Construction and demolition debris remains one of the largest streams of waste entering our landfills and drywall makes up between 5 and 15 percent of that flow. I hate the idea of perfectly usable materials ending up at a dump because no one could figure out a second life for them, so I was pleased to find out that USA Gypsum take scraps of drywall (much from new construction) and turns it into a soil amendments and conditioners.
Ok, so I've talked about ornate doorknobs and cabinet pulls as being jewerly for your house before. And at the time, I really believed it. Then I came across Edgar Berebi's collection of architectural hardware, which has officially thrown everything else out the window. With their painstakingly intricate details, meticulously placed crystals, and antique-worthy designs that harken back to a time when sitting down to concentrate on a task for days on end was considered a great skill, I find myself really wishing for the first time that I could minituarize cabinet pulls and wear them as earring studs.
Ok, so the inspirations for the above sconces were actually lily pads, but is it just me or do they look like eye irises? Either way, I think they and the rest of the Lily Pad collection from New York-based jGoodDesign are pretty dazzling.
See-through and slick glass tile can be tricky and tedious to install, but when done right the material's brilliant sheen can easily transform any room into a showcase. One great source for these sumptuous squares (and rectangles and hexagons) is the California-based Oceanside Glasstile.
It's hard to avoid laundry days in my household—literally. The ironing board gets set up in the living room and I have to press up against the wall and scoot by the drying rack to get into my bedroom. With this in mind, I fully intend to invest in an ASKO laundry system—if and when my co-op ever approves the installation of washers and dryers in our apartments. The company's UltraCare Hidden Helpers line includes laundering accessories that easily tuck in and out of view, making my unsightly set-up obsolete.
Bradbury & Bradbury, one of my favorite sourcesfor reproduction wallcoverings, has introduced a royally-inspired line of damask wallpapers. Based on an 1881 wallcovering originally made for Queen Victoria's Throne Room at St. James's Palace, these prints — unearthed from the company's stash of vintage papers — haven't been offered in their catalogs before now.
Part of the Morris Tradition Collection, the hand-printed St. James (above in ruby) is basically a scaled down version of the 17-color real thing. Meanwhile, the Knightsbridge Damask (shown in burgundy and jasper after the jump) has a 12-color floral ogee pattern with an even smaller repeat, which is great for making a compact powder room appear larger. St James: $250 for a 27-inch wide, 15-foot long roll that covers 30 square feet. Knightsbridge: $107 per same size roll.
You know those nice, deeply recessed coffered ceilings you see inside some Queen Anne houses? You don't always have inherit them or hire a carpenter to build them from scratch. After seeing that a few people on TOH discussion boards are wondering aloud—and in vain—where to get one that's prefabricated, I was driven crazy to find one too. And the age-old Elizabethan look is available from Midwestern Wood Products Co. in an easy-to-install modular system that gives you a coffered ceiling instantly. For a competent DIYer, this could be well within reach—minus the labor associated with a custom job.
I'm always in search of companies that incorporate stone into their products. It's a favorite material of mine and, when done well, cold slabs of rock can be turned into warm, timeless centerpieces. One company that hits this mark is Stone Forest. Just check out their new line of sinks and vanities.
I love the Bordeaux vanity above, which is expertly crafted out of a single block of Jerusalem Gold limestone. Also available in carrara marble, the basin sits atop traditional-looking console legs. Beautiful and practical, the horizontal connectors can double as towel bars.
When I think outdoor furniture, I think of my legs sticking to hot plastic chairs, and flimsy white tables that I don't dare lean against. Cheap and throwaway—usually, at least.
But this new set from Century Furniture is rapidly changing my mind.
Their Estancia collection's finished teak furniture has plush and weather-friendly faux leather or vinyl-covered cushions.
With hammered copper detailing, thick baluster-like legs, and mosaic stone tabletops, the furniture-grade items look just as at home indoors as they do out on the patio.
These new faux tiles from Stone Impressions aren't quite solid stone, but they are quite sustainable.
The rocky imitations are actually made from recycled glass, water bottles, post-industrial metal shavings, and demolition wood chips. Oh, and some cement.
They're half the weight of concrete, which should make installation easier. They come in a myriad of motifs—see my favorites pieces from the Listello collection, after the jump.
After wrapping up my wallpaper story, which you can see in this month's March issue, I couldn't quite shake my desire for damask-inspired prints and unique wall-covering materials.
One idea that I wasn't able to include in the collection were these decorative ceramic tiles from Venus Ceramica.
The Spain-based company uses digital printing technology to create their colorful and curving images on the 25x60-inch wall rectangles. Once they're up, you need to touch the wall to tell the difference.
Do you think these fancy patterns would gussy up a plain old wall, or are they a little too fussy for your tastes? Want to learn how to do them yourself?
They're the work of BoppArt, a high-end decorative painting firm known for stenciled accents on floors, walls, and ceilings (right).
I've chosen the simple pattern above (and the other one after the jump) because we're considering adding these patterns' stencils to our site in June, at which point you can download them and use them on your own walls.
That is, if you like them. Let me know in the comments.
The 22,400 rpm, battery-operated motor sucks up the pests from up to 2 feet away and directs them toward an electrical grid in the tube, where they get zapped.
But if it's going to keep a creepy crawly from falling on me and scuttling along my body (yes, that happened and I still shudder to think about it), I think it's worth the $50 price tag.
Especially since spring is around the corner, which means my home will once again be invaded by mosquitoes, spiders and others I'd rather not get close enough to name.
The heavier (but no less fantastic) counterweight to the Cloud Lamp is the Tresor coin chandelier.
Designed by Terzani, another luxury lighting company from Italy, the Tresor is made from 3,900 metal coins.
Each little Doubloon is individually hand-welded together and finished in either gold or silver leaf, so that the globes simply exude precious and skilled craftsmanship.
Take a behind-the-scenes look at the artisans at work, after the jump.
Suspended by nearly invisible wire, the soft fluffiness is actually practical, washable fabric.
While the light would be pushing the creativity meter with just that, there is (of course) more.
Inside the hanging ball of white are four mechanical arms and an internal engine to make sure the cloud "softly undulates" as its fluorescents light up the room.
Can you see elephants or sailing ships or any of those crazy cumulus shapes?
This is still just a concept, but I think it may very well one day be the savior of college students and roaming bachelors everywhere: The Casulo, a.k.a the room in a box.
Designed by two Danish students at the Köln International School of Design, the pallet-sized (80- x 120-cm) box contains a desk, a small cabinet, three stool chairs, an armoir, bed (with mattress!), and a shelving unit.
All of these essentials for a bedroom/home office can be unpacked in about 7 minutes. Talk about modular living.
Check out the video above—honestly, it's as entertaining as watching a bunch of clowns climb out of a teeny tiny car at the circus. Did I mention that no tools are needed?
After the jump, a shot of the room fully assembled.
A polyester tie makes a statement in and of itself—add a few saws, wrenches, or pliers, though, and you're delving into dangerous, high school shop teacher territory.
Fresh from Wildties, these are part of our gallery of Hardware to Wear, a showcase of toolbox clothing and jewelry that we think would be wonderful gifts for your tool-lovin' sweetheart this Thursday.
And if he wears one of these, I have a feeling you won't have to worry about him getting Valentines from anybody else.
Motawi Tilework's penchant for celebrating (and replicating) the great masters of architecture and design is not news, but even I'm surprised at how they've managed to choose knock-out designs time and time again.
This time around, their new Montrose collection pays homage to architect Louis Sullivan by bringing back to life the tiles he first made in 1908 for the National Farmers Bank in Owatonna, Minnesota.
With a motif that manages to reference both music and nature in a seamless (dare we say, poetical) manner, the handmade art tiles are the perfect inspirational accents for your study's fireplace or bar's backsplash.
Look for the 8x8-inch masterpieces to be available this spring in black, light oak and sky blue colorways.
In my search for the perfect exterior sconces (my latest Luxuries project), I've been coming across a couple of really great little niche lighting companies.
I'd like to know what secret sources you've discovered for yourself. But first, let me introduce you to Bear Creek Glass.
The company adds subtle modern twists to their classically-inspired interior sconces. The Alabama artisans use traditional hand-blown glass techniques, for instance, yet they do their work with mostly recycled glass.
The results, like the 4-light Montclair above, are pretty groovy.
After nixing the notion to go with a traditional tung oil finish for my white maple floors, I'm still left with an overwhelming array of options.
These four samples, mocked up with some blended mahogany stains from the incredible Abbot Paint and Varnish, have narrowed the field. No conclusions yet.
I am leaning toward the dark one, though, third from the left. But I could be swayed.
So I put it to you, readers: Any advice? Brand recommendations and application tips welcome, too.
If you want to use earth-moving equipment as a toy, you've got a few options: you can dangerously dangle from a digger's bucket, or you can get this miniature version and safely scoop sand out back.
Holz Toys' wooden digger is clearly the smarter of the two options.
The manufacturer says that children "were all desperate to have a go, and it was fascinating to
see how quickly and intuitively they grasped the concept behind the
twin lever action."
It's like those constructive eating tools: Bigtime fun, plus excellent training for a career operating heavy machinery.
Old multi-paned and stained glass windows are a real treasure to come across. They're also really hard to care for and restore, since lead strips deteriorate and leave the tiny panes of glass vulnerable to breakage.
While salvaging an old window is always preferred, another option is to turn your existing windows into works of art with decorative lead strips.
Available at Outwater for $13 to $23, the 3/16-inch to 1/2-inch self-adhesive plastic strips come in three metallic finishes.
Stick them on and you can transform a plain double-pane or sidelight into a vintage-looking piece of craftsmanship in just a few hours.
Wearing your vintage sweater while applying the strips is optional.
As radiators and home heating systems across the country start clunking and clambering back to life, you might want to change out more than those old furnace filters.
As a present to your home (and really yourself) consider changing out the plain-Jane covers currently taking residence over your floor registers and air returns with some new ones from Signature Hardware.
There comes a time in every amateur plumber's life when the mouth is used as a third hand.
Wrenches, one can quickly observe, do not taste good.
Nor do mallets, keys, or pliers, I'd assume, but rather than testing them first-hand, I'll opt for the decidedly delicious alternative of Andrea Slitti's chocolate tools.
The handmade tool treats, as Tabitha explains in our Edible Home Improvement Gifts gallery, are dusted with cocoa powder to give them an antiquated, rusty look.
With their intricate detail, stamped lettering, and parts that look so realistic you'd think they could move, one could be forgiven for mistaking these, at first glance, for the real thing.
And that's a perfectly good reason, as far as I'm concerned, to carry them in your mouth.
I don’t think there’s a better way to get a stripped-down old house back to its roots than by fitting it with architecturally appropriate hardware.
And while attending the Traditional Building Show in New Orleans last month, I found a fine little company that’ll help you do just that.
Whether you live in a California Craftsman or a Detroit Art Deco, you can find flawless reproduction hinges, doorknobs, switch plates, bin pulls, hooks, and rosettes at Charleston Hardware.
This classy commode's 50,000 hand-set Swarovski crystals anchor the Isis collection, a line of blinged-out bathroom fixtures designed by Jemal Wright of Hollywood, Florida.
This one already sold for $75,000, but the artist has a matching sink up for grabs and is planning to complete an ice-encrusted double slipper tub by spring of 2008.
His other work--not as shiny, but certainly not subtle--includes pedestal sinks and even urinals in all hues of colored chrome.
Think it's over the top? Maybe, but how else could you appropriately complement your $20,000 custom closet?
During a recent barn raising, I was surprised that the sliding doors were hung with traditional barn-door rollers, the kind with horseshoe-shaped brackets and wheels that roll along a horizontal track.
These were authentic, beautifully made reproductions of hardware found on barns, sheds and carriage houses dating back to the early 1800s. I didn't realize you could still buy true reproductions of this classic hardware.
Drawing inspiration from old sketches, designs and techniques of the early 20th century builder (some of which never got executed), the tiles are made using a Spanish glazing process known as cuenca.
Each tile is molded with a raised design, and the artisans hand-fill each depression with a pool of glaze. That requires some very delicate and precise work considering all the intersecting lines and valleys in Wright's designs, above.
You might think twice before screwing a compact fluorescent light bulb into that lovely antique lamp in dear old Aunt Emily's front parlor.
And who could blame you? While CFLs have come a long way in the past decade, they still don’t match the warm glow we’ve come to expect from the classic incandescent.
Why desecrate a beautiful light fixture by using anything but the best?
Now, I'll give that it's space-efficient with twice the rise for the run, but I just feel like it's asking for trouble. Imagine running down that in an emergency. Or after a couple of swigs of NyQuil.
But then again, I've been known to trip myself up on even ground.
What do you think? Is this fun-house fabulous or frivolously foolhardy?
That's because his new Ecoshel system makes the arduous task of installing cedar-shingle roofing or siding into a breezy DIY project.
Well, comparatively breezy. It still helps to understand vapor barriers and capillary action. But Ecoshel's engineering and ingenuity certainly simplify the process.
It's autumn, but the only color-changing leaves on my mind are the ones on these cast bronze tiles.
Part of the Timberline series, they're handcrafted by Maine-based Metaphor Bronze, using a centuries-old technique of pouring metal into a sand mold. To get their weathered patina though, the company's artisans don't use the usual coatings of chemicals.
I couldn't do it. I'm just not cool enough for wallpaper like this—and I'm quite alright with that.
See, Germany-based company Surrealien has come up with this system for customizing already wigged out graphic wallpaper to bend and warp in relation to your room's picture frames, furniture and other furnishings.
The result? A quite disorienting experience worthy of Dadaists everywhere.
There's something wonderfully honest about seeing a slab of wood, knots and all, fashioned into a piece of furniture with the shape of the trunk ringing the rough edges.
And there's something just plain wonderful about the phrase Slabs for Sale. It appears on the website of Urban Hardwoods, a Seattle company with over 18 pages of ash, walnut, redwood, and maple that have been reclaimed from urban trees that would otherwise be burned, chipped, or headed to the landfill.
So let's review: a mound of mulch, or the western walnut writing desk shown above. I think Urban Hardwoods is doing the right thing--hope I'm not going too far out on a limb to say so.
One of my all-time favorite remodeling tools is a flat pry bar that's technically a beekeeper’s tool. They use the hive tool to pry wood-framed honeycombs from beehives--an activity that I’m sure the bees must love--but I use it to remove architectural moldings and delicate trim from old houses.
I have to think I have an easier time with it, too. Houses don't sting.
I think even the most formal of dining rooms, with the Aqua Chandelier floating overhead, would feel more like a octopus’ garden way deep down in Ringoland.
The undersea connection for the designer, Jeffrey Goodman of jGoodDesign, is his Jersey Shore childhood. Each hand-blown glass bubble contains three tiny mini blobs that refract (and re-refract) light in an aquatic shimmer. Think sunlight bouncing off the ocean.
Poring through the piles of knobs, rosettes, escutcheons, and spindles, I could easily believe what I had just learned about Olde Good Things: they got their start doing doorknobs, and doorknobs only.
They certainly have their share, and it took a couple of hours of rosette rejiggering and set screw surgery before I finally settled on these two brass beauties. I plan to use them as actual doorknobs, so the store set me up with spindle adapters, which will allow the knob sets (built for mortise locks) to fit a new door.
Old knobs can do more than just open doors, though. Get more ideas after the jump.
My April article on thin-sawn stone veneer shows how you can get the look of natural stone without the bulk of full-size rock. But I thought this video from stoneyard.com helped explain a different part of the process: how a big pile of rubble becomes a stack of neat, manageable slices of stone.
(Warning: Unless you're particularly used to the head-banging sounds of
Metallica or Korn, lower the volume when you get to the slicing
section.)
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday on public auctions of confiscated tools—apparently several thousand airplane travelers every year approach security checkpoints with hammers, circular saws, nail guns, and such. The TSA takes the items and states sell them off at discounts even deeper than Tool King.
Your fellow travelers' loss could be your toolbox's gain—I just placed a $14 bid on a carry-on Leatherman.
Ed. Note: The Hardware Aisle, in competition with Toolmonger, will feature the most unabashedly
patriotic products we can find, every day, until our nation celebrates
its 231st birthday. This is part 6 of a series we call This Old Glory.
The American flag, God bless it, doesn't always make for the best decorative emblazoning. But this tape measure may be the most attractive addition of Old Glory that we've seen yet.
The 25-foot tape (with no metric measurements, thank you very much) has a windblown effect, with red and white stripes streaming across it like the swirls in a Brach's peppermint candy. Stirring.
It doesn't have much in the way of standout, however, buckling just past the 7-foot mark. That's too bad—I'd really hate to see the American take it on the chin in a tape measure joust, such as the one in Stanley's hilarious ad (BELOW).
I’ve ordered products from the very useful Rockler Woodworking and Hardware
catalog for years. Hinges and drawer slides, router bits and band saw
blades; they’ve always had what I needed.
Ed. Note: The Hardware Aisle will feature the most unabashedly patriotic products we can find, every day, until our nation celebrates its 231st birthday. This is part 1 of a series we call This Old Glory.
My fellow Americans: the flag-draped Lady Liberty you see here is one of quite a few home products out there that are, for better or worse, unexpectedly emblazoned with the stars and stripes.
This 2-by-4-foot mural embedded in Cogir glass block could be the centerpiece of your master bath remodel—just don't be surprised if every shower induces an overwhelming urge to belt out the Star-Spangled Banner.
Trench grates are not sexy. Yet for people like my parents, who actually have them covering the drainage gullies recessed in the patio around their swimming pool and at the end of their driveway, the grates do invoke a sort of passion. As in, "those metal strips are so UGLY."
Had I never seen the pretty little numbers from Iron Age Designs, I would have agreed. But instead of flimsy metal pierced with holes or uniform slats, these sturdy iron grates—which develop a nice rusty patina as they age—have a filigree of intersecting circles and diamonds, modern abstract swirls, or rippling waves.
Iron Age grates cost about $30 a linear foot, and are an easy retrofit with most existing drainage trenches. Best of all, they're green. Each grate is made from post-consumer recycled iron from old engine blocks and brake drums. That's something we can all appreciate—even Murphy the dog, seen smiling beside a locust leaf pattern at right.
With five feet of flames dancing on a bed of broken glass, Travis Industries' Fireplace Xtreme is a Molotov cocktail aimed straight for the heart hearth. The 95,000-Btu immolation innovation warmed my cockles at one of the hottest booths at the International Builders' Show.
Our July/August issue will feature some of the most incredible ceiling fans I've ever seen in my life. The article made me wonder, though: what can I do to beautify the boring white blades hovering overhead in my own house? How can I wake each morning to a whimsical vista and take advantage of an oft-overlooked avenue of aesthetic expression?
Spin Shades, that's how. These decorative appliques, sold 5 for $12 in patterns such as grapevine (above) or heart (right), stick to the blades' faces, spinning in style. The company also specializes in revolving lampshades and aromatherapeutic fragrance lamps.
All of the 30+ decals are removable, so you can switch them out with the season. I can't wait until crisp autumn breezes are blown down on me from actual autumn leaves (left), twisting my optic nerve into a corkscrew as I watch each beautiful blade twirl in a blur.
I was walking past Rue Faubourg St. Honore—the one in Greenwich, Connecticut; not Paris—and found the most incredible collection of antique and reproduction lighting and fireplace accessories. I never would have imagined the quantity of goods stuffed into the narrow space behind its tiny storefront. The owner, Jim Ryan, has ornamented nearly every inch of the tall walls with a unique assortment of good lighting in a variety of American and European styles. Some of my favorites were the Caldwell wall sconces and ceiling fixtures. Antique fireplace tools clustered the floor, filling the place with antique brass andirons, pokers, and shovels great for scooping out a winter's worth of reusable ashes.
Thanks to Jim, handmade reproductions of Early American lanterns now frame the front door of my 1927 Colonial Revival. In my entranceway, a pumpkin-shaped melon jar creates a play of fractured light. The store custom-finished some web-backed sconces to match the window and door hardware in my dining room. And the Faubourg's onion lanterns outside my renovated barn create an old-fashioned charm.
If you make it to Rue Faubourg, stand in the center of the room, turn slowly and soak in the lumens. I promise, the treasures surrounding you will really brighten your day.
—Carolyn Blackmar
Rue Faubourg St. Honore, 44 West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT, 06830. Phone (203) 869-7139 or fax (203) 869-2918.
I want a nice kitchen. I want a nice big kitchen with all the extra frills and trimmings that someone who doesn’t have my space and money constraints can actually get. And one of the things I want in my plain-Jane kitchen, which I don’t have, is sexy hardware. You heard me: I want sexy, handsome hardware that’s got style, class, and a personality all its own. And I’m not just talking cute little knobs for my cabinets. I want that extra special kitchen decadence of having a cool, unique refrigerator pull.
I want these things, because in writing a story for This Old House magazine, I discovered First Impressions International. They make all kinds of pulls for clad appliances—13 designs in 30 finishes, plus custom pieces. That means if I see a door pull on their site that I think would look great on my refrigerator, the company can make it to the appropriate size and give you the right brackets to do that. And if I fall head over heels for a refrigerator pull that doesn’t have a matching set of miniature handles for the rest of my cabinets, they can make that happen too.
I can’t wait for the day I can put in a curvaceous bronze pull, like Model #CF36A, or a rough-hewn pewter bar, like Model#CFR9, on my fridge. I’m determined to bring the sexy back in to my kitchen.
Recently several TOH readers emailed us looking for the manufacturer of the glass pendant lamps in the kitchen of a house featured in our October 2006 issue ["Red, Yellow, Blue & Green," p. 102]. It took some digging on the part of Colette Ortiz, our design editor, but it turns out they are custom handblown lamps from Illuminata Glass.
One look at the website and I was, well, blown away. Glass artist and owner Julie Conway custom designs unique chandeliers, light fixtures, cabinet knobs, lamp finials, and sculpture in amazing shapes and colors. Custom art doesn't come at box-store prices, but if you're in search of a fixture that's truly special (or just want to salivate) have a look at the website; you can contact Illuminata if you see something there you like or if you want to have Conway design something just for your project. You can also check the list provided on the website of other galleries and showrooms that carry Conway's work.
Hmm...maybe I can get something to replace that blah "landlord special" ceiling fixture in my entry...
I'm at that time in my life when my friends are planning to say "I do" and "'till death do us part...blah, blah, blah" to each other. So I'm in desperate need of perfect wedding gift ideas, because I really don't want to be the lame person that gives them their sixth blender.
That's why I was so happy to come across Architectural Mailboxes, because nothing says "I love you and wish you bliss" like a pretty and practical metal box. The company’s letter stashers, like this brass Peninsula wall box, are classical enough with their clean lines to go with almost any architectural style, yet dapper enough with their understated gold rope gilding and raised patterns to make a home stand out—without the need for bringing in the clowns or gnomes or any other scary apparition painted to a metal box. The locking compartment, also available in the company's post mailboxes, helps deter mail thieves after your credit card numbers and social security information. And I'm figuring it'll work just as well at keeping out a child in search of a bad report card…should that day eventually arrive for my buds. (No rush guys, I really don't think I'm up for the babysitting duties yet. Seriously.)
The courier containers are also rather spacious with 1.5-in x 13-in slots, which might make installing them a chore, but I think my friends will ultimately be grateful for the extra room. It’ll be that much easier for the mailman to deliver their monthly dose of TOH magazine goodness without crinkling the corners. (I figure giving them a subscription along with the mailbox would be a nice little touch).
So that's one gift down…anyone out there have any other ideas for unique, but practical items to give new homeowners?
