Reader Question: What's my style?

Help! I'm getting ready to renovate my house and I'm in a bit of a quandary. I like all kinds of things, from antique sofas to hyper-modern appliances. I've been going through the magazines and hard as I try to, I can't categorize my style. It's one thing to be indecisive but there's a lot of money on the line here and I'm wondering if there's a website or a tool that will help me find my style?

I haven't run a reader question in ages but this one was too good to pass up.

Sun in an Empty Room, Edward Hopper - 1963; Oil on canvas, 28 3/4 x 39 1/2 inches; Private collection 

Why the rush to categorize what you like? No one categorizes how she or she dresses and I don't understand why anybody would want to pigeonhole him- or herself into a rigid category someone else defines.

Before I go any further I want to ask you to do something for me. Stop watching HGTV. I suspect that network is where you're getting this need to categorize yourself. Contrary to how it looks, HGTV doesn't exist to educate you. It's there to sell you the products that pay to appear in their programs. Any time you see Genevieve Gorder or David Bromstad pick up or call out a branded product, that's a paid placement. It's easier to sell people stuff by forcing them into a category and that's what drives the idea that there are people who are country, contemporary, cottage or what have you.

Reality works a lot differently than that because people can't be categorized so easily. It's human nature to want to break massive amounts of information into manageable groups but resist the urge to do that with yourself.

Morning Sun, Edward Hopper - 1952; Oil on canvas, 28 1/8 x 40 1/8 inches; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio

The other notion to rid yourself of is the idea that there's such a thing as timelessness when it comes to design. All design looks like the time when it was installed. Even retro styles are modern interpretations of other times. The reason for this is simple, times and people change. If you're looking for longevity, there are classics aplenty but even they are hardly timeless.

Rather than categorizing everything you see into a a specific style, concentrate on the individual elements of the rooms photos you're drawn to. Join a site like Modenus.com or Houzz.com and start collecting scrapbooks of photos. As you add each photo, write a note about what you like in the shot.

In a very short time you'll have a collection of images that can be called eclectic, which is what most people end up with. Eclectic means a bit of everything and it's a perfectly fine thing for an aesthetic sensibility to be.

Rooms by the Sea, Edward Hopper  - 1951; Oil on canvas, 29 x 40 inches; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut 

Once you have a good collection going, start interviewing designers. Interview them as you would interview an employee. There's no real hurry but what you want is to find someone who can listen as well as he or she can advise. Good designers, not the ones who end up on HGTV, don't have specific styles they work in. Their job is to channel your sensibilities to give you the home you want. A good designer can look through your seemingly unrelated scrapbooks and find the common threads that will make you feel like your renovated home fits you.

If a designer you're interviewing doesn't listen or if you're not 100% comfortable, then move on. Don't expect the designers you meet with to do anything but talk to you about your project and expect them to ask what your budget is. Holding onto that piece of information in particular helps no one. Their goal is to help you spend your money more wisely, not to fleece you. Working with a designer will save you money, despite how counterintuitive that statement may sound.

But it's only a designer who can show you how to knit together all the disparate things you like. A good designer can make sleek, modern appliances work with antique Hoosier chests if that's your thing. A good designer can combine a Duncan Phyfe sofa with an Eames Lounge and an Arco floor lamp and make it work.

Hotel Room, Edward Hopper 1931; Oil on canvas, 60 x 65 inches; Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection

So the answer to your question is to stop trying to categorize yourself and find a good designer. I'm plugged into an amazing network of dedicated designers and if you need a referral I will find you someone.

Speaking of wood floors

Here are my Hardwood Floor overviews that have run on Houzz.com these last two weeks. Click ont he slide shows and they'll send you to the original postings.

Your Floor: An Introduction to Solid-Plank Wood Floors

Houzz- Kitchen Remodel, Bathroom Remodel and More»

Browse Lighting on Houzz- For Example:

Ceiling Fans · Wall Sconces · Kitchen Lighting And Cabinet Lighting · Recessed Lighting · Light Bulbs · Lamp Shades · Floor Lamps · Ceiling Lighting ·

Your Floors: Zebra, Tiger, and Teak Wood, Oh, My!

Houzz- Kitchen Remodel, Bathroom Remodel and More»

Browse Kids Products on Houzz- For Example:

Baby Bedding · Baby Toys · Kids Bedding · Kids Beds · Kids Rugs · Kids Tables · Nursery Decor · Rocking Chairs And Gliders ·

The last wood species I profiled is an Australian wood called Spotted Gum. It's breathtaking and it spurred a bit of a sidebar conversation about gum trees and koalas, check it out.

Meet the highly innovative Next Generation Europa Collection of ventilation hoods from Zephyr

The Milano Glass Island Range Hood

Household ventilation powerhouse Zephyr just released a newly-imagined collection of ventilation hoods called Next Generation Europa. These hoods are game changers on a whole bunch of fronts and it's exciting to see an appliance manufacturer be so willing to abandon business as usual in the quest for greater efficiencies.

The Milano Wall Glass Range Hood

What kind of efficiencies? Well, the entire Next Generation Europa Collection produces 77% less noise, delivers 30% more cubic feet per minute (CFM) of ventilation, is 77% more energy-efficient and uses low-temperature, high-definition light bulbs that will last for 68 years.

The Modena Island Range Hood

All of that efficiency is hidden in designs that are so sleek and beautiful you'd never imagine they were using a "green" approach to appliance design. Throw away the hair shirts, this collection proves that beauty can use resources wisely too.

The Modena Wall Range Hood

There are a couple of key components to Zephyr's core efficiencies. The first being a an onboard computer that not only manages the user interface, it runs a DC controller. What that means is that these hoods take AC current from the wall and convert it to DC. DC power is more controlled and DC power allows the motor to generate higher torque with fewer RPMs.

The Napoli Island Range Hood

Another key component to these new hoods are the high definition LED lights they use. The bulbs were developed by Bloom and they use 3 watts of power to generate a light level that's nearly as warm and intense as halogen. The "warmth" of a light source is measured in degrees Kelvin and the lower the number, the warmer the light is said to be. Most white LEDs come in at around 5000K but the HD LEDs from Bloom and Zephyr come in at 3200K. Traditional halogens come in at around 3000K, so unless you're doing a direct comparison, I doubt anybody would be able to identify these lights as LEDs. Those HD LEDs also come with something else that's unheard of for a light bulb, a three year warranty.

The Venezia Wall range Hood

Finally, the last and most noticeable key component to this collection is a motor Zephyr calls a DCBL motor. The DCBL motor uses 26 watts to operate as opposed to 115 watts for a traditional blower motor. On its lowest setting, the DCBL motor generates enough CFMs of air circulation to effectively vent one 10,000 BTU burner and one 15,000 BTU burner when both are set on high but it does so with 77% less noise and 30% more CFMs. The DCBL motors have six power levels and even when they're running at full bore, it makes 11% less noise, uses 43% less electricity and delivers 38% more CFMs than a traditional motor.

The Verona Wall range Hood

Am I getting too techie? I can't help myself some times, I know. Did I mention that they're pretty to look at too?

The Milano Island Stainless Range Hood

The Next Generation Europa Collection is a small part of Zephyr's large number of available models. Poke around Zephyr's website to see more and to learn some important terms about kitchen ventilation. There are even some online tools to help you determine the proper height for a range hood and how to buy the ideal CFM rating for your kitchen hood.

The Milano Wall Range Hood

Wood floors to drool over

I've been working on a ten-part flooring series over at Houzz.com for the last couple of weeks and have moved onto wood floors. Last week and this week are all about solid plank floors and next week I dive into the world of engineered wood floors.

As the series unfolds I'll post slides shows and links here every week and when it wraps up I'll consolidate everything into a flooring super post. In the meantime, follow the action over at Houzz.

A company that's been instrumental in my research on wood floors is BR111. They have a stunning website, complete with prices and a store locator. If you're interested to see what's available in solid wood, engineered wood, locking, bamboo and wall treatments, spend some time with BR111.

One of the things I look for in a manufacturer's website is high-quality photography and BR111 doesn't disappoint in any way. Here are a couple of their shots.

Kingsbridge Oak

Brazilian Teak

Macchiato Pecan

Wenge

Thanks for being such a terrific resource BR111. Again, here's their website.

Open Source meets design

Ronen Kadushin is a Berlin-based industrial designer who's onto something he calls Open Design.

Through Open Design, Kadushin distributes his household objects under a Creative Commons license. Anything you see in the Open Design catalog can be downloaded and recreated, shared and owned by anybody who adheres to the agreements spelled out in Creative Commons.

Creative Commons holds that anything made available through it can be used by anybody so long as the originator gets credit for his or her work. This website is published under a Creative Commons license and it's something I support wholeheartedly.

I'd always thought of Creative Commons as it relates to internet content and I think it's exciting that a highly-regarded industrial designer is distributing chairs and lamps to the world through it.

All you need is AutoCAD and access to a CNC router and you can have any of the items in the Open Design catalog. Just download the .dxf file and you're ready to go.

I'm fascinated by this idea of course, but Kadushin seems to have included something in his Open Design catalog that's intended to be a lure for me specifically. Here it is.

Does it look familiar? It ought to.

It's a light fixture based on the centerpiece of Picasso's Guernica. Click on this photo to expand the painting.

Guernica is the first painting I ever studied and through it I learned just about everything I know now about art appreciation.

Pablo Picasso painted Guernica for the Paris Expo in 1937. It was his response to the German and Italian bombing of the Basque village of Guernica at 4:30 in the afternoon on a market day. The men, women and children killed that day were innocent civilians and Picasso's painting drew worldwide attention to the bloodbath that was the Spanish Civil War.

In the years since 1937, Picasso's Guernica has become an emblem of the futility of war and the unacceptable toll it takes on innocent civilians. It's one of the most profound pacifist statements of the 20th Century. Look past the Cubist conventions Picasso used in this painting and read a bit about what he's saying.

As an interesting and nearly unknown aside, the estate of Nelson Rockefeller commissioned a tapestry replica of Guernica for the United Nations. From 1985 through 2009 it hung in the UN's headquarters in New York. However in February 2003, when Colin Powell arrived to make the case for the US's invasion of Iraq, the tapestry was covered by a blue tarp so that it wouldn't be the backdrop when he appeared on camera to address the press.

It's since been placed on permanent loan to the Whitechapel Gallery in London. Presumably so as not to embarrass any more war-mongers.

Anyhow, check out Ronen Kadushin's entire Open Design catalog. If you have access to a CNC machine, I'd love to see some results of your downloads. If you find yourself short of a CNC, you can buy Kadushin's stuff already made at Movisi.