Kelly's Kitchen Sync

Steampunk Sunday: "Spooky Hallowe'en Homes" Edition

 

The house from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” (via IMDb)

Some spooky goodness for our steampunk homes today!

Long a darling of horror films everywhere, the homes you see in early horror films have long been mislabeled as Gothic (gothic horror as a genre started in the mid-1700s). This style, with a tower or cupola, and the distinctive flat roofs, are known as  “Second Empire”  or “Mansard”. It’s sometimes also referred to as Napolean III style and reached its peak around 1855 or 1865 to 1880. They fit in fine for a steampunk-inspired home, don’t they?

Even in feel-good movies: the house from Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life”

If we were designing a steampunk home, here’s what we can take away for our own:

• arched second story windows
• the flat roof with the ironwork – sometimes called a “widow’s walk” because it was supposedly a place for wives of sea captains and sailors to watch as the men sailed off to sea.
• a cupola or tower – can anyone say “library”?
• slate roof
• brackets beneath the eaves
• there’s got to be a hidden room in here somewhere, doesn’t there?

 Second Empire home in Belleville, Ontario (via Ontario Architecture)

 

Heck-Andrews House, Raleigh, NC (via the Nat’l Park Service)

Phantom Manor or “la maison hantée” at Disneyland Paris (via Wikipedia )

If you’d like to see more, have a wander over to “The Old Haunted House” for a series of photos. (Check out House #5 – love the window in the roofline of the tower.) Or Google images for Second Empire homes. There are some beauties everywhere.

Have a happy (and safe) Hallowe’en!

A Reader Asks: Flies in my solar tube – help!

I recently bought a foreclosure. In the bathroom, there is a type of sunlight, which appears to be a solutube or something like it, I guess.  It has bugs in it. I love the fact that there is so much natural light in the bath, but I would really like to get rid of the bugs.  Would you know how I can do that?  We received no information on the house since it was a foreclosure so any help is appreciated. Thank you.- Tamera

Hi Tamera,

I really like solar tubes as an inexpensive way to bring light into a home. The manufacturers never mention flies, and a lot of contractors say if the unit is installed and taped properly, there are no flies. Nonetheless, I get a lot of searches for the answer, so here’s the easy answer – you can remove the diffuser.

Here you go: direct from the SolaTube customer service .pdf. You might find the same on your manufacturer’s brand if it’s different:

Brighten Up® Series Diffuser (Solatube 290 DS and 160 DS Daylighting Systems)
Remove the diffuser by carefully pulling down on the white ring to separate it from the ceiling ring. To clean, wipe the diffuser with a tissue or soft cloth. To re-attach the diffuser, simply snap it onto the perimeter edge of the ceiling ring.

I might suggest loosening it by prying it like a butter container, starting at one side and slowly working your way around a bit at a time.

Good luck!

How HGTV made my job cool

In my continuing Tuesday series of my So-called (Designer) Life, I promised last week that I’d discuss the glamour.

At one time, there wasn’t any.

When I first started in this field, I remember classmates looking at me with pity. No one knew what a kitchen designer was, they only knew that I would be working Saturdays for the rest of my life, and that my world revolved around early mornings out to jobsites to measure framing.

 

In 1992, HGTV changed my world

Originally envisioned as Home, Lawn, and Garden Television, it was eventually shortened to Home and Garden Television, or HGTV. For the first time, people could see products and finishes from across the continent.They learned how a kitchen design was the sum of many parts and through Designers’ Challenge, learned how different design could be. They saw the challenges of home design and decor and also the joys.

Kitchen design exploded. Well, kitchens and baths. Everybody suddenly wanted to talk about what it was we do.

Don’t get me wrong. designing kitchens and baths was always fascinating to people, but the tone changed after HGTV. We went from, “Kitchen designer? What’s that?” to “Oh, wow. Your job must be so fascinating.”

It is, but it always was. The difference was that manufacturers wanted to know our opinions and pulled out all stops to help us understand their products. They’ve certainly provided a lot of the glamour and I must say, it gets amazingly addicting fast.

What a runway model sees: Taking a picture of the NY media at the Jason Wu fashion show last February. I don’t know who laughed more, them or me. My thanks for that jaunt goes to Brizo.

 

The glamour is pretty awesome.

I’ve attended formal functions with live music and chefs waiting to create everything from sushi on-the-spot to original cocktails created especially for that evening to gourmet sundaes. I’ve met famous speakers such as architect Michael Graves, chatted cooking with Martin Yan and listened to Fu-Tung Cheng share his insights. I also attended my first (and mostly likely only) New York fashion show, ridden in more than a few limos, and generally been spoiled to death.

Flanked by well-known designers Andie Day (left) and Joy Chu (right) at a private cocktail party given by our lovely hosts at GE Monogram during a training seminar.

 

I’m in an area with its own glamour

Both San Francisco and Napa Valley are mere bridges away. That alone guarantees that local designer meetings held in ultra-chic galleries to award-winning buildings showcasing the latest in green design. Having a blog means I also get a large chunk of invites from across the country that I’d need two clones and a factory of Red Bull to get to them all.

 

 My view on the way to a product review at a local art gallery in the “city” aka San Francisco. Yes, this is my own photo.

If I ever get a swelled head, you can all smack me down – although I think we’re safe. Murphy’s Law states that as soon as I start patting myself on the back is the time I get the phone call about a new design challenge, or the wrong order, or a potential client who really doesn’t think I’m all that sparkly.

The glamour is due entirely to my day job, because of what I do and who I reach out to. If you all weren't interested, the glamour would dry up like that. *snap fingers*  And none of it would have been possible before HGTV.

The downside is that through many oversights and editing, people think that the 6-figure high-end design projects they see on tv can be had for a song, which is the bane of every working designer, but that's a story for another day....

Steampunk Sunday: Párizsi Udvar, Budapest

  (Credit: Flicker.com/Synwell)

Today, I thought we might look at the Párizsi Udvar, or Parisian Arcade in Hungary. (So named allegedly for the nearby street, not as inspiration from the actual city.) This building, located in an older section of downtown Budapest, is a wild example of an early shopping mall, and perfect inspiration for our steampunkian fantasies.

Shopping arcades were hugely popular around the turn-of-the-century. The concept of doing all your shopping in one space without going out into the rain or snow was considered the ultimate of modern amenities. (Check out the Wikipedia definition of architectural arcades for the links to many of the amazing arcades still standing.)

Built between 1909 and 1913, it was commissioned by the Central City Savings Bank and designed by German-born architect Henrik Schmahl. 

(Credit: Wikimedia Commons )

Over the top? Sure. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea (and for many of my architect friends, this is cringtastic. They’ve just lost all hope of me ever comprehending this thing called “taste”.)

What I love is the art and craftmanship viewed individually are good representations of the craftsmanship of the time. It's also a perfect fit for the steampunk genre of today. All we need is a traveler with a monkey on her shoulder and a zeppelin in the background and we’re set.

(Credit: Flicker.com/Synwell)

So what we have is:

• Gothic-inspired, check (even though Gothic was a much earlier time; this comes back with a vengeance.)
• Love of architecture from far-away places, check. Chinese pagodas, medieval church windows, and enough leaded glass to fill a stadium or two.
• An entire freighter barge of Victorian wood and cast-iron ornamentation.

From the really bad Google translations of Hungarian blogs, I understand that this design was chosen because – get this – the bank didn’t want the excessive ornamentation of the time.

Oops.

If this isn’t excessive, can you imagine…oh, look. I made the architects cringe again.

(Credit: Flicker.com/cnadia)

 

(Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Unfortunately, the Arcade is falling apart, which always hurts me to see historical landmarks ruined –  who’s going to remodel when the preference today is for light and outdoors? Plus, the cost of restoring even one window would be prohibitive. Personally, I think it’d make a great location for a steampunk movie and I hope it’s still around for my next trip to Europe.

Enjoy!

Other links:

Hungary starts here 

Budapest Index 

Tom Kimber's photography – only a couple of photos but they’re brighter than almost anything else out there.

360 Cities – my favorite, a 360-degree view. Keep the mouse slow if you’re prone to motion-sickness, and don’t forget to check out the ceiling and floor.

The top mistake to avoid in a kitchen or bath project

Make a last-minute change. No. Make two.

I know – some of you are asking, so how is this different than anything else?

1) The items in a kitchen or bath are both numerous and expensive, 2) the skill level required for installing each element has doubled, and 3) it's no longer mass production.

At one time, all appliances were the same size – the refrigerators were all the same, the sinks, the stoves. Post-war building was a masterpiece of suburban planning – and hundreds of homes across the continent that all looked exactly the same.

Nothing is “standard” Okay I take that back. In basic cookie-cutter design with stock appliances, and cabinets, there’s less chance of making errors. However, as I’m fond of repeating, as soon as you move into custom --  “pro” ranges, and built-in refrigerators, and wall cabinets that extend down to the counter, and special counter thicknesses – it all changes.

Each product and every design layer dominoes onto every other item in the room.

Let’s say you decide at the very last minute to change your gas range, a more powerful unit. So you just switch it out the week before your contractor starts construction. But, in the general flurry of making sure the new product is ordered and delivered on time, what everyone may have failed to notice is:

• the clearance specifications are completely different and the height of the wall cabinets is now too low
• the tile has a heat tolerance of only 220 degrees and shouldn’t really be used behind a high-heat range like this new one
• the specifications recommend that sheetrock isn’t enough protection for the wood 2x4s or 2x6s that frame your home and there should be a non-flammable material such as cement board behind the range
• the cutout for the range is different than the old range and requires either extra fillers or spaces, or the countertop has a different cut-out.
• the gas line for the range needs to be installed in a different place

These are all things I’ve run across (thankfully not on the same project), but yes, they can happen.

How many people do you figure are involved in a typical custom design, who still have your original copy?

1. the project manager
2. the foreman
3. the designer
4. the office staff
5. the tile setter
6. the countertop fabricator
7. the cabinet maker or installer.
8. the plumber
9. the electrician
10. the city building/permit dept. (they get 3 in this neck of the woods)

Let’s take the last example. Not so worried at the building departments – at least here, they rely on the appliance specs (although your mileage may vary). Inspectors’ll only get excited if the new range specs say the wall cabinets should be 18-1/2” high off the counter, not 18”. If they are there for inspection in when the cabinets are already installed at the wrong height, guess who gets to change it? Yes, #7. This can be a horrible and expensive mistake if the very high-end custom cabinets are all built in place.

Although if you don’t mention the 1/2” discrepancy to  #9,  the wiring for the undercounter lights will now be 1/2” too low (and possibly exposed to view.) Hope the backsplash is a full-height tile to hide the sheetrock cut needed to raise it…although if it is, did anyone check to see how much extra tile will be needed to make up that extra 1/2” of new space?

If you’re *lucky* like I was one time, (may I never have this type of luck again)  the tile you ordered was the only tile available until the next shipment from Italy in 4 months – and the amount you ordered was just enough to cover the old height.

Not trying to scare you (much) -- I’m trying to give you the fullest example of falling dominoes I can think of so you can avoid them yourself.

It wasn’t this tough 20 years ago; it’s tough now. If you’re doing it yourself, it’ll be up to you to make sure each member of the team will get updated copies, but really? Save yourself the potential grief. Set a time for closing all your material decisions. Make it at least 2-4 weeks before you start. Don’t bite your nails to the quick because at the last minute, the electrician you chose couldn’t do your job and now you’re wondering if he got the old or new plansets…

The glamorous life of a designer...

A while back, a few of you mentioned you wanted to hear more about what a designer does.

Now, if you listen to my contractor and subcontractor friends, I get razzed for a life of tea and crumpets with the clients before I jet-set off to Aruba. Ignore them. That may be someone’s designer life, but not mine. (But call me if you’ve got that job waiting for me, okay?)

My day is filled with computer design programs that don’t always work the way I want them to, paperwork, fussing about measurements, more paperwork. Did I mention paperwork? Or the standard – when are we ever going to finish off the showroom? Or get the website updated? Like cobbler’s kids, everyone gets their shoes (or projects) before us. Still, it’d be nice to see them updated…before I die.

Here’s what I do. My design is focused on house architecture  or, (deep breath) how to restructure interior space for the best function, light and ergonomics for the owners and their lifestyle.

Every single designer is different – this is what’s great about this job. Every house is different, every family or couple or single person is different, and figuring out all the pieces to make it work is fascinating. I work for a design/build firm. I don’t have the luxury of a drafting department (although I hope to have one again – it’d cut my time spent drawing in half.)  I chose to work for a smaller firm, where there’s less people and more control.

But it's a lot of work. Homework never ends, and the hours are hefty. Up until the recession, my typical week was 60-70 hours. In 2008, I had my first 40 hour work week in 8 years. Then, a couple weeks ago, the boss and I stayed at the office until 2:30 am to get paperwork done for a whole house remodel.

I've never minded the work. What I like best is that there's always something to learn, I never get bored, and I never do the same design twice. What most people think is that designers only pull together materials and a cabinet plan and everything comes together from the trades. It does, if you're the type of designer who works in cabinet showroom  (but you still have to be aware of the plumbing and electrical concerns.)

I know I posted a short, joking post about what we think when we visit your home, but I thought you'd like to see what a designer in a full construction firm thinks of, in addition to the cabinets and counters and tile. These are only a fraction of the details I think of when I'm looking at a room:

• Windows and doors

Which way are the door swings? Will the handle hit a table? A wall? A wall sconce? Must make note to tell client the sill on flanking double hung windows slopes differently than the picture window (then, I will promptly lose the note for a short time under 1,257 other sticky notes and panic.)

• Walls

Are there enough plugs for code? Cat6 cable? Will the height of the buffet clear the window apron? Are they straight? How much of an angle deflection is there and how will that affect the cabinet install?)

• Ceiling

Can the ceiling be raised? Lowered? Will my clients die of heat stroke if the skylight is installed in the wrong place? Will the skylight get enough light if it’s installed in the wrong place? Just how many trees are out there anyway?

• Floor

Is the raised foundation strong enough to accept the extra tile weight or will it bow? What type of transition will work best (and look the nicest) between the 3/4” wood floor into the laundry room vinyl, which is 1/8th?

I like construction. I like trades and the craftspeople. I’m lousy with tools and I don’t always know every exact detail, but I’ll tell you this: Mistakes roll downhill, gather more mistakes and end up at their feet. Not their fault. The fact that good trades are skilled in problem-solving in addition to their other talents is the sole reason you and I aren't sobbing in the corner. My job is to make sure they have as few mistakes as I can.

On Thursday, I’ll give you a tip on how to avoid one of the biggest newbie mistakes you can make on your project.

***

In other news, a very well-known blogger posted last week that he judges the success of a blog by the number of comments. From how I understood it, If the blog doesn’t get a lot, it’s a failure.

I have to admit, it completely depressed me. That is, until I started adding up the number of emails I get…while you’re all at work. Gotcha -- your secrets are safe with me. ; – ) Would it be nice to have more interaction? Sure, I bet you all have some great insight. I'm also completely fascinated by you DIY-ers. I also keep saying that I'd hate to be a newbie designer these days -- the amount of information we need to know now compared to when I first started is staggering.

There wasn't much glamour, was there? Next week, I suppose. There is some, even if it’s hidden under the 1,257  1,258 sticky notes…

Steampunk Sunday: Lighting

Okay, it's a lazy Sunday - I'm going to meander a bit on this post.

In steampunk design for the home, we’re taking our inspiration from books, where writers ask,  “What would have happened if everything was run on steam-power and electricity never got off the ground?” or "What if we were still stuck in the early Victorian/industrial timeframe and never really changed?"

So when we talk about steampunk design, I'm finding steampunk writers borrowing from four different periods: the Victorian era from 1840-1900, the Arts and Crafts era from 1860-1900, the Art Nouveau era from 1890-1914, and the Beaux Arts era from 1895-1925.

Roughly translated through 85 years thusly:

• a celebration of industrialization and the start of mass production (Victorian), which led to
• a rebel movement against ornate-ness and a return to simplicity (Arts and Crafts), which led to
• a return to nature as inspiration with free-flowing arts and curves (Art Nouveau), which led to
• a return of formal architecture and a return of ornamentation.(Beaux Arts)

(Hello, history repeating itself. Didn’t we just go through this in the last century too? Not the styles, the generational shifts.)

Which really boils down to an excuse for those of us who love this style of architecture and design and want to carry that inspiration in our homes.

Steampunk is all about invention, so while we want something unique, it still has to adhere to the basic principles in design and yes, even materials.

Whatever was in vogue for materials in the 1900s is good again – oak or rich woods, marbles and brass and wrought iron and octagonal tile.

I'm getting to the lighting, I promise, but I want to swing by this example of everything I've discussed in posts of the past: wrought-iron, embossing, and woodwork, and the best, glass atriums for the win.

One of my favorite buildings, the 1893 Bradbury building in downtown Los Angeles (Credit: the wonderful L.A.Places blog)

This is the Bradbury building, most famous for being a setting for Bladerunner, but really the ultimate for our vision of steampunk design. Now, for many of you, all that scrollwork might give you a headache, but here's what I'm finally getting to -- the lighting is relatively simple. And while these alabaster and iron sconces were a part of the 1991 restoration, the soothing curves fit well with all that structure.

(via PDPhoto.org)

Alabaster shades in a steampunk home isn't something I've discussed in a steampunk home before, although they'd go very well. I use alabaster sparingly because I've seen the result of a too-hot bulb. If it's too close to the shade, one ends up with a circular opaque “burn-in” on the alabaster. Unless you invest some money for the quality fixture, it doesn't hold up well.

Which makes glass a good alternative.

Can we have ornate lighting? Of course we can. What I’m seeing in others' visions of steampunk design is a cleaner look – a cross between British Colonial design and Art Deco. So for those who see a plainer styling for your steampunk home, we have this:

 

Ceiling fixture by Forte Lighting – antique bronze and linen glass.  

 Wall sconce by Hudson Valley Lighting - Keswick 1971

I’d discussed a few years ago the joys of pulley lighting (which you can find in this post) that might also work well above your table or island:

Pulley light by Hudson Valley Lighting - Keswick 4201

What do you think? Would any of these suit your steampunk home? (As always, additional comments are found by hovering your mouse cursor over the photos...)

Trend report: Cabinet Channels

About a million years ago in interior design years, I used to design kitchens without handles.

(Credit: Hertco)

Frameless cabinets were designed with a finger recess between the drawers and doors, which we called a channel. It was something fancy from Europe (so we were told), and a bit tricky to install. The channel section came in 8’ pieces, was usually metal or wood, and when it was cut and installed, the end piece showed, so had to plan another way to hide it with side paneling.

Then handles grew to be the “in” trend, and the channel disappeared. Now guess what's next?  Yes, it’s coming back. You won’t see it in mass market for another couple of years, but you will see it.

I’m not sure what kills me more – the fact that it’s coming around again, or that the younger designers are all excited about “this new way of design for cabinets!”

I think I'm going to cover up the same way I do with song remakes: pretend I never heard the original...

The New Colors of Cambria

I’ve just seen the new Cambria colors in person thanks to our efficient new Cambria rep. and I think they’ve got some winners on their hands. The names and notes can be found like the rest of my posts --hold your mouse over each color. Clicking on them will take you to the larger sample on the Cambria website:

1) They’ve discovered a way to add movement. 

One of the biggest knocks on quartz in my area is that some people prefer the movement and flow of granite compared to the chip-like quality of quartz. Here you go: the photos really don’t do them justice.

  

2) The color choices are tying in with some rising color trends.

There are a lot of mushrooms, creams, and taupes making their way back into residential.The mushrooms and taupes are a trickle down from the higher-end design we’ve been seeing the last few years.

   

3) For the architectural and contemporary market who aren’t into movement:

    

4) Blue. Like “Blue Eyes” granite.

There are quite a few new ones that have that peacock blue iridescent flecks we see in the more expensive granites. Granted, they aren't the large flecks we see in granite slabs, but if you love blue, these will make you a very happy camper.

  

4) They will now have 83 colors. All of them are the same price. Those of you who specify on a regular basis appreciate this – hard enough to gather a project together without having to re-price the counters every time the client changes his or her mind.

There are two reasons why I’d recommend Cambria. One is that the colors have a depth that other quartz counters don’t. The other is that their quality control is very good -- the particulates are fairly consistent whereas I have noted size variation in others. (Why yes, I do notice those things – so do some of my clients.)

My only recommendation is that I wish Cambria would come up with a display center that fit them all – currently it only holds about 1/3rd of the 83 colors. (Such a problem, I know.)

They won’t be available until November, so those of you planning a project with quartz counters might want to wait. In the meantime, the colors are on the Cambria website here.

What do you think?

A Reader Asks: Special cabinet for a pro rangetop?

Is there a specific cabinet designed to hold professional cooktops or will any cooktop base cabinet work?

Thanks! Greg

Yes. I assume you’re referring to range tops with the controls at the front. They aren’t really a “one-size-fits-all” which isn't a problem for custom cabinets but can get a bit tricky for some stock and semi-custom factory cabinets.

Here's an example of a cabinet with the rangetop. See the space between the underside of the cooktop and the top of the drawer?  Also, the drawers all line up - they didn't have to, but the client preferred it. This is a custom cabinet (Crystal) and it was easy to design -- I could specify to my heart’s desire to change the drawer heights or the spacing below the rangetop.

 

Now, let's visit the extreme version of a stock cabinet. This is Sears new Kenmore 36” pro induction top (kind of slick, isn't it?) in a stock cabinet display. See where all the doors and drawers end up?

  (Credit: Sears)

(For demonstration sake, I'm glad they placed that big top drawer on the right.There's no hard-and-fast rule that it should all be balanced although I might argue that the mismatched drawer heights draw our gaze when they really shouldn't. Doesn't it remind you of a bad haircut? No? *cough* Okay, carry on...)

With some stock and semi-custom cabinets, you might expect:

• The Slab of Covering All Bases – which is that large flat front panel. It's designed that way so one can cut out whatever the height for the rangetop will be. (As a side note: This cabinet looks like it might work for both an apron sink and a pro-range which streamlines the amount of cabinets the manufacturer has to make.)
• Many stock cabinets don't have a two drawer unit - they only have doors below.
• The doors below the rangetop rarely line up with the doors and drawers on either side.
• Some combination of all 3, as shown above.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the above if it’s what you expect. What you see in design magazines is mostly custom-made, so if you'd be forgiven if you figured all you do is order cabinets and they all come like the first photo.

What is helpful to know is that the cabinets you choose become more important when you select professional appliances because professional appliances aren't standard. The trickle down of high-end into mass production means a fair-to-substantial amount of frustration and jury-rigging to get it right.

I can’t speak for every cabinet line out there. Some do a better job than others. However, if it's something that you weren't expecting, and you’re spending good money on professional appliances, I might suggest matching quality with quality when it comes to the cabinets.

Good luck on the project. If others have some thoughts, chime in!