In an ecological and social, the designer explains that his radiator, in analogy to the traditional campfire, is mobile and brings together around him. The user can move at will the radiator, close to feel the heat more rapidly without running excessive.

Response, a more straightforward point of poetry!

In a sentence Rochus Jacob: “complexity is covered by simplicity” .. to meditate

Proof? Its share of our budget is spent in ten years from 5 300 to 6800 euros. She became the kitchen of the place more attention to our aesthetic and practical living spaces.

Two basic questions.

Today, interior designer, must first study the behavior of the inhabitants of the place before starting.
Bath or shower? First question to ask when building this temple dedicated to our ego. Why not both, to hell with greed, a shower with powerful jets that surround you, titillate you, giving you the boost needed … to start the morning off and the bath, cozy, laid like a throne, with or without bubble to the warrior’s rest after a hard day’s work.
With or without toilet? That is the question. They dare more and more appear in this circle, without breaking the aesthetics of the whole. It’s new. It is true that the designers have considered them: Starck, Graves, …

Tell me who you are …

And I will draw you to the bathroom.
Cool or speed? Do you want a “lounge suite” cozy charm and delicacy while? Candlelight, former prosecutor in point of Hungary, delicately painted walls or hung-Va retro-tiled cast iron claw tub, large sink, chine in a junk shop and put together with love by your favorite plumber (rare!), Taps retro-and THG-icing on the cake in the bottom near the window, before the wispy curtains taffeta, or rather a deep armchair upholstered lounge chair, the seat of all the laziness!
Tonic? Maybe you’re more the type super active? So expect an accurate lighting, hard ground in large stone slab, or even exotic wood, concrete waxed. Here, the important thing is … the shower drain is incorporated! As for walls: in plaster made in Morocco “tedlakt” and especially not tile! The bathtub?

Redesigned by our brightest designers Starck always him, but Mr. Graves, N. Forster James Irving, all for Duravit. Provide round bowl or rectangular patch, placed on plans in minimal raw material (contractors call it the “bowl”), sleek-fitting Jacobsen for Vola, essential since the 60′s and present at Moma in New York espaliers lifting, for the health conscious … and oversized mirrors placed on the ground for narcissism!

The nature of the decoration style is “any plant”, for those who identify with the spirit world traveler nostalgic for a hotel bathroom, and finally do not forget the style bathroom family for those who need to share these moments .. with theirs.
We see, at the beginning of XXI century, the bathroom has become a space in itself, reflects the lifestyle of each of. For this reason, it has become recently the favored expressions of designers and interior designers.
So, the bathroom, a reflection of the ego? For me, the answer is no question, but … You be the judge!

Oh my kitchen “very expensive” kitchen

Hallelujah, we are … The kitchen is the centerpiece of our domestic world!
Are we so far “the cooks”? Not sure … but it’s become our “living space” in our den.

So how do we organize it?

A Little: Furniture.

For the most poor among us, a word, a name comes to mind “IKEA”. It’s beautiful, there is the choice (paint, wood, steel etc.). And it’s economic.

What more?.

So roll up your sleeves the obstacle course begins!

Between the choice of furniture (of course internet but you have to count 2 to 3 visits to decide), the (go, a good day of waiting at the counter being very optimistic), remove it all in storage (hard drive … … ..) transport (you do not have a van to lend me?), assemble the elements (p … schema assembly), and of course missing stuff (back to square one, the store). It is not all it should proceed to assembly … Whew! we are after a good couple of weeks of hard work.

The result? A little crooked? The next time you ask a pro to deal with it, I swear!

Small B: The work plan.

This is the most …. It has saved with the furniture, it may well have some fun with the work plan. Corian immaculate, synthetic resin, granite hammered, stainless steel, blue stone from Belgium … ..

It will be beautiful, certainly expensive (more than all the furniture) but superb!

Small C: Household appliances

To hell with greed …. It is my super beautiful all stainless steel refrigerator, my pristine ceramic hob (how to use them anyway?), My built-in dishwasher, and my three fours. Yep they should be three, traditional, microwave and best of all the steam.

Small D: Luminaires

Of course we have the spots on the ceiling, convenient but not very glamorous. Add lighting under the wall units, discreet, not dazzling, but essential, and “the touch” the ceiling on the table.

Needless to say, each light source must have its own switch ….

Go courage!

Many decorating magazines devote their articles to one dedicated to storage, it’s time to take stock of the design and creation of these spaces that occupy still today 20% of our habitat.

First of all before you build storage space, it is imperative to define what are their needs and the volume they occupy in the house. Note that the storage respond, initially, to questions that are functional and practical for clothes, books or just a vacuum cleaner.

Take the case of a dressing, it should be located close to the bedroom, at best between the bedroom and the bathroom, but mostly not directly in the room. Exit the closet in it where one can disturb her partner or her partner … in just dressing!

The storage space must also consider the “customs” of the user, that he prefers clothes folded or hung, drawers or pull knobs, bars, shoe racks or …? so many possibilities that confirms that each of us is different with daily personal habits. Once the side – said functionally resolved, we must dress the sets, the design, integrate them into space. Choose materials (wood, metal, glass, PVC …), lighting design which must be precise in order to facilitate the choice.

And finally add the final touch, the charm by the tables, furniture. In a kitchen cupboard, chest of drawers in a dressing room, dressing in a bathroom! In short create storage becomes an art. This is the design to fit optimally in the house. An art that can not be improvised!

I also bought a new wide angle lens which makes interior shots so much easier to capture. I hope to get a chance to use it outdoors in the next couple days. My decorating style is a mixture of Scandinavian and Asian with some old world thrown in. Although the coffee table is kinda disco, so maybe the best way to describe my style is if you like it, buy it because you can make the things you love work together.

My furniture is a mishmash of new purchases, Craigslist, antique and thrift store finds, and one fancy writing desk handed down from my grandmother. You can see that in the right side of the photo above. The walls look dark blue in the cold winter daylight. At night they turn more eggplant. The sofa was chosen first for it’s size (it was the only one that would fit through the tiny hallway) and second for it’s clean lines. The chair was purchased at Dayton’s warehouse (remember them?) years ago and has worn like iron and embraces you like an old friend. There are also five pieces of Ikea in the room which I worry is too much. See if you can find them.

This view looks into the hallway. The hallway, office and soon the kitchen and dining rooms will be painted this grey-white. I wanted the place to look clean and crisp with the living room being more formal for entertaining. There is still more artwork to be hung, which is also going slowly as I am trying to avoid making the place look cluttered. The brass flower sculpture on the wall above the sofa needed to be out of the way because it is LETHAL. It looks delicate but those brass leaves will poke your eye out. So of course, the first thing everyone does is touch it. No one can get near it there.

Another view showing the mid-century cabinet and the crystal chandelier. The chandelier isn’t hooked up yet. There are wires in the box but no matching ones at the switch. Wish I had known that before the new ceiling went in. Hopefully the electrician will be able to figure it out. I love the color of the floors but I would love them more painted white – which I will never do but I dream about it occasionally and sometimes vocalize to realtors just to watch them spasm.

Here you can see the antique Chinese window screen. The glass has been covered in a static cling plastic with a rice paper look. This hides the view of the neighboring building next door. It looks like I did the same thing to the big windows in the next photo but that is a trick of the light. Below the window is a vintage Asian inspired bedside table that holds either the bonsai tree shown or an Ikebana arrangement.

And the final photo showing the overflow of junk from the dining room. (Sorry no pictures of that mess just yet!) Still no window treatments on the large window. I keep going back and forth between simple white cotton drapes on a white wood rod or honeycomb shades that can be lowered from the top or bottom. I am leaning towards the shades most likely because I am tired of thinking about it.

Hope you enjoyed the quick tour. More photos of the rest of the place in the days to come. I would love to hear your thoughts so please leave comments below. Thanks!

1. Roof water damage has cracked the plaster on both the ceiling and window wall. The window wall is new damage and has been fixed by the association. The ceiling pre-dates you however.
2. There’s a chimney running through one corner of the room taking up a space 33″ x 44″.
3. Two windows! Northern exposure overlooking a brick wall and…
4. The neighbor’s living room windows are about 15′ away. Hiya neighbor!
5. Ceiling fan! Brass and faux walnut. Actually it’s faux brass.
6. There’s a steam radiator (painted pink!) near the window that gets so hot in the winter that Hell likes to send their overflow there. Oh, and because of the system there’s only two settings, on or off, otherwise it leaks.

At least it has a nice deep closet!

This is the bedroom after getting the trim painted and the walls edged in. Note the oh-so-lovely ceiling fan and the equally beautiful view out the windows. If you are curious the trim is painted Benjamin Moore Simply White and the walls will be Benjamin Moore Bird’s Egg. This is the first time I’ve tried their lower VOC “Ben” line and have to say that it has good coverage. While I would have liked to have used no-VOC paint past issues with adhesion have soured me a bit on it. Poor adhesion + $50 a gallon = one unhappy ninja.

Here is the nondescript pink radiator:

The pink is brighter in person. It could be worse I suppose. I’d like to put the bed under the window but this idea is simply not practical with this thing pumping out hell fire six months out of the year.

Since these photos were taken the walls have been finished and the room cleaned up. Just the radiator, closet and two doors left to paint. Oh, and the ceiling. I’m still going back and forth on what to do with the ceiling. The real solution would be to hire someone to put drywall over the existing one but bids are running around $1,000 which isn’t in the budget right now. So the other ideas are to either put up a bead board or tin ceiling and paint it white or use this special wallpaper that is made to even out problems like this. The idea of wallpapering a ceiling makes me want to crawl under the covers and never come back out. So I am going to procrastinate for a while and move on to painting the hallway, kitchen and living room while waiting for inspiration to strike.

Mirror is from Martha Stewart for Kmart, light from Rejuvenation, shower curtain from TJ Max, tile from The Tile Shop, plumbing fixtures from City Salvage

Adjustable mirror from Ikea.

Bathtub is original and has been recoated. Floor is marble tile. Still need a window treatment. All paint is Benjamin Moore. Woodwork is Simply White OC-117, walls are in Smoke Embers #1466, ceiling is Moonlight White OC-125.

Why yes, yes it is.

Statue is from a Buddhist monastery. Soap dish is a vintage finger bowl. You can see how rough the wood window frame is. I decided to paint over the several layers of existing lead based paint rather than disturb them. That top coat of white paint made a world of difference!

Towels are Charter Club from Macy’s in Papaya. Most towels are on sale right now!

I love the pattern on the floor mat.

Print and vase are from local artists. Buy local art

Teak cabinet is from a garden center that is now closed. Toilet is from Home Depo. Towel bars from Ikea.

Bamboo tissue cover from Crate & Barrel, diffuser from Pier 1, zombie clock (it keeps dying and then coming back to life) from Ikea.

This small painting was at the recent MCAD art sale hanging among thousands of pieces of art. I liked the bright colors, the composition, that it was made with spray paint and marker and that it was just $20. It was created by Taylor Lindgren who is a student at MCAD. Do you have a piece of artwork in your entry? If you have a photo I’d love it if you would link to it in the comments. Or email it to me and I will post it for you.

Update: December 3, 2009 – Diana over at the fabulous blog Fine Diving in Chicago sent in photos of her hallway artwork. Diana writes:

Hi Ken,
These are by family members. The Shoes of Vanna White is a watercolor by my daughter when in high school. Red Coat is a pastel by my mother in law, BA Durkes. We have a lot of family art in our house from 5 kids and artist BA, and we’ve always been big on paper crafts.

They hang in the small entry between the outside and inside doors. I’m thinking of sanding and repairing the walls for a new color in January. I did an all over stencil that looks like wallpaper to hide the old condition of the old walls, and it’s been up for a few years, would like a simpler look now.

Beautiful and personal. Thanks Diana!

I was reflecting on this conversation while drinking coffee in my living room this morning. It got me thinking about why I feel certain areas of the room worked better than others. The photo below is of a completed section of my living room. This area is dominated by a mid-century cabinet that I picked up at a antique fair. When I bought it I thought that the refinishing job was sloppy and had planned on having it restored to the original darker finish that can still be seen inside. It’s kind of grown on me though so we’ll see what, if anything happens to it in the next few years.

The light finish on the cabinet glows against the dark painted walls. The white trim adds a clean line and finishes off the room. The stacked Ikea Gilbert chairs are stored in the corner and provide extra seating. Their dark finish and chrome legs mirror other finishes in the room. I have always liked the look of mixing woods in a room, it adds interest. The paintings (by local artist Jonathan Clark) add necessary color and visual excitement while the plant on the left and the Japanese pottery vase add softness in shape and color.

Why this works: The stepped shape of the cabinet is mirrored in the arrangement of the two paintings and in the placement of the stacking chairs. The plant and antique vase break up the lines with their rounder more organic shapes. The effect is somewhat stark, but clean and inviting. Candles glowing in voltives placed on top of the cabinet at night look dead sexy. The entire composition is asymmetrical but works because the visually heavier cabinet is balanced by the lighter elements which also provide interest.

Here is a “before” photo showing the old yellow paint which in truth I do like but I want to try something else. The white subway tile has a crackle finish and the black tile is actually marble which is also on the floor. You can see the area of the wall that had to be repaired due to water damage. The tile was modeled on a bathroom that I saw in a Victorian home that didn’t have a shower. I loved the wainscot level of the tile but it was a stupid thing to do. Even with shower curtains on both sides of the tub (the ‘O’ shaped shower rod has been removed in this photo) the wall still got water damage. Eventually I will have to have the tile brought up to a greater height but for now I am considering putting a plexiglass panel on the wall to protect it. I’ll ask the local hardware guy but I’m thinking if the plexiglass is sealed well with clear caulk it should protect the wall from the humidity.

The second photo shows the battleship grey trim. When I bought the place the walls were sponge painted in two shades of battleship grey and a color which I will call “mold green”. There was a plastic tub surround and a horrifyingly ugly pink fiberglass sink. After the tile work and painting the walls yellow I never got around to painting the trim work. Hey, I’m a busy single guy living alone. You do the math. Deciding that I wanted to strip all the trim before painting I had it tested for lead which came back positive. After doing research on lead paint removal I decided to forgo the hazmat suit and simply scrape off the loose paint and paint over it. Lead paint is nothing to screw around with.

The last photo shows the newly painted white trim and some of the new grey paint on the walls. What a huge difference, eh? The trim is Benjamin Moore’s Simply White OC-117 from their Impervo line. While I like eco friendly paint I don’t when it comes to trim and doors. I have yet to find any that will stand up to abuse like good old Impervo. The ceiling is Moonlight White OC-125 in the low VOC Ben line. The walls are being painted Smoke Embers #1466 using Aura which is Benjamin Moore’s high grade low-VOC line. I’ve always wanted to try it as it has a high colorant content but the $6o a gallon price tag has been a hinderance. The bathroom only needed a quart so I could now justified the expense. I really love the coverage and can see how it would cover in only one coat on white walls.*

Tonight I finish painting the ceiling and the walls. Then only the door remains.

* I am in no way associated with or being compensated by Benjamin Moore. However, I do need 4 more gallons of paint so make me an offer okay?!