HGTV's Design Star spawns an uprising

The fifth season of HGTV's Design Star debuts on Sunday night. Yeah, I'll watch it. But it'll be the way somebody watches a train wreck. Here's the promo shot.

Guts? Glory? Glam? Come on, it's interior design; and hokey interior design at that. Can we please stop caging interior design in terms that conjure acts of bravery and daring-do?

Anyhow, Design Star has a panel of judges made up of HGTV's resident stars; Vern Yip, Genevieve Gorder and Candice Olson. They furrow their brows and act mean for the cameras as the contestants whip out poorly-executed rooms in a vain attempt to communicate their signature styles. Ugh.

I think the whole enterprise does a disservice to our honorable profession and the show would benefit from some levity. A whole lot of levity.

A couple of us were opining about the show on Twitter last night when @layersandlayers and @ZiaPriven and I came up with the idea to draft Joy and Janet, the Moggit Girls, to be judges on Design Star.

Any why not? They are already HGTV stars in their own right and they would counteract the sitting judges' mean-ness perfectly.

The future of humanity itself hangs in the balance here if I can borrow some of HGTV's heroism talk. If you're a Twitterer, join our movement. The Moggit Girls tweet as @moggitgirls and when you tweet your demands that they be cast to sit in the throne of judgment, use the hashtag #judgemoggits. If anybody has a better idea for a hashtag, let me know.

C'mon kids, let's start an HGTV uprising, a revolution. To the barricades!

Is this tub setting up your kids for a life of disappointment? The sequel.

On 23 April I ruffled a whole bunch of feathers by posing the not so rhetorical question "Is this tub setting up your kids for a life of disappointment" with regard to this very expensive "kid-friendly" tub.

I say yes, of course. Well it gets even better, because the same company who came up with the fire engine now has a princess' carriage tub.

Lord knows we'd never want a little girl to bathe in a fire truck. It'll turn her into a lesbian. Quick! Let's find something that'll keep her appropriately girly.

How did I manage to survive a childhood where I took baths in an iron tub surrounded by glass bottles of shampoo?

via Christian Montone on Flickr

Clothesline controversy? Huh?

There was an article on Shelterpop last week about the controversy surrounding clotheslines in suburbia. Huh?

In what universe can this be an eyesore,

Heidi Zech Photography

but this isn't?

I fear for this country, I really do. The Shelterpop article mentioned a piece from the New York Times that dug into the matter in more detail. Apparently, 60 million people in the US live in 300,000 private communities. In most of them, hanging out laundry is forbidden. I cannot imagine ever living in one of those places, but plenty of people do. No clotheslines is but one of what are no doubt hundreds of Gladys Kravitz-isms written into the the community agreements that bind these places together.

I grew up wearing clothes that were line dried. I hang my stuff out now because I like how sun-dried laundry smells. More than how it smells, I like how it feels. There's something about stiff jeans and undies that makes me think my clothes are really clean.

When I was a kid, there was a madwoman who lived next door. She lived to terrorize us kids but she liked my mother. She liked my mother a great deal. Her reason for this unexpected affection? My mother "hung out a nice wash."

I wonder if suburbanites would get along better if they were allowed to have clotheslines. Of course, what drives all of this is that graven image, resale value. Around six percent of all residential electricity use goes to power clothes dryers. If even some small portion of that were conserved by hanging out some laundry some times, the savings could be significant.

Besides, isn't nice to be a human being from time to time?  Even in a gated community?

Well have no fear because there's a fledgling "right to dry" movement in the US. How American is this by the way? One side bans clotheslines and the opposition declares a right to a clothesline. Anyhow, this right to dry movement has spawned a documentary film called Drying for Freedom. Here's the trailer:




Well that seems a bit extreme, but no more extreme than the absurd idea that it's against the rules to have a clothesline. What do you guys think? Would your rather die than line dry? Would you man the barricades to defend your right to hang your clothes in the sun? What do you think of this clothesline controversy?

AIA sneak peeks

Here are two more great booths to see at the AIA show in Miami this week are Axor and Ceramic Tiles of Italy.

Axor is the designer line of Hansgrohe and they'll be debuting their Urquiola line at the show. The Urquiola collection is the result of Axor's five-year collaboration with Spanish-born Patricia Urquiola. Axor Urquiola combines Axor's technical prowess and efficiency with Urquiola’s artistic expressions of intimacy, poetry and warmth. Her distinctive point of view is apparent in every component in this eclectic line. Urquiola’s designs for Axor include numerous individual options and an open invitation to mix and personalize the entire collection.

Axor has a video that reviews the Urquiola collection and it's mesmerizing.




Wow.

You can see Axor at booth 526 at AIA in Miami this week. Let me know if those tubs are as beautiful as I think they are.

Ceramic Tiles of Italy will be at booth 379. Trust me, any time you know that Ceramic Tiles of Italy will be a trade event, go see them. Have an espresso, meet some interesting people and see what's possible when an industry reimagines itself.

Their booth was designed by Italian architects Dante Donegani & Giovanni Lauda of D&L Designs, it will showcase a range of new tile collections from Italy’s leading producers. You'll see oversized slabs and impossibly thin forms, bold prints and surprising textures, brilliant innovations and well-loved classics. More than 50 different pieces will be set out on six tables and visitors are encouraged to touch and feel these amazing tiles.

Here are two examples of what will be at their booth. First up is Cerdisa's Reflex Design. It's a glossy tile, it comes in two sizes (20"x20" and 9.5"x19.5") and in four colors - white, black, gold and silver.

Here's another wall tile to see. I love dimension and I love texture and it's great to find both in the same wall tile. The tile is called Enigma and it's made by Monocibec. It's available in three sizes (13"x36", 19.7"x19.7" and 26"x26") and in three colors: golden dark, intense ivory or total white.

If you're in the mood to get lost in the world of Italian tile, check out Ceramic Tiles of Italy's new project gallery and their new product gallery.

Remember: Axor at booth 526 and Ceramic Tiles of Italy at booth 379. And remember, report back if you're in Miami this week.

Something new under the sink

Somebody rethought the sink base. Check it out.

This is Merillat's new CoreGuard™ sink base. In a Merillat CoreGuard™, the door and frame of the cabinet are the species hardwood someone would expect, but the rest of the cabinet, the sides, the back and the floor are made from a seamless, water-resistant, engineered polymer.

What this means is an end to water leak and spill damage under the sink. Remarkable thinking Merillat.

CoreGuard™ made its debut at KBIS this year and will be available this fall. If you'd like to see one in person, Masco Cabinetry (that's Kraftmaid, Merillat and DeNova) will be at booth 2793 at the AIA show in Miami this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you're at the show, stop by their booth and report back on that sink base please. I saw it in Chicago and I was quite impressed. I'd love to get some other reactions. Good job Merillat!