What IS the state of the art?

The brilliant and stunning Nancie Mills-Pipgras from Mosaic Art Now sent me a link yesterday. This isn't unusual, people send me links all the time.  As is usually the case, Nancie's link was designed to get a rise out of me. Well, a rise is precisely what she got.

Check this out. The image at the top of this post is the newly re-designed lobby of the President Hotel in Times Square. The link from Nancie took me to the website of Interior Design magazine and a profile of this hotel's renovation. The President Hotel is Best Western's flagship property and they spent 15 million dollars to have 334 rooms, a fitness center, a business center, a conference facility and a lobby redesigned by the New York firm Stonehill and Taylor.

Stonehill and Taylor chose the two party political system of the United States as its theme and in a lot of ways theirs is a successful design. Successful in the sense that they managed to celebrate US politics as an idea, rather than the acrimonious practice it is. It's also successful because I had an interior design magazine to explain the theme to me. If I found myself in the lobby of The President Hotel without knowing what I was looking at I'd probably turn around and walk out.

Clever is one thing, but when clever comes at the expense of a harmonious interior I have to draw the line.

I can appreciate the thought that went into this, really. But at the same time, really? Am I missing something?

I've been thinking a lot about echo chambers lately. By being in an echo chamber I mean that someone so afflicted spends all his time listening to his own voice and voices that sound just like his. It's an easy rut to fall into. Who wants to listen to criticism or dissent? But life in an echo chamber gives anyone who spends too much time in one a pretty skewed view of the world. I get it that the grillwork in the lobby is a deconstructed US flag, but that lobby is not somewhere I'd like to hang out. I mean, how could anyone sleep in those bedrooms?

What do you guys think? Too advanced for a simple man like me to understand? Or is this an example of too much time spent in an echo chamber? Would you spend $389 for a Saturday night in one of those rooms? Tell me things.

Happy anniversary to me

I started this blog two years ago today. 878 posts later I'm still at it. Thank you for your kind indulgence and great company.

More great papers from Given Campbell

Last week I ran a series of wallpaper designs the great and talented Given Campbell cooked up to express her displeasure with Pat Robertson's latest appalling statement. Given came up with that design when she and I were batting ideas back and forth on Facebook the night previously. Mind you, she came up with that at one in the morning two days before she got married. Now that's what I call a commitment to one's art. Wow.

I've been meaning to write some more about the rest of Given's work for some time and now's as good an opportunity as ever. Given Campbell is a self-taught wallpaper artist and she works alone in a two-room studio in Tampa, FL. Given is the real deal, she's a fine artist by training and she channels that history and passion into her work in wallpaper.

Given's wallpapers are hand made, this is the real deal. She has a large library of stock patterns and takes on requests for custom patterns with enthusiasm. Her work's been featured in such publications as InStyle, Domino, Metropolitan Home, Real Simple, The New York times and too many more to list here. Given Campbell is an artist and an entrepreneur and I'm glad to be able to call her a friend. Spend some time on her website and follow her on Twitter. You'll see what I mean. 

Particle board vs. plywood: an experiment

I get asked a lot of questions about the relative merits of cabinetry constructed with a particle board box as opposed to cabinetry constructed with a plywood box. I find that most people who ask that question are looking for me to agree with whatever their opinion is so I don't argue. It's a topic like religion or politics in a lot of ways. I have my opinions of course and I know what I think is right, but in the interest of peace (and commerce) I keep my mouth shut and nod my head yes.

Some people really, honestly want to know what I think and my usual answer is that plywood construction isn't an automatic indicator of quality or superiority. I tell people that each method has its positives and each has its negatives. Left to my own devices I use both, depending on the job at hand. Particle board tends to cost less and if I can't see it (in the case of a drawer base) why spend the money? Plywood is lighter and can be altered in the field better. See? Each has a strength and a purpose.

Now when I talk about particle board and plywood, I'm talking about the grades of those materials used in better cabinetry. I can't vouch for the inferior versions of those materials because I never deal with them. By better grades I'm talking about 3/4" veneer plywood and 3/4" 165 lb. furniture board that's pressure laminated with a PVC film. Each of those materials carries the same lifetime warranty so I assume they're of equal quality. Further, because the 165 lb. furniture board is held together with solvent-based glues, I've always believed it to be more resistant to water. In fact, I've been told by more cabinetry reps than I can count that it is in fact, more water-resistant than plywood.

When pressed, that's my opinion on the topic, but I have to say that I've never actually tested either of those materials nor have I ever read of such a study. I've always wanted to test it for myself and this week, that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Yesterday at 11:15am, I took a six-inch by six-inch square of 3/4" veneer plywood and a six by six square of laminated particle board and I dropped each of them in a bowl of water.

I've been fishing them out and photographing them at regular intervals and the results have been interesting. I'm going to let them soak for a couple of days and then write everything up in a separate post some time later this week.

In the meantime, anybody care to venture a guess about how this will end up? What do you think happens when these materials get wet? I had all kinds of assumptions about how this would go and so far most of them have been wrong. Who wants to go out on a limb here?

Reader question: can you help me with a small kitchen layout?

Help! Can you help me with a layout design for a small kitchen? It has a lot of challenges and I don't know where to start. I sure could use Candice Olson right now! Behind one wall is the stairs to the basement, the other wall is open to the dining area. The basement wall has a recessed oven and fridge. The width of the kitchen is about nine feet and the length's about the same. There's also a door to the garage on one side. Do you have any suggestions for a layout?

Yeah, hire a kitchen designer. Good advice is never free and free advice is never good. Remember that.

If you need a referral to someone local to you, I will find you someone. If you'd like to hire me to do a layout for you I'll do so gladly but you're going to have to hire me. If you take that route, you'll get my undivided attention and commitment to your project. I will ask you questions you never thought were important but are. We're going to get on the phone and I'm going to teach you how to measure a room so that I can recreate it as it is and as it will be when this project's completed. We're going to work out every detail --we'll position every light, we'll account for every outlet, we're going to find a place to hide everything you want to hide and we'll find a place to show off everything you want to show off. By the time we're done you're going to forget who Candace Olson is.

At the end of this you're going to hold a set of my construction plans and you're going to say to yourself that paying me was the best money you've ever spent. You'll tape one of my perspective drawings to your fridge and you'll be able to see it as a completed project. You'll really see it because you're going to understand the steps it will take to make that perspective drawing come true. You're going to have my enthusiasm as we work out the details and then I'm going to cheer you on as you sail through a process that once scared the bejesus out of you. You're going to get all of that and then some, but it won't be free.

I love corresponding with the people who read this blog. It makes my day like you cannot believe to get to know people from all over who read something here and it made them think, or laugh and a lot of times it just pissed them off. All of that's cool. It's beyond cool actually.

I love it when somebody asks, "Hey Paul, are Sub Zero refrigerators worth it?" or "Should I put a wood or a stone floor in my new house?" Spouting off on topics like that gives my life richness and meaning and I'm only too happy to shoot off quickie answers.

But when it comes to asking me to be creative or to work out specifics, I have to draw the line. I make a living from my ideas and I'd starve if I gave them away. Opinions are easy but ideas take some time. That's why I charge for ideas.

BoConcept offer a great 3D space planning tool, excellent for planning the layout of your room