what you might find in other markets.  I love walking in there whenever I have a chance, and often Ron is there, eager to talk with my husband & I about the pieces we have and are working on restoring (like our PK-22 chairs that are STILL works in progress).

Since I've been lucky to marry into a family that has given us some amazing Mid-Century pieces, we unfortunately just don't have room for any more furniture in our home.  So we had to settle for buying a little statement piece from the Green Ant, just because.  It's a silly thing, really, as we have no idea where it came from or what it was, but that's why we like it.  It has a story.  Plus it's the perfect splash of color for the dining room.  And when the time comes for new accessories, guess where we'll go first?

And in case you're wondering, this wonderful sideboard (and the Eames dining chairs) are some of the pieces from my husband's family.  

Let's Talk More About White Refrigerators

I recently posted about the Whirlpool Ice collection, featured in the House Beautiful 2012 Kitchen of the Year.  And then I thought I had the chance to use these appliances for a project, but unfortunately their limited models available in this finish did not include a slide-in range, convection microwave, or a cabinet-depth bottom-drawer refrigerator.  I understand that they can't offer everything in this finish until they get a better sense of how it might sell, but I am pretty surprised they don't offer the slide-in range.  (Whirlpool noted my comments on Twitter and said they'd pass my input on to the powers that be, so that's nice.)

In this quest for white appliances that don't look like they belong in a rental apartment, I've been surprised how few options there are, especially considering how easy it would be to just add that extra touch of style.  Even just replacing the standard white handle with a stainless or chrome handle (or perhaps even brass?!?) would make a huge difference!

Here are a few of the refrigerator options I've found.  If you know of others PLEASE let me know!

The 2 models from Whirlpool Ice:

Built-in model

Freestanding model

AGA has a good option, with a vintage flair:

And I just discovered this new Retropolitan model by Big Chill:

And then there's this Fisher & Paykel model, which I thought wad discontinued but just found it on their website.  It may not look as stylish as the models featured above, BUT it was a great space-saving option at a fraction of the price of the others.  I used this refrigerator several times in smaller kitchen remodels, both in white and stainless.

And another Fisher & Paykel model that I hadn't seen before, and may love even more!  Note that both these Fisher & Paykel units are just under 33"wide.

Do you have other stylish white refrigerator models that I might be missing???  If so, please share!

Get that Kitchen out of the Corner!

Have you heard the saying "The kitchen is the heart of the home"?  Chances are, if you are in any way connected to the world of kitchen design, the answer is yes.  And while that is true, I'd like to argue that the statement "The kitchen is the hub of the home" may be even more fitting when it comes to truly functional kitchen design.

We usually see kitchens in a corner of the home... which accommodates the standard U-shape or L-shape layout well and usually allows the kitchen to be adjacent to 2 other activity areas.

But think about how you use your kitchen.  Doesn't it make sense that your kitchen be closer to many activity areas in your home?  Enter the idea of the kitchen as a centrally located hub, like on a wheel.  And imagine all the "spokes" that could extend from that central kitchen.  A kitchen located in the center of the home, if planned correctly, could allow you to be equally connected to all of these separate spaces (and more):

• Dining Room
• Family Room
• Pantry / Butler's Pantry
• Mud Room
• Exterior Door (for carrying groceries in)
• Bedrooms (easy access to morning coffee)
• Office space (where kids might be doing homework)
• Laundry Room
• Separate bar area (for entertaining, keeping traffic out of the main working kitchen)

Note the kitchen rendering above.  I proposed moving this kitchen out of the corner, and doing so makes it so much more accessible from all over the home.

This isn't always possible in a remodel situation, but is a definitely possibility if planning a new home, and I strongly encourage it.

For more information, read this article and this article by Ellen Cheever.