Notes on orchid husbandry

My philosophy of orchid cultivation is what's called benign neglect. I'm fortunate to live in a climate where all I have to do is put them in a good spot and let nature take its course. If I try to care for them they die and when I ignore them they're fine. Well it's not quite so simple as that, but it's close. I mist them during the dry season and repot them every two years or so. Aside from that, they are on their own.

It's a good thing they're around and I get reminded of that from time to time. I think yesterday was the worst day in human history.  I swear, people formed a line for the chance to be mean to me. Horrible day. Horrible day! I came home late and paced and growled like a caged animal. I went out onto my patio and something happened to make all of that drift away.

I walked out the door and stepped into a cloud of the most delightful fragrance on the planet. My Brassavola nodosa is in bloom and nothing I've ever encountered comes close to the scent of these otherwise nondescript white and green flowers. B. nodosa blooms in the winter here and it's fragrant only on warmer, wind-free nights. Last night was one such night. I stood under a waning gibbous moon and inhaled a scent of such complexity I had to sit down to process it. It's almost as if it's a combination of the blossom of a key lime with a flutter of vanilla and a black pepper end note. If I stand farther away, it's kind of caramelly and chocolatish with a whiff of nutmeg thrown in. At mid range it's a buttery jasmine with a hint of damson plum. Man, I could spend an hour circling the thing and inhaling, dreaming of moonlit nights in exotic lands. Ahhh. One good whiff and I was transported to a cliff side terrace in Grenada, a balcony in old Rangoon or a moonlit night in the same highlands of southern Mexico where B. nodosa originated.

Having a bad day? Stick your nose in a blooming Brassavola nodosa and it won't matter anymore.

Here's a real-life design dilemma from my in-bin

I was asked this week to come up with a display in the showroom of a natural stone wholesaler I do a fair amount of business with. It's an honor frankly and I'm about to present him with some concept drawings. I'm in a real quandary about this because the man who asked me to come up with a display was somewhat vague about what he wanted.

Here's the space:

Now, this is in a new facility that's still under construction. This vignette I'm putting together is not a real kitchen, so it doesn't have to function as one. It needs a sink and they need to be able to store things in the cabinetry. It also needs a large island where blueprints can be rolled out and worked on. I was told that they wanted it to be clean, uncluttered and contemporary. The cabinetry needs to get out of the way and show off the stone that the counters and island top will be made from. They are after all, a natural stone wholesaler. I am going to use this slab door in either a light maple or a dark, nearly black stain on cherry.

I'm throwing this out there because I'm looking for reactions. I'll work out the  finishes and the function part later, and what I'm looking for now is a reaction to the shapes I'm throwing up on the wall. Anyone? Anyone?

So here's what I came up with:

This is concept one. The cabinets in the wall are equipped with flip-up doors and each row of them grows deeper the farther into the corner they get.

This is concept two, as well as a concept I don't like at all. All of the wall cabinets in the top row have glass inserts in them.

Concept three is a variation on concept one. In life, it won't appear to be as broken up as it does here in a black and white line art. The wall cabinets remain the same depth, but they grow shorter as each row moves up the wall. The design savvy out there will recognize that as forced perspective.

Concept four is an idea that might actually appear in some one's home some day. It's the shortest (at 102") of the four concepts and would be the most functional.

So what do you think? Do I have anything here or should I start over?

Hakatai's having a sale

Hakatai is a great source for mosaic tile for the trade and also for individuals in the market for some off the beaten path stuff. Got a project in mind? Spend some time with the fine folks at Hakatai before you make any decisions. Hakatai's custom blends blends are currently on sale for 30% off and they're offering up to 45% off on their Classic series.

Hakatai's website has two great planning and playing tools anyone can use to design his or her own custom blends and gradients. While you're playing around with the colors in your dream shower or backsplash, Hakatai's working in the background and pricing everything as you go. Scattered around this posting are some blends I whipped out with their blend tool the other day. Pretty cool stuff and far more reasonable than you'd expect. No one has to settle for cookie cutter solutions. Ever. Remember that.

Hakatai does some really exquisite custom mural and mosaic work and their website has a gallery filled with hundreds of photos of their work. Look through their galleries and see for yourself what's possible. Bravo!

I'm a glass is half-full guy

But just because I am doesn't mean the rest of the souls who people my life are. I came across this when I was Christmas shopping on the Internet last weekend.

This mug and a whole host of smart-aleky, anti-corporate merchandise are available on the website Despair, Inc. The website's laugh-out-loud funny and subversively dead on. It's almost as if the editorial staff of The Onion took over the HR department at IBM. I think the difference between this stuff and the pablum I used to have to suffer through when I was a cubicle dweller is that Despair's mugs and posters are actually communicating something.

I think it's funny funny funny and oh so appropriate for a couple people on my list. Now, if only I were in the habit of giving coffee mugs as Christmas gifts.

Outlet covers? We don't need no stinkin' outlet covers

Check this out:

That's a plate-less electrical outlet in some one's home believe it or not. Oh man, if it's possible to fall madly and deeply for an outlet, I think I just did. This is the 22 from Bocci and I've never seen anything like it.

Bocci is a Canadian design company and this 22 outlet is part of a system that includes similar minimalist outlets for data, phone, cable and more. Check out Bocci's website.

These outlets are actually plastered into the wall during construction and can be accessed later for service through the face of the outlet itself rather than by removing a plate as is usually the case. It may sound odd, but "what color outlet covers should we get?" is a refrain I hear regularly. Well, the fine folks at Bocci remove that question from the table completely and the result is absolutely beautiful.

Creede Fitch has a design blog called Grassroots Modern and he's actually installing a series of 22s in his own home. You can see his progress here. Bravo Creede; I'm curious to see how he makes out with them.

I found a video that discusses how this plate-less outlet system works and it's made a believer out of me.