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.

Give me more Mosaic Art Now!

On 26 June I wrote about an organization called Mosaic Art Now. Mosaic Art Now is a publication as well as a web presence and my first issue arrived two weeks ago. Wow. Mosaic Art Now is a four-color, 76-page survey of the best and brightest in the world of contemporary, fine mosaics. It's sitting on my coffee table, but it never stays there for long. I find myself picking it up and reading through it whenever I need a break of a lift.

Mosaic Art Now is edited by Bill Buckingham, Nancie Mills Pipgras and Michael Welch; three people with a passion for the subject that's as palpable as it is contagious. The publication is heavy on photography, gloriously reproduced photography. In fact the bulk of the pages are given to a gallery of fine art mosaics. In it, there are more than 30 pages of unbridled mosaic love. Add to that gallery a good mix of artist profiles and a really thorough mosaic marketplace and the result is a great resource and a welcome addition to my collection art books.

Mosaic Art Now, the publication, is available through their website for $12.95. If you're a fan of this at once ancient and modern art form, order a copy.

Here are some highlights form the gallery. Follow the individual links back to the artists' websites and support these artists!

Truth and Beauty Series #2 by Rachel Sanger, Rachel Sanger Mosaics

Night Shirt by Julie Richey, Julie Richey Mosaics

The Phoenix by Grace Bowers, Amazing Grace Mosaics

Dreamer by Carole Choucair Oueijan, Carole Choucair Oueijan Original Mosaics and Oils

Leonardo by Laura Rendlen, Laura Rendlen Fine Mosaics

Four reader questions with a snappy answer for each

Help! My toilet moves from side-to-side. It's not leaking. Should I be worried?

Yes you should. Call a plumber and get it fixed.

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Help! I am retiling the shower and bathroom floor. Does the tile texture need to be the same? Would a shiny gray and white marble floor go with a gray stone tile in the shower? Should it be stone w/ stone and marble w/ marble? What would be a better choice for resale?

Marble is a stone too and there aren't any rules against mixing stones other than that they look good together. Please don't get a high gloss finish on a bathroom floor. It's a broken neck waiting to happen.

With that said, few things are more glorious in a bathroom than natural stone floors. Since you're confused about patterns and colors, go to a reputable tile or natural stone showroom and look at what's available. Then talk to a designer.

And for the love of God already, enough with the resale concerns. That's so 2007.

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Help! I am buying a new house that needs a total kitchen overhaul. I want to go rustic, maybe rustic - contemporary. I have a clean slate so I need some ideas for cabinets, counter tops, flooring, color palette. I really want to do stainless appliances and I am so clueless that I don't even know what kind of faucet to go with? Should everything be the same element of can I combine stainless with a rustic pendant light. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

thank you,

Thanks for your question. My name is Paul Anater and I'm a kitchen designer. You may have heard of me since I'm the one you sent a question to. Mine is a noble profession and every day kitchen designers just like me take the timid hands of homeowners just like you and we put together renovation plans. You can find someone who can help you by Googling the terms Kitchen Designer plus the name of your town.

Smart aleckry aside, the country's crawling with good designers in need of clients to help. If you need a referral, just let me know where you are and I'll connect you with someone.

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Help! Is stone-look laminate in a kitchen tacky? I have old tile that would be a real pain to remove and am told I could float a laminate over it? The rest of the house has 100+ year old wood floors so I don't want to put wood laminate down (too obviously fake). What do you think?

Madam, you've already provided me with the answer to your question. Yes, stone-look laminate is tacky tacky tacky. Especially when paired with 100-year-old wood floors. Despite the pain involved, remove the old floor properly and have a new floor installed that matches the quality of the floors throughout your home. The road to hell is not paved with good intentions, it's paved with short cuts.

No sale!

If I were Liz Taylor in Butterfield 8 I'd write that in lipstick on the hall mirror.

The blogosphere was abuzz yesterday with a New York Times article that cast a shadow of doubt across all of bloggerdom by insinuating that we're all paid shills. Pah! To wit:

Colleen Padilla, a 33-year-old mother of two who lives in suburban Philadelphia, has reviewed nearly 1,500 products, including baby clothes, microwave dinners and the Nintendo Wii, on her popular Web site Classymommy.com. Her site attracts 60,000 unique visitors every month, and Ms. Padilla attracts something else: free items from companies eager to promote their products to her readers.

...

Ms. Padilla typically acknowledges in each review which products were sent to her by companies and which items she bought herself. Other items on her site include her own videos for brands like Healthy Choice, which she labels as sponsored posts. But unlike postings in most journalism outlets or independent review sites, most companies can be assured that there will not be a negative review: if she does not like a product, she simply does not post anything about it.

OK, just to get this out in the open, no one has ever paid me a dime to write a post. Now, I do sell ads but the only way someone can get onto my right column is to sell something I'd ordinarily buy and recommend. I turn down more inquiries than I accept. Further, I won't get involved in sponsored links that work their way into my editorial content.

Do I get press releases and write an occasional post based on a press release? You bet. If it's a legitimate product that fits my niche and is something I'd recommend to a client or use myself, I'd write about it in a heartbeat. Do I get anything for that? No.

I get the occasional sample (like the one I'm getting next week from Fabric on Demand) or book to review, but I don't do any of that for money. The same holds true of the give aways I've run. The lucky winner gets the prize, not me. At most, I'm after the exposure and a back link. That and the odd free-lance gig.

My goal here is write interesting and informative posts and to give people interested in renovating their homes legitimate advice. I do that every day and I always call them like I see them.

So Classy Mommy (ugh) might get a Wii and a year's supply of microwave dinners (that must be where she got the "classy" part) and more power to her. But it ain't me babe. No, no, no it ain't me babe.

Fabric on Demand put to the test

Two weeks ago, I wrote about Fabric on Demand in post called Fabric on Demand --high tech meets homespun. Fabric on Demand is an online service where anybody can upload a design and have it printed as a fabric. I'm fascinated by this particular iteration of web 2.0, and it bodes for a future I'm very willing to embrace. What a tremendous means of self-expression this represents. I mean; why settle for upholstery, clothing, window treatments or bedding you don't love when you can design your own?

Soon after that blog post posted, I sent a link to it to Fabric on Demand. I do that often by the way. When I find a cool product, service or website it's my standard procedure to write to the manufacturer, provider or web master to let them know that I found them and that I like what they're up to.

Anyhow, I heard back from Rysa at Fabric on Demand later that day and she offered to print me a sample so I could see how their process works up close. I jumped at the chance and in turn wrote another post asking for a brave volunteer to send me an original illustration that would translate well as a fabric pattern. I was looking for something brightly colored and easy to work into a repeated pattern.

I appreciate all the interest that request generated and Kelly James from Design Ties sent me an illustration she did of some pool balls and they were perfect. Here's what Kelly sent me:

I uploaded the pool balls to Fabric on Demand's website and had a proof back very quickly. Here's a close up of the proof:

Here's what that pattern will look like as a yard of fabric.

Pretty cool! Fabric on Demand is printing me a sample of this pattern and I ought to have it by next week. When it arrives, you'll see it here first. Stay tuned!