Hey, what is that?!

What do the historic Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg, FL,

The country of Portugal,

And this kitchen table have in common?

Here's a hint that's little more than a shameless plug. The Palladium Theater is home to the St. Petersburg Opera Company and the practice facility of the Florida Orchestra. It's also a starving arts organization that needs every scrap of support it can muster, as do all community arts organizations. Please help to keep the Palladium and whatever community arts groups are local to you alive during these troubled times.

OK, with that out of the way, the Palladium has its original, 70-year-old cork floors. After 70 years in a public facility, those cork floors still look fantastic.

Cork flooring comes from Portugal.

The design I mentioned the other day in post about kitchen tables is getting a cork floor.

This cork floor to be exact.

Cork flooring is not new, though it's currently experiencing a resurgence in popularity. It's resilient, kind of spongy, tough as nails and completely sustainable. It's also stunning. Look at some of this stuff.

Gorgeous yes and believe it or not, it doesn't have any special requirements for care or cleaning either. Here are a few more beauty shots.

All of these cork floors are available as planks or tiles from US Floors in Dalton, GA. If you need any more information, just ask me.

Let there be wood

Wood floors don't figure into my work very often, but that's a function of where I live more than anything. A traditionally-built, wood frame house in Florida has heart of pine floors. In what's called a Cracker House, wood floors were necessary because Cracker Houses never sit on the ground. Instead, the floor joists rest on pilings that raise the house a foot or so off the ground. That the floor joists span the distance between pilings means that this construction method calls for a flooring material with a lot of give.

Believe it or not, this house is not sitting on the ground.

Building homes on concrete slabs started to catch on in the 1950s. With the arrival of the slab, terrazzo, stone and ceramic tile floors became the default floors in this part of the world. So while folks in more northern climates were thinking of tile floors as exotic, people here were looking for something new. Enter the wood floor.

Wood floors figure into around 10 percent of my projects and when I get to specify a new one, it's a bit of a big deal. I've been trying to find the perfect floor for a project and I keep coming back to walnut. Walnut's my favorite hard wood and a walnut floor is a thing of such staggering beauty it makes me... it makes me... it makes me stagger.

The floors I'm specifying are to come from Carlisle Wide Plank Floors in Stoddard, New Hampshire. Their website is beautiful and all of their offerings are gorgeous, not just the walnut. Carlisle Wide Plank Floors were unknown to me until a week ago and what a find. If you want to look at some great inspiration photos of some beautiful floors, check out their site. Better yet, if you're in the market for a new floor, consider Carlisle.

Everything's in transition

I work with the most talented tradespeople in the universe. This is from a jobsite I visited last night. At issue was a 45 degree transition between a Brazilian cherry floor in a dining room and a tile floor in the kitchen. The floors planks are set in a straight line and the tile's on the diagonal. I could have just run a 45 degree cherry threshold between the two rooms. I could have. But this is in an open floor plan home and this transition is pretty exposed. I hate 45 degree angles in architecture with a passion so hot I'm afraid I'll be consumed by it some day. There was no way in hell any floor I had anything to do with was getting a diagonal threshold.

So I took a Sharpie and drew and S-curve on the floor before either the wood or the tile went in. "There," I said, "That's what I want this transition to look like."

The flooring guy looked at me like I was possessed. I wanted the threshold to be made out of wood, but how do you put curves in a flat piece of wood? "I got it," Mr. Flooring Guy assured me. He said it with such a haughty confidence that I went right along. I love it, he didn't question my idea and I didn't question his skill. I call that synergy.

Anyhow, he made this threshold out of a solid strip of cherry and it is a thing of such rare beauty that I had to photograph it and run it here.

How to transition between materials in a floor can pose a problem some times. To my way of thinking, if there's some aspect of a room you'd like to have go away (like a 45 degree transition between flooring materials) draw attention to it. Making it look like it's there on purpose sets a tone, a bravado, that no one will ever question.

This project is in final punch out and will be fully complete in another week or so. I will run some photos of the whole thing once it's finished.

Jamie takes Manhattan

One of the great developments of 2009 has been my discovery of the great designer Jamie Goldberg and her blog Gold Notes. Jamie lives on the other side of Tampa Bay from me and it's been a real boon to make a live connection with someone I've met through the blogosphere.

Jamie just returned from a Manhattan Showroom tour and she's graciously written the following post in which she shares some of her discoveries. Take it away Jamie...

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Visiting New York City as a designer is like visiting Disney World as a child...Exhilarating, energizing, overwhelming and not a little exhausting. Oh, but so worth it!!! I promised my friend Paul Anater, proprietor of this splendid blog, that I'd share my favorite Gotham goodies with you, his dedicated readers. Hope you enjoy!

FIXATED ON FIXTURES

The trend I've been observing this past year or two is the flattening of the vessel sink from its earlier bowl-like existence to a more contemporary, close-to-countertop style. This trip largely took things in the completely opposite direction. The first showroom I visited in New York was Hastings Tile & Bath, also in the A&D Building. Right in its entry was a gorgeous lav called the Grande Ceradur Basin.

In this same shape, but glossy white, is Duravit's Bacino.

Duravit had some other fab fixtures at its Madison Avenue showroom, and in its press kit showcasing upcoming releases.

Starck K is its first-ever kitchen sink, now available in the U.S. market. I love the shape, the optional cutting board and drain board sections and the Anthracite, Chestnut and Pergamon color additions to white that you can choose from.

Its Starck 1 barrel lav is now also available in high glass black and white finishes. Its popular 2nd Floor series also added a white lacquer finish option, and an ultra-cool revolving mirror and mobile storage base. The ebony finish is pretty cool, too. I especially love it on the tall storage cabinet with sliding mirrored door.

I also really liked Duravit's PuraVida lavs with their "pillow-style" concealed drains. (It also includes the option to add the coordinating faucet by Hansgrohe.) PuraVida is scheduled to launch in the U.S. in October.

TILE STYLE

I've always loved tile, even when I was a college student studying Greek and Roman antiquities. Here are some of my fave tile finds in New York.

Artistic Tile's Effervescence adds fun and flair to your roomscape.

Always an old world enthusiast, I enjoyed Country Floors collection of Pedralbes terra cotta tiles from Spain.

Hastings Tile & Bath featured a large selection of Casamood tiles in traditional and contemporary styles. Lovely collection, including this Iki thin tile.

Seeing Bisazza mosaics on a display board is one thing. Visiting its Soho showroom was another experience altogether - sheer bliss! This is its restroom.

Sicis, another art tile company, has a spectacular four-story showroom in Soho. The Italian firm not only offers floor and wall tile, but also mosaic-encrusted tubs and its brand-new pendant lights.

NOTES

(c) 2009, Jamie Goldberg, AKBD, CAPS. This posting was excerpted from Gold Notes: Nuggets from the World of Residential Design. Gold Notes is written by Tampa-based kitchen and bath designer, Jamie Goldberg, AKBD, CAPS. To see more New York finds, please click here.

Taunton's All New Kitchen Idea Book: a review

The latest version of Taunton Press' Kitchen Idea Book is on the shelves and sits ready to inspire. As with the previous editions of the Kitchen Idea Book, The All New Kitchen Idea Book was written by Joanne Kellar Bouknight. Bouknight authored Taunton's Home Storage Idea Book and is a regular contributor to Taunton's Fine Homebuilding magazine. 

Photo by Randy O'Rourke, used with permission

Her All New Kitchen Idea Book is not just another picture book. Bouknight is an architect emeritus and brings an architect's penchant for details to her book. With that said, the photography's stunning but it's explained and described perfectly. There's enough information presented here that this Idea Book could be considered a how-to book easily.

Photo by Huyla Kolabas, used with permission

The All New Kitchen Idea Book's nine chapters cover everything from style and layout to lighting and windows; from cabinetry to counters; and from pantries to floors. She goes out of her way to highlight the unusual without dismissing the expected. This is a tough line to follow and Bouknight does it gracefully.

Photo by David Duncan Livingston, used with permission

Taunton Press' entire family of publications highlight and describe a tasteful, sensible and designed life that I can't get enough of. Any time I see a Taunton imprint, I know what follows can only be good and worthwhile. The New Kitchen Idea Book is of a piece with the rest of Taunton's titles and further rounds out one of the most expansive collections of titles in the home improvement category.

Photo by David Duncan Livingston, used with permission

The New Kitchen Idea Book would be a great addition to any home improvement library. If you have a renovation in your future, please pick up a copy. If you like the idea of a renovation in your future, pick up a copy perchance to dream.

Check out Hakatai's revamped website

I've waxed rhapsodically about Hakatai's great glass tile a couple of times here and I was researching mosaics for a job the other day and found myself on their website again. Man, nobody, and I mean nobody shows mosaic tile as well as Hakatai does. All of the photos I have scattered around this posting come from their website.

Hakatai is a one stop shop for all things related to mosaic tile. Their retail prices are what I'm used to seeing as wholesale prices. This means that Hakatai is a great place to buy your own materials and save some money.

Hakatai's photo galleries have to be the most extensive on the web. If you're ever in need of some inspiration or if you've ever wondered how to use glass tile, spend some time combing through that photo library. 

Hakatai does a lot of custom work too and you can order their custom work through their website. Amazing. In looking through their custom mosaic library I'm struck by the amount of skill that goes into their murals in particular. Mosaic murals are an ancient art form and the gang at Hakatai pays homage to the ancients and then ratchets up the bar a couple of notches. Beautiful stuff, all of it.

Check out their home page for special deals and sale items too. Thinking about glass tile? Look no further.

Made a Mano makes my head spin

Last week, I wrote about an author in Berlin and his amazing mosaic bathrooms. Christophe Niemann and I corresponded a bit and he sent me a link to an Italian website called Made a Mano. Niemann told me that if he had unlimited funds, he would have tiled his bathrooms with the offerings of Made a Mano instead of the 4x4s I was so enamored with. I clicked on his link and knew immediately what he was talking about.

This is Mount Etna in Sicily.

Mount Etna has been erupting for thousands of years and is hands-down the most active volcano on the planet. Over the millennia, vast amounts of basaltic lava have solidified on its flanks.

Made a Mano takes this solidified lava and makes glazed tiles, glazed counters and sinks. Made a Mano also powders it to make a low-fire clay they call Cotto.

Unfortunately, Made a Mano doesn't yet have a US distributor. But I can dream, can't I?

So I was going through their website and trying to contain myself when I came across this tile:

That pattern looked strangely familiar. And then it hit me. I'd seen the same pattern on a floor in Pompeii.

So far as I'm concerned, everything can be traced back to the Romans. Made a Mano gained a lifetime fan with the inclusion of that pattern, let me tell you.

I'm insane for this stuff. Check out these tile patterns.

Now bear in mind that these things are hand-painted on glazed stone. Just beautiful.

But that's not all. They get involved in floors too. Take that Pyrolave!

They make counters and sinks too.

Beautiful, all of it. Check out Made a Mano's website and drool. Now, I just have to find a way to get my hands on their stuff.