SketchUp updates

Lord knows I love me some Google SketchUp. Every time I turn around it seems, Google's finding a way to make it better. Somehow, they keep making it more intuitive as they make it more powerful. I found out last Friday that SketchUp is gearing up to roll out a new release and I cannot wait to see the next iteration of this software.




SketchUp comes in two versions, SketchUp Free and SketchUp Pro. SketchUp Free packs all of the modeling and visualization features of SketchUp Pro. It's intended for use by regular folks, but it's powerful enough that a lot of professionals use it. The difference between the two versions is that the tools for presentation, analysis and documentation that come with SketchUp Pro are missing from SketchUp Free. SketchUp Free has no restrictions on file size, rendering or performance. Why anyone would use any other rendering software is beyond me.



So the new release of SketchUp, both Pro and Free will be along shortly. If you're already a SketchUp 7 Pro user, the new release will be free. If you have an earlier version of SketchUp Pro, the new release will cost $95. If you're a SketchUp Free user, the new release is yours for the same price you paid for the current version. And now through 30 September 2009, if you want to buy the current version of SketchUp 7 Pro and get the new release for free, Google's offering $100 off the $495 purchase price. All you have to do is enter the promotion code S7MPTR in Google's Online Store.




Part of why I love so much about SketchUp is the ever expanding and ever more useful 3D Warehouse. There are thousands and thousands of models in the Warehouse and they're all free for the taking. The images I have scattered around this posting are some particular favorites form the Warehouse. Many of them are what Google calls Dynamic Components. This means that they are interactive. Appliance doors open, drawers close and sofas can be upholstered in any fabric you can imagine. What I say is a great new development is that there are as many user created models as there are manufacturer created models.




When I want to show someone how an Eames Lounge looks in their living room or if I want to play around with some table lamps from Crate and Barrel, they are there on the Warehouse and ready for me to insert directly into my model. I can actually show someone a true representation of a renovated home. I can use the actual KitchenAid dishwasher or the GE Monogram pro range they've already fallen in love with. I don't have to pretend a blank box is a French door refrigerator or that the brownish color on the floor is Ariete Black Travertine. It's all right there. It's like magic, I swear. For what it's worth, this designer finds himself specifying in real life the products he finds on the 3D Warehouse. Marketing departments take note!




So come join the in crowd, download a copy of SketchUp Free and learn how to use it. Once you master the basics, they will be no stopping you.

Reader question: What color appliances go with a copper sink?

Help! I read your blog all the time but I never wrote to you before. I like that you tell people what's on your mind. I can take it. My partner and I are building a new home and we would LOVE to have a copper sink. What I can't figure out is what color of appliances I should get to coordinate. The cabinets will have a darker maple finish. Please advise.

Well good, I'm glad you been on this site before and I'll do what I can. The easy answer to your question is that you should get the color appliances you like. There's no rule that says metal finishes have to match. In fact I say they look better when they don't.

Everybody you talk to will have a different take on this, but you wrote to me and here's what I say. Working a copper sink into a kitchen design involves more than appliance colors. Don't get me wrong; a well-made copper sink is a lovely, lovely thing. It's just that they're not very subtle --they are a scene stealer so it's best to let it be the focal point of your kitchen.

It sounds like you haven't selected the actual sink yet, so look for an apron front sink like the ones I'm picturing along with this post. Get a natural-looking patina on the sink you buy. There are all sorts of wild patinas you can get on a copper sink, but go basic and classic. Get stainless appliances, stainless steel is a classical finish in a kitchen and it's also a neutral. In going with stainless appliances, you now have two metal finishes in this kitchen, so keep going. Find a third and use it for your fixtures. Most manufacturers' oil-rubbed bronze finishes have a lot of copper color in them, so an oil-rubbed bronze faucet will work perfectly.

When you go to look at knobs and handles you'll now have three metal finishes to choose from, but hardware that comes close to the oil-rubbed bronze finish of the faucet will be the easiest to find. That doesn't mean that you can't use the color of the steel or the color of the copper when it comes time to picking hardware. What's important is that what you're doing make some kind of sense, it should tell a coherent story.

Long story short? Let your copper sink have center stage and get stainless appliances.

Local Recycled Glass And More.

About two weeks ago, I posted about some companies I found that create tile out of recycled glass. That post was only part of the story - the search for recycled glass products ultimately led me to look around my home state and home town for locally sourced recycled glass products. The emphasis on recycled or "green" products should also include considerations on using local materials and local businesses as a way of cutting the necessity of shipping and packaging, as well as keeping money in the local economy.



The first company I came across that featured many kinds of recycled products was Coverings Etc based in Miami. They carry several materials that utilized recycled or cast-off components including their Bio-Glass which is pictured above. The customer service at Coverings Etc was top-notch over the phone and they quickly followed up with detailed information about several of their products (thanks Jennifer!).



Probably the most unusual material they feature though is a recycled aluminum tile that is made from old aircraft body panels called Bio-luminum. The tiles are made by remelting the old aluminum, casting a block, and then cutting it into tile. Coverings Etc describes their aluminum tile as having "a very distinct, almost industrial aesthetic", and I could not agree more. It does not have the warmth and three dimensional quality of their Bio-Glass but I love the striations on the surface of the tiles from the cutting process and its subdued metallic luster
.

The Bio-Glass really intrigued me so I headed down to Indigo, the local green building supply here in Gainesville. They carry a large stock of samples that you can handle and drool after, plus the owner and staff warmly welcome you and whatever questions you might bring. We are extremely lucky to have a resource like Indigo in our community.

Liberty, the owner of Indigo, also referred me to a local concrete specialist whose work amazed me. His name is James Catabia, and owns a local concrete countertop business called Casting Impressions. James gave me a thorough interview when I called him on a Friday afternoon while his latest project was curing.


He custom colors his concrete to whatever shade you need, mixes and pours exactly to minimize waste, and locally sources his raw materials. He can produce terrazo utilizing recycled glass, as seen below.



His drive to create custom colors and commitment to local sourcing matches his earnest customer service nicely. James told me that if people in other areas were looking for a local concrete specialist, they can find one easily at the concretenetwork.com. Hopefully, the services listed on there in other areas produce the same high quality work found with Casting Impressions.

Apartment Therapy makes my head hurt

It's Saturday and I'm feelin' the need to pontificate.

Against my better judgement, I logged onto that doggone Apartment Therapy the other day. I have no excuse other than I was looking to read something inane, and what better place for a fix of inanity than AT?

I found this:

Over the weekend we read about some recent studies showing that plant essential oils from common herbs—specifically rosemary, thyme, clove, and mint—can be effective as natural pesticides. Apparently just a few drops of the plant oils mixed with water can repel or kill destructive aphids and mites. This seems like great news for those trying to grow veggies and fruit at home without the use of harmful chemicals...

Uhhhhhh, the plant extracts mentioned here; rosemary, thyme, clove and mint, are most definitely harmful chemicals. If they weren't harmful chemicals, they wouldn't kill aphids and mites.

All plants are engaged in an arms race with the creatures that eat them. Plants defend themselves the only way they can, they evolve chemical defenses. Some of these defenses are aimed at a specific predator and some defenses are more broad spectrum. Human beings aren't usually the intended target in this arms race, and as a species we reap some really tasty rewards. So even though I happen to love the taste of rosemary, thyme, cloves and mint (to maintain the theme of the AT pablum I quoted above), I never forget that the taste I'm so drawn to in these plants is essentially a pesticide. I'm not the intended target, but if I eat enough rosemary it'll make me as sick as a single bite of rosemary does a katydid or an aphid. Rosemary's taste comes from a chemical made by the plant to act as a pesticide, and rosemary's certainly not alone in this. These foods and flavors aren't bad and I'm not saying that you shouldn't eat cilantro or mustard greens any more. Toxicity is a matter of dose. Period. A toxic dose of cyanide is surprisingly small. A toxic dose of water is significantly higher, but it's still a toxic dose.

The following is an excerpt from a lecture given by Richard A. Muller, a professor at the University of California at Berkley. He makes some great, though counterintuitve points about this whole natural/ unnatural division. I LOVE this kind of stuff.

Life is rarely, if ever, an either/or proposition. Divisions between natural and unnatural are arbitrarily drawn. Natural is a meaningless label applied by marketing departments. The current vogue for "organic" foods may have standards behind that label (for the time being at least), but it too is an arbitrary line in the sand.

Have you ever noticed that the bug spray Raid smells like chrysanthemums? It does because its active ingredient is pyrethrin. That's chrysanthemum extract. So what's the difference between spraying Raid on a tomato plant and growing a chrysanthemum next to the same plant? One may make you feel better but at the end of the day, there's no real difference.

I say it all the time, science is your friend folks.

You'll never think of glass tile the same way again

The other day I received a link from the great Laura Aiken and her linked directed me to Tom and Saundra Synder's Designer Glass Mosaics. Tom and Saundra have a Charlotte, NC- based glass studio and together, they produce commissioned glass work work like nothing I have ever seen.

The Snyders do a lot with fused glass. Fused glass is the technique of layering cut and powdered glass and then putting it into a kiln so the layers can melt and fuse together. The result is a glass with dimension and intense color saturation. Many of their pieces take on the feel and depth of a carved relief.

I've seen fused glass used in art pieces, but the Syders are pioneering a whole new direction in fused glass. They make tile with it for starters and they also make mosaics using these fused glass tiles. Their work is arrestingly distinctive. Their floral and scenic mosaics take on an impressionist air without stooping to mimicry. This is clearly 21st century art and the point of view is definitely the Snyders.

On first glance, this back splash appears to be a painting.

But up close you can see how it's made. It's remarkable. These works are the product of two minds of rare vision and skill. This has been made in sections, panels the Snyders call them, and then fit together on site and then grouted into place.

These poppies just jump off the wall here.

The way that the glass has been layered and melted makes it appear to have been painted with a brush.

Believe it or not, this is a curved, glass tile wall. These individual tiles come together to make this mural and the key word is that they are individual tiles. Each piece has a job to do as they come together to make up these dogwood blossoms.

These dogwood blossoms also show off the relief possible with their technique. Keep in mind that these are installed as individual tiles, this not a wall with a relief applied to it.

The detail shot above shows the individual pieces of the wall more clearly than the panoramic photo. Notice the variation of the flowers.

This is an individual accent tile. I swear, that water seems to be moving.

And here's a cluster of four, smaller accent tiles. Fantastic!

The Snyders make fused glass panels, mosaic tile, furniture, lighting, fine art and vases. The vases are Tom's handiwork primarily and they are made from thousands of individual mosaic tiles. Tom's a mathematician and the math embodied in his vases proves my theory that art and science (or math in this case) aren't in opposition at all. In fact, I say they're the same thing.

I am in awe of the mind that figured out how to make these. Think about it, these are squares and rectangles that wrap and interlock perfectly over a curving shape. When the curve widens, the pieces have to get larger. When the curve narrows, so do the tiles. Pulling this off in a solid color would be daunting enough. Using a complex pattern and then executing it perfectly is awe inspiring. Wow Tom. Wow.

The Snyders' website, Designer Glass Mosaics is filled with wonders beyond what I'm showing you here. Please go over there and look around. You'll be amazed.