Championing the Solar House

Based on author and teacher Anthony Denzer, a solar house — one which deliberately utilizes the energy of sunlight for heating spaces — is often considered as a product of the 1970s: “An eccentrically shaped structure using oversized sloped glass walls and also diagonal bamboo siding … an earth berm … a Volkswagen van neighboring”

He admits that this picture is not completely untrue, since many architects tackled house designs in that period that could minimize the use of fossil fuels, ravaged by the petroleum and financial disasters. But it’s an incomplete image.

Denzer’s The Solar House (Rizzoli, 2013) corrects this oversight by forecasting the growth of solar houses in the 1930s to today. It is a narrow subject, but the book is a fun, accessible read. Denzer has created a story of those architects and architects who devoted much of their lives to searching for houses that could utilize less energy, as social and political currents ebbed and flowed with and contrary to them.

A general story of solar houses could be painted because the contradictory attitudes of two fields: the architects’ aesthetic and fascination with passive heating versus the engineers’ technological and busy (mechanistic) focus. This is a place which Denzer spends some time and it is an especially important one, considering that we have not reached a reconciliation that might enable more widespread appreciation of solar houses. This isn’t to say that the story is about a duel of 2 groups. But it is indicative of broader strands in American society — especially concerns of how things seem and how things perform.

Denzer starts the novel with Fred Keck, called the first solar architect. Keck worked with his brother William at the firm Keck + Keck, designing a number of residences in and around Chicago. Many focused on the development of the solar house as a special type. The characteristics they share are linear east-west plans using big, south-facing windows and roof overhangs to block the high sunlight.

Howard Sloan commissioned Fred to design a prototype solar house from the North Shore Chicago suburb of Glenview in 1940. Sloan opened the house to the public, charging a dime entrance to more than 5,000 visitors in four months. He hoped that the cozy interior on cold winter days would persuade people of the virtues of solar houses.

Keck would keep working for Sloan, integrating new materials and technology (triple-pane glazing to decrease heat loss from inside to outside during the nighttime, radiant heating etc.) at a 24-house subdivision they called Solar Park. Keck had developed operable and insulated louvers which were often beneath the south-facing glass; these assemblies permitted for ventilation throughout the day while helping keep the interior temperature during the nighttime when closed.

Pictured is the Duncan House in another Chicago suburb, Flossmoor. It included the very same components (linear plan, south-facing windows, roof overhangs) but also exterior “wing walls” using adjustable vertical louvers for cutting back on the late-afternoon sun in the months when overheating of the interior occurred.

The Keck brothers were not really known for its solar houses they developed from the 1940s (they had been omitted from Sigfried Giedion’s influential Space, Time and Architecture although he toured their houses). Instead it was a few houses Fred Keck made for the 1933 Century of Progress fair in Chicago, both glass houses rather than solar. The House of Tomorrow (photograph) and Crystal House both featured all-glass outside walls with blinds and drapes, respectively, for shading.

The houses were extremely popular, but their intent and appeal were formal rather than practical; they pointed to an alternative future through the use of glass. However, Keck did recognize the benefits of solar heating, which led him to develop houses within the next decade using much more selective glazing. With so much single-pane glass, the House of Tomorrow would overheat during the day and lose heat during the night, something which didn’t dissuade Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson from producing ineffective glass houses almost 20 years after.

The solar houses that pepper Denzer’s book consequently resemble the 1970s stereotype, rather than glass houses, but they’re the 1970s typology in the making. There is a Frank Lloyd Wright “hemicycle” house, a similar but inverted curved house by the Keck brothers, amid work by less-known architects that created houses inside academic institutions or for companies which would benefit from the implementation of solar houses. In the latter vein, Libby-Owens-Ford commissioned notable architects to design solar houses for each of the 48 states at the time; at the end just a publication of these designs was produced, not the actual houses, but the initial hopes were high.

Architect Henry Wright’s renovation of this Ramirez House at Pennsylvania (photograph) employs the same principles as the Kecks’ pioneering work. However, its wood floor didn’t allow for the sun’s energy to be saved and released later, as happens in concrete flooring. From talks of the house came an emphasis on thermal mass as an significant part solar houses.

Many schools worked on developing solar house designs, especially MIT using its own numbered series of house designs starting in 1939. As can be viewed here, Solar House I, developed by engineer Hoyt Hottel, concentrated on technology over architecture.

The south-facing roof was covered in flat-plate collectors, or heat traps, which Denzer defines as “a shallow vessel, comprising three glass places split by airspace, a black-painted copper plate backed by copper tubes of water, and 51/2 inches of mineral wool insulation” The sun would heat the plates and so the water, knowingly heating the distances through mechanical way.

Maria Telkes an engineer at MIT who developed an alternative scheme to Hottel’s, worked with architect Eleanor Raymond to a house using a similar reliance on technology but one whose kind and aesthetics would likewise benefit the layout. The Dover Sun House positioned Telkes’ collectors (created with phase-change salt containers) above south-facing windows, so the residents could have views and the sun’s heat will be saved to heat the interior via bins above the ceiling.

A testament to the popularity of this Dover Sun House, in addition to the desire for houses that could use less energy at the postwar years, can be seen at a cover story of Popular Science at 1949. Unfortunately the system lasted just two years, because of the sedimentation of the solid and liquid sodium and the corrosive effects of the component on the bins.

The attempts on the part of engineers and architects growing solar houses in the years before and after World War II culminated from the 1955 World Symposium on Applied Solar Energy and the 1957 Solar Energy exhibition at Greece. So many solar houses were built after 1955 that, as Denzer states, “documentation could be impossible,” but it wasn’t enough to stave off the low cost of electricity and the growth of air conditioning in these years.

Nevertheless, Denzer presents some novel projects from such years, such as engineer Masanosuke Yanagimachi’s Solar House II in Tokyo. The interior resembles that of a traditional Japanese house, with tatami mats and translucent panels, but in addition, it has radiant ceiling panels functioned by rooftop heat traps, as in Hottel’s MIT design.

Yanagimachi’s Solar House II is among many projects documented in the publication with architectural drawings. This building section illustrates how the systems are tied together, in the rooftop heat sink and radiant ceiling panels to the innovative heating tank in the cellar.

The latter was used for both heating and cooling; in the case of heating, the heat pump created ice during the night which was used the next day to cool the water pumped through the house. The idea of off-peak ice storage has become increasingly common in green buildings, even in skyscrapers.

Denzer calls for the late 1970s a “Solar Renaissance,” suitable given that Jimmy Carter mounted solar hot-water panels atop the White House in 1979 (to be removed by Ronald Reagan seven years later). Among those jobs from this time period is Saskatchewan Conservation House, that resembles early solar houses in form but departs from them in important ways: It’s smaller and fewer windows, it doesn’t rely on most of the engineered technologies in the prior decades, and it is superinsulated. The latter feature is its most lasting, influencing the current Passivhaus fundamentals and Canada’s R-2000 app.

The basic idea of the superinsulated and supertight house is that the heat inside the interiors (some of it coming from solar gain) is not lost to the exterior. Fresh air is brought in by an air-to-air heat exchanger, as is the case from the Conservation House. The house performed so well — attaining what could be referred to as net-zero status — which the solar collectors mounted above the second-floor windows could have been omitted, as they were not needed for space heating.

Denzer finishes the book with a few snapshots of solar houses today. These fall to the superinsulated camp of houses created to Passivhaus fundamentals, like this 1991 house in Germany by Wolfgang Feist and others; and the biennial Solar Decathlon contests, where student teams design and build houses that vie to be the roughest at a number of measured manners. The latter more closely resemble the pioneering work of this Kecks, however, the work from the competitions also attempts to synthesize architectural and engineering considerations, arising through multidisciplinary teams and incorporated layout.

The Solar House

It is apparent from Denzer’s publication that there is more to solar houses than previously known or imagined. However, it’s also obvious that there is still lots of work that should be performed to synthesize the aesthetic and the technological, and also to persuade the people that solar houses are viable and desirable.

Increasing energy prices may create solar houses more desirable in the last few years and decades to come, so it’s time for architects and engineers to work together on producing solutions that tap into these Denzer so eloquently presents.

More: Back to the Future of the Home

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Portrait of a Terribly Good Neighbor

Years ago my friend Billy called me, distressed. It was summertime, and he had been feeling overwhelmed trying to take care of his lawn and gardens. Billy had been a homeowner for only a year and had been looking forward to planting heirloom tomatoes, herbs and cherry trees in the large plot the prior owner had tucked behind the doorway, but flowers? He didn’t know where to start.

I’m his only friend who gardens, and he wondered if I’d come over and help him out. I was happy to help.

Billy had purchased his house by an older woman called Ronnie, who died a few months after she moved. What amuses the pleading telephone call was a remark from his next-door neighbor, Diane, who said, “Ronnie will be rolling in her grave if she could see what you’ve done for her garden, Billy.” This has been spoken in the robust baritone most women can attain only after at least 50 decades of smoking. Believe Patty or Selma from The Simpsons.

Amy Renea

Billy and I laughed about that later, however, he’s a good guy and wanted to become a great neighbor. The yard didn’t look terrible, however Ronnie, with the help of her daughter at the next decades, had kept up everything so meticulously, anything less than ideal was a mess by comparison. I gave the gardens a good weeding and redug the borders so everything was neat and clean. Billy stayed on top of mulching and mowing the yards, and kept everything in fairly good shape for many seasons.

He gave gardening a shot, planting some shrubs and trees, and also for a couple summers he put in enormous vegetable gardens with over 30 varieties of berries. But he found it hard to maintain. He travels a lot, sometimes for weeks on end. The flower gardens he dismissed entirely. We talked about my coming again to form through the plants he wanted to eliminate and those that he wanted to maintain. I was prepared, but he had been gone so much, and I had been busy with three kids, not to mention preserving my own yards and gardens. A few summers passed my coming over to help him out.

Jocelyn H. Chilvers

The gardens were already looking scruffy when one of those two towering pines at the back of Billy’s house was hit by lightning. The best 20 feet fell over but not entirely off. Billy owns a portable sawmill and believed milling the boards but not got around to it, so almost half of the shrub dangled there with a mess of branches beneath it for a couple years.

In the meantime Diane, his neighbor, had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Billy took over meals and often checked in. Even though Diane kept up her spirits up, the prognosis was grim. One afternoon, when she and Billy were outdoors, she pointed into the pines and said, “I am afraid I’m going to expire and that tree will still be there.”

Billy was preparing for the weeks-long excursion he takes every summer for work. It had been the worst time for him to take care of a large project, but he called a tree support to decrease the top of the tree along with a friend to help him haul away the brush. He then begged me to come over straight away to handle the gardens again.

It was a steaming-hot moment. I knew he had been about to leave on his big trip. Additionally, I knew the beds had been failed all summertime, at least, and it was already August. I thought that he may as well wait a couple more weeks before the weather cooled and do a large drop cleanup. I was happy to lend a hand, but what was the rush?

He clarified about Diane. He didn’t know if she would continue to be alive in a different month, and he wanted to do anything he could to help her. As ridiculous as it seemed, getting his lawn cleaned up was likely her dying wish.

Jocelyn H. Chilvers

The following morning my daughter Eden and I must do the job. I introduced a tarp and weeded ruthlessly, pulling many of those plants I knew Billy didn’t like. It was a hot afternoon and the dirt was hard, so it was lots of work. Eden was only 5 years old, but she worked like a champ, hauling debris away and laying mulch. Billy mowed and trimmed some of the shrubs that were overgrown. It was not long until what was shaping up and looking great.

Diane detected and came out to observe, dragging her oxygen tank and smoking a cigarette. Billy tried to introduce us, but she cut him off — she recalled me from the last time. She came over to where I had been in my knees weeding and shook her head.

“Alison, don’t bother,” she said. “You’re going to do all this work, make it looking so great, and Billy’s only going to destroy everything.” She took a long haul and shot him a look of disdain.

I smiled. “I know what it’s like to make a mess of things, also Billy’s been there for me many times over time. I am happy to help.”

“You’re a great friend.” The clear implication: better than Billy deserved.

She stuck around to watch while we ended up, and it was apparent she had been delighted with the outcome.

Diane expired a few weeks later. In the funeral her husband advised Billy how much she loved hanging out in the yard while she was able to leave her bed. She commented several times how glad she had been Billy had gotten everything cleaned up.

You may be asking yourself, did he keep up the garden? No, he didn’t. Diane was right; he ruined everything. A case could be made which Billy is a terrible neighbor, however I believe there’s an equally convincing argument to be made that he’s one of the very best.

Next: Billy’s strategy to housekeeping

More: The Unsung Power of a Good Neighbor

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The Way to Decide on a Kitchen Backsplash That Wows

A kitchen’s backsplash functions similar to jewelry. Simple or snazzy, it may bring a whole look together; the ideal backsplash helps your kitchen reach its potential. Our comprehensive guides, rounded here, will be able to help you discover the backsplash material and colour that fit along with your kitchen’s look, your cleaning style and budget.

DHV Architects

Find Your Inspiration

The Kitchen of the Week series is excellent fodder for remodeling and renovation inspiration. Learn about the back-painted glass revealed here and nine popular backsplashes from amazing kitchens on .

More: 10 Gorgeous Backsplash Alternatives to Subway Tile

Buckminster Green LLC

Choose Your Material

Tile. The good news: You have finally settled on a tile backsplash. The good thing: The selection procedure has just started. Cement, subway, mosaic, patterned or cut? This guide will give you the advantages and disadvantages for each, along with styling tips.

More: 8 Best Tile Types for Your Kitchen Backsplash

Forum Phi Architecture | Interiors | Planning

Mirror. Additional visual space, many different styles and a relatively affordable cost make mirror a great backsplash choice. See how this brassy backsplash material can work in almost any kitchen layout.

More: 8 Mirror Types for an Excellent Kitchen Backsplash

Andre Rothblatt Architecture

Recycled tile. Whether salvaged or containing recycled material, recycled tile may add a unique element to a kitchen that is easy on your conscience.

More: Ecofriendly Kitchen: Recycled Tile for Backsplashes

Crisp Architects

Window. Planning on making some structural changes to your kitchen? Consider a different kind of backsplash: a fresh window. A beautiful view, more mild and refreshing air could improve your kitchen’s style and performance.

More: Place Your Kitchen in a Fantastic Light Using a Window Backsplash

Goforth Gill Architects

Tin. Require an old-fashioned approach to your backsplash and use easy tin tiles. This time-tested material is durable, beautiful and reasonably priced.

More: Tin’s a Win for Kitchen Backsplashes

InHouse Design Studio

Unique materials. Perhaps you feel like your traditional kitchen requires a distinct touch. Or perhaps you’re just ready to embrace the odd. In any event, these unique backsplash materials can enable you to get the statement-making look you want.

More: 8 Statement-Making Kitchen Backsplashes Beyond Basic Tile

Home Systems , Wendi Zampino

Installation Considerations

Half backsplash. If you’ve got your heart set on a marble backsplash however can’t afford the counter-to-ceiling program you envisioned, don’t give up your dream just yet. Cut your backsplash in half or more! — to reduce cost without sacrificing efficacy.

More: Attempt a Gourmet Kitchen Backsplash for Budget-Friendly Style

Jared Erwin

DIY. Think you’re ready to set in your own backsplash? When you have experience placing tile and need something easy in your kitchen, then have a look at this manual. A DIY backsplash installation might help you to save some serious cash.

More: How to Install a Tile Backsplash | manuals to kitchen backsplashes

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Bathed in Color

There is a reason so many baths in high-end restaurants have reddish walls — it is a flattering colour for all skin tones. The proprietor might be expecting that looking good in the bathroom mirror means you are going to feel good about frequenting the institution. But red can be a tricky colour to pull off in a small space that gets little mild, as is true in many residential baths. Warm colors are to advance, so a red toilet will feel smaller and more shut in than the usual neutral- or cooler-hued space. But additionally, it will have a warm, comfy and calming feel. For people who favor contemporary minimalist distances, an injection of bold red is a good method to protect against a space from feeling cold and sterile.

Listed below are a handful of my beloved vibrant red paint colors and a selection of ravishing and inspiring red baths.

Jennifer Ott Design

You’ve got some options in regards to red. There is obviously true red, but you can also select a cooler red — one that has a blue in it, veering toward burgundy or fuchsia. You can also veer toward warmer reds with a peppy orange-red.

Be ready to apply several coats of paint to find complete coverage. Consider using a tinted primer to begin with to maximize coverage.

Crimson paint selections for baths (clockwise from top left):
1. Cherries Jubilee SW6862, Sherwin-Williams
2. Blazer 212, Farrow & Ball
3. Oh Red 1009-1, Valspar
4. Rum Runner 232-7, Pittsburgh Paints
5. California Poppy S-G-160, Behr
6. Painter’s Red KM3688-5, Kelly-Moore Paints
7. Portia 123-6, Mythic Paint
8. Burnt Peanut Red 2081-10, Benjamin Moore

Michael Tauber Architecture

The magnificent glass mosaic tiles really dress this up particular bathroom. The tiled wall seems to be lit from within, as a result of its smart recessed lighting at the back of the medicine cabinet. If you’d like a dash of red in your toilet but still want the room to feel full of light and open, be sure you have loads of good lighting.

SCE Construction Management Inc..

Reddish-orange walls look crisp and modern when paired with colors of white, gray and black.

Mix crimson orange with timber and oil-rubbed-bronze finishes and accents for a warm, comfy vibe.

AAA Architecture

I am a big fan of tile always search for options to it for clients who do not like the look of grout lines nor the maintenance needed to keep them clean and pristine. This bold red bathroom is clad in a commercial-grade epoxy paint, for watertight surfaces that are simple to clean.

Oceanside Glasstile

I love this elegant bathroom’s bright red glass tiled walls and ceiling. Consider your grout colour when selecting tile to get a space. I often try to match the grout colour to the tile to lessen the appearance of grout lines. This is a smart grout colour selection — the wall sconces will get lost against of a grid of white grout lines.

Roman Leonidov

If you’re a lover of red but do not wish to totally cover your toilet in it, add a couple red accents instead. This is a cheap and low-commitment approach to inject bold colour into your home.

I have fallen hard for vintage claw-foot bathtubs in fun hues. This enchanting red toile wall covering is another fantastic way to bring colour into the space.

Ward-Young Architecture & Planning – Truckee, CA

This dazzling bathroom features a stunning accent wall of red and orange mosaic tiles. I like the contrast of the warm wall color and timber bathroom cabinet against the cool stainless steel sink and toilet accessories.

Tell us Are you hot for red? How have you utilized it in your toilet?

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Watch Pritzker Prize

The Hyatt Foundation has Given the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize to Toyo Ito, 71, of Japan. Ito has created some of the most outstanding buildings of the past few decades, and because the tsunami in 2011 he has been overtly concerned with diplomatic efforts within his own country. He’s the sixth architect from Japan to acquire what’s considered the maximum honor in structure; the previous ones are Kenzo Tange (1987), Fumihiko Maki (1993), Tadao Ando (1995) along with the duo Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (2010).

Ito was practicing since the 1970s, but his big portfolio of completed buildings belies any formal consequences or linear evolution in his architecture. “When one construction is completed,” he states, “I become aware of my own inadequacy, and it turns into power to challenge the next project. Probably this process must keep repeating itself in the future. Therefore, I won’t ever fix my architectural design and never be happy with my works.”

A formal ceremony will be held at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston on Wednesday, May 29, JFK’s birthday.

Though Ito’s structure is officially diverse, it’s possible to see three phases (so far) in his work. Early on he designed within an abstract, minimalist fashion, but he moved on into an architecture of lightness and scientific saying. This is the time for which he’s best known, but in the past decade or so he has embraced bold structural systems that hybridize surface and structure. Not merely are his layouts more complicated than ever, however they are also some of his largest commissions. His responses to the tsunami only might herald a new direction for him personally, as ideas of home increase to the fore.

Ito’s first significant construction, and a symbol of his ancient minimalist stage, is the White U home in Tokyo (completed 1976, demolished 1997). Stan Allen, at a publication based on a Toyo Ito lecture at Princeton, called it “arguably the most radical home of the twentieth century,” and it’s easy to see how the home breaks from the traditional fabric of its environment. It turns a clean face to the road and introverts its gaze into the courtyard; the incline of the roof reinforces this emphasis.

The home is similar to a very long corridor that goes round the courtyard, instead of any articulation of chambers. Ito really known as the interior a “universal tubular area,” as if it torques the modernist plan of Mies to create an open space and a continuous sense of expectation as one goes through the home.

Yet even as the White U home is a real horseshoe, the interior displays a particular lightness — it doesn’t feel heavy as the structure of fellow countryman and Pritzker winner Tadao Ando. Buildings like the multipurpose Dome in Odate (1997) convey a similar lightness whilst also being assembled from lighter materials.

The interior of the dome actually communicates its emphasis on lightness, not just in the way the curved trusses support a translucent skin, but at how the construction is indeed open on the floor. It’s as if the dome is raised lightly over the ground to offer access to the interior.

The culmination of Ito’s second stage is that the Sendai Mediatheque, a library, completed in 2001. The massive building is that the builder’s exploration of the connection between architecture and technology, appropriate given the schedule of the library to the 21st century. Additionally, it is a segue to his later works with bold structural systems.

Quite a few tubular columns are bundled together to serve as structure, vertical systems and vertical circulation for the various floors. The consequent forest-like spaces are Ito’s method of viewing how structures can work from the digital age. It is also a highly resilient construction, one that went inland during the March 11, 2011, earthquake that struck the coast of Japan, as you can see in this movie.

Both of these towers exemplify the gaps between Ito’s second and third phases. On the right is his Tower of Winds (1986) at Yokohama, a cylinder rung by lights whose routines are generated by ecological factors (traffic, noise, end). The Tod’s Omotesando Building (2004) on the left could be composed of stacked floors, but the exterior wall is a treelike form that is also the building’s structure. A epidermis of technological expression gives way into a skin of technological structure.

To get a temporary pavilion for the Serpentine Gallery in London (2002), Ito worked together with engineer Cecil Balmond. The simple rectangular space was created stunning by complicated cuts generated from algorithms. In this endeavor the distinction between structure and skin-enclosure is starting to disappear. (The Tod’s construction follows two decades later.)

But he was not content to continue with all the intricate diagonals of the Tod’s construction and the Serpentine Gallery. Meiso no Mori Municipal Funeral Hall (2006) is a undulating roofscape sheltering spaces enclosed with glass walls.

The columns and some of the interior walls meld together with all the undulating roof, dispensing with a transparent base-middle-top order and any comprehension of traditional structure. Again, surface and structure become one.

The Tama Art University Library (2007) at Tokyo proceeds Ito’s exploration of structure. The two-story building is indicated by large arched openings, even though the stretched, elliptical shape of the openings indicates that something different is occurring.

The arches are actually made from slender concrete walls with metal cores. The walls comprise the exterior but also the interior, thereby structuring the whole construction and defining the various spaces inside.

The intricate spaces that result from Ito’s structural experimentation look like echoes of pure forms, and this could be why they look so gratifying. Keep an eye out for his style of the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House, now under construction in Taiwan; with its complicated curving shells, it might just be the pinnacle of Ito’s third stage.

The awarding of the Pritzker Architecture Prize to Toyo Ito is a surprise to individuals following contemporary structure, and to anybody in Japan. Imabari-shi, Ehime, is already home to the Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture (2011) — and having a committed museum is an honor that very few living architects receive.

What direction Ito’s structure will require is hinted at in the exhibition he curated at the Venice Architecture Biennale this past year. (It received an award for the best pavilion.) It concentrated on the Home for All project he’s been working on together with different architects (including fellow Pritzker winner Kazuyo Sejima) on how to reconstruct following the March 2011 disasters that left 100,000 people homeless.

The first outcome of House for everyone is a simple structure that provides people a place where they can meet and figure out how to reconstruct. “Let us think about our House for All a one-off gesture, but one that, as recovery efforts move, only might cause more permanent constructions,” Ito said in 2011. “We might be encouraging a whole new direction in creative community architecture.”

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Makeover Magic: Stage Style for an All-New 1920s Toilet

The first materials in user jons112’s guest toilet certainly were not his style, but the timber subfloor underneath the obsolete tile posed a much greater problem: decades of water damage from damaged cast iron plumbing. He hired a builder to completely gut the small bathroom and give him a blank slate. Having a $9,000 budget, he also turned into the once-dingy yellow and brown tiled space into a classic and bright guest toilet that still matches the fashion of his 1923 home.

Job: Remodel of a small bathroom in Tampa, Florida
Size: 5 by 7 feet
Period: 3 weeks
Price: $9,000

AFTER: jons112 hired a builder and completed the complete renovation in around three weeks. Everything, including the first plaster walls, has been replaced. Jons112 picked his new materials based on the house’s age and original style. “I needed a look that made the space appear first, despite being updated,” he says.

Sconce: Restoration Hardware; sink: Porcher Lutezia; bathroom: Kohler Memoirs

Before Photo

BEFORE: Most of the materials in this toilet appeared to be unique to the house. “When I moved , it was obvious that the shower faucets had been leaking for quite some time, resulting in what I expected to be significant water damage,” says jons112.

AFTER: At 5 feet, the toilet had a tiny distance where the sink could move. Jons112 chosen for a classic-looking blend of a pedestal sink and medicine cabinet, instead of a standard vanity, to save space. “Because this is a guest bath, I feel this minimum storage will operate,” he says.

Faucet: Kingston Brass; mirrored medicine cabinet: Pottery Barn

Before Photo

BEFORE: The bathroom’s water harm meant that jons112 had to put in a fresh wood subfloor and a fresh floating concrete floor.

The yellow and brown tile has been first to the home, but the colors felt out of place with the rest of the property’s look and made the space feel drab.

AFTER: Contrasting grey, white and black look clean and crisp in the new bathroom. Jons112 set up beadboard on the lower half of the wall so that the darker grey wouldn’t overpower the space.

Saving money on inventory tile from Lowe’s and a steel tub through his builder permitted jons112 to splurge on a mirrored medicine cabinet from Pottery Barn, and on towel bars and a light fixture from Restoration Hardware.

Wall paint: Sweatshirt Gray, Benjamin Moore

Before Photo

BEFORE: The original cast iron plumbing had to be substituted, but the rest of the shower simply needed cosmetic changes.

AFTER: White subway tiles to your shower and pinwheel tiles to the floor provided the starting point for the rest of the bathroom’s materials.

Shower tile: 3 6, American Olean; shower fittings: Delta

Even though the easy color scheme falls in accordance with the bathroom’s period fashion, jons112 also wanted something to match the decoration of the guest bedroom next door.

Flooring tile: pinwheel style, American Olean

Jons112 framed a photo from a holiday for a simple, personal touch.

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Meet 4 Standard Kinds of Home Photographers

The neighborhood has a wide selection of services and service suppliers, many united in the demand for quality photography showcasing their constructed projects. There are many ways to photograph many photographers and a home to work with. In commissioning a photographer and many factors come into play. Being aware of what type of photographer you might hire or can afford will help you as you look at the pricing and the fees photographers charge.

Here is a discussion of a few of the types of photographers an architect, designer or homeowner might employ and what to expect from their background and experience.

Butler Armsden Architects

1. Architectural or Interior Builders

What they do: An expert architectural or interior photographer often includes years of specialized experience photographing architectural interiors and exteriors. He or she knows how to show the circulation and a space . Architects like the photographer to show the relationship of inside to outside.

These photographers possess a vast range of equipment that they can deploy depending on the mission and shooting requirements. Commonly they do extensive postproduction work, just like with Photoshop, to provide very high profile photos that are often intended for publication.

David Duncan Livingston

What they don’t usually do: Architectural or interior photographers aren’t necessarily ready for casual or portraits shots. The equipment they use is often large and on a tripod — shooting people or loose compositions isn’t what they most often do. The process is much more exacting, not spontaneous.

JONATHAN CALVERT | Interiors Photographer

2. Real Estate Photographers

What they do:A subset of this architectural and interior photography field, property photography is often characterized by a photographer working fast, making few adjustments to the makeup or to the arrangement together with the space. Real estate photographers may bring a stylized look to the photos with photo editing software like Photoshop.

Tahoe Real Estate Photography

What they don’t usually do: Typically a property photographer and the commissioning party don’t expect to use the photos for long. Even the photographer’s fee could be considered a sunk cost. As a result, style and the design story are the focus in these photos.

Kristen Marie

3. Portrait or Wedding Photographers

What they do:Capturing the minute, telling a story and knowing the light are a few of the greatest skills a wedding or portrait photographer can bring to their own subjects. These are working professionals that also offer improving Photoshop services to produce the final photo better.

That which they don’t usually do: These photos tend to be less regulated than standard home photos. They’re less about makeup than about capturing the perfect moment. This is rather different from architectural photographers, that often composite a number of photos in Photoshop to create one, perfect shooter.

Hawaii Commercial Photography

4. Commercial Photographers

What they do: A proficient commercial photographer takes photos for use in advertising, merchandising or other types of advertising material. These photographers are very well versed in the mechanics of photography; writing, exposing and delivering high-resolution documents for commercial use is standard practice.

Connie Anderson Photography

What they don’t usually do: Because they have a particular customer and audience in mind, many industrial photographers won’t concentrate on trends in styling or art directing for portfolio and magazine shots.

Sarah Greenman

If You Want to Do It Yourself

Of course, in case you’ve got an interest in photography, then you might want to go the DIY route. Nowadays the camera and equipment needed to make high-resolution photos is in a price range accessible by many serious amateurs and the designers themselves. A keen eye and patience can go a very long way to find some good photos.

Practice makes perfect, however! Do your own research. Have a look at examples that are motivational and try to implement their style. Talk about your photos with peers, have a class and then practice some more.

More:
Locate a professional photographer in your area
How to Photograph Your Residence

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Meet Your Get-Fit Goals Having a Dual-Use Gym

Now that it’s several weeks to the new year, it is time to reevaluate that get-healthy New Year’s resolution. How’s it really? If you are like the rest of us, it may already be a forgotten promise, but that’s OK. You still have loads of time to jump back on that bandwagon.

If you are lacking inspiration (and many of us are), make exercising fun and convenient by dividing out a gym space at home. Although full-blown home gyms often mean dramatic mirrored walls, big-screen TVs, a vast array of equipment and weights, along with a hefty price tag, they aren’t the only alternative. Double-duty gyms are a sensible alternative; they offer the ease of exercising at home without requiring a ton of space or an extravagant budget. In fact, all you want to work out is an office, a playroom or a living room corner plus a few carefully chosen exercise equipment. With a little space and some organization, it is possible to turn any space — even a toilet — into your workout haven.

Check out some of these dual-purpose gyms for proof, and get going — no more explanations.

Martha Angus Inc..

If you are a busy parent, then make exercising more convenient by combining a playroom and home gym. You are able to exercise here if the children are at school, or you can all work together — you in your own machine and the small ones at their built-in children’ station.

Susan Diana Harris Interior Design

A home office makes for the great double-duty gym since it generally isn’t in use 24 hours a day. Just add one piece of equipment, one you know you like, and voilĂ  — you have a quiet and practical workout space.

With its typically big, open floor plan, a cellar is a wonderful spot to set up store. Positioned next to the staircase, this space-efficient gym employs an elevated platform to help split the massive room without any constricting walls.

Elements by Durcon

This residence office and gym combo is organization at its best. Packed to the brim with built-ins, it has lots of space for desk equipment, workout equipment and even a mini fridge to home water bottles and sports beverages. With this kind of room, lack of motivation won’t be a issue.

Peregrine Design Build

Inside this playroom–home gym, built in toy storage and workout equipment are stacked against the walls, which leaves lots of room in the center for children to play for anybody to exercise. The built-in bookcase helps separate one side from the other.

Your Favorite Room From Cathy Zaeske

Sometimes you simply need a well-placed piece of equipment. Positioned behind the couch, this treadmill stays out of the activity but still allows for some TV watching to help pass the time.

Pamela J. Jenkins Architect P.C.

This attic-style game room is the perfect place to get a good, hard work. To make sure there is lots of room for that intense ping-pong match in a setup like this, fold the treadmill up after each use.

Mary Prince Photography

If space is an issue, opt for a tiny stationary bike rather than a treadmill. This bulky item of equipment will fit into a corner and isn’t an eyesore in this traditional office.

Yes, toilet–home gym combos are admittedly not that ordinary. When you think about it, however, it makes great sense: After a tough work, you can jump directly to a warm, relaxing bath.

RD Architecture, LLC

Create an all-about-me space by combining your crafts space and home gym. Although this room isn’t huge, the built in desk and sparse furniture leave lots of space to get a treadmill and yoga mat.

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20 Whimsical Ornaments for Everybody on Your List

Whether you are looking to spice up the Christmas tree with your style or you want to give ornaments as gifts to family and friends, we are here to help. I’ve been scouring the world wide web to find ornaments for all types of individuals, from design aesthetes to sports fanatics. Here are 20 that stand out from the rest — along with the recipients who will treasure them.

CB2

Bartender Ornament – $3.95

For the ironic hipster types. This flannel-shirted, knit-cap-in-the-summer-wearing mixologist is a great gift for fans of Portlandia.

Urban Outfitters

Block Word Ornament – $11

For the graphic artist. Robert Indiana’s iconic announcement of love is a classic, in the statue in Philly to postage stamps and this decoration.

Urban Outfitters

Videogame Controller Ornament – $12

For the video game addict. This controller will add some contemporary technology to a conventional tree.

UncommonGoods

Pantone Universe Globe Ornament – $15

For the design website lover. With its annual announcement of the color of the calendar year, Pantone has become a household name for those who love to follow home design trends. These smart Christmas balls come in an array of Pantone’s official hues. A tabletop tree covered in all them are the bee’s knees.

Paper Source

Knit Gnome Ornament – $12.95

For that gnome lover. Thanks to the ideabook, we know there are a whole lot of you out there!

kate spade new york

Crystal Orbit Ornament – $50

For those who love to bling. You know this person: He or she is cuckoo for crystals and whatever else that glints. She never leaves the house without earrings on; his wristwatch is his most prized possession.

Crate&Barrel

Place of 3 Needle Felt Wool Safari Animal Ornaments

For those who have little ones around the house. So a lot of our ornaments are breakable and not safe for little ones who wish to help trim the tree and have a tendency to pull its branches. These soft wool animals are adorable and shatterproof.

CB2

Disco Ball Ornament – $1.95

For the disco lover. This fabulous mirrored ball decoration makes Gloria Gaynor and Chic songs go through my mind just looking at it.

Cost Plus World Market

Glass Retro Telephone Ornaments, Set of 2 – $39.98

For that person who won’t give up the property line. These charming rotary phone ornaments were produced for that friend who hates texting and scours Pottery Barn catalogs for vintage-looking telephones.

Paper Source

Glass Glitter Eiffel Tower Ornament – $13.95

For the Francophile. This glittering Eiffel Tower will bring Paris elegance to anyone’s tree.

Zazzle

Blue White Anchor Pattern Christmas Ornament – $14.95

For the sailor. Anchors aweigh! You can add a monogram to this classic weathered decoration. Great for a nautical or coastal-themed holiday scheme.

Paper Source

Cowboy Boot Ornament – Paper supply – $7.95

For the cowboy or cowgirl. Whetheryou’re a lover of this rodeo or merely a classic pair of Justin’s, this boot will include Western country style to your decoration mix.

UncommonGoods

Dog Bone Ornaments – $22

For the person whose dogs are his babies. These ornaments are plated Milk Bones — rather a cure for the dog lover.

catsofchristmas.com

Calico Fur Pattern Cat Christmas Ornament – $13.95

For the cat lover. While this decoration is a calico, this corporation will customize a hand-painted ornament to match a favourite cat.

Starbucks

Starbucks 2012 Holiday Ornament, Red Cup – $4.95

For Your Starbucks addict. This decoration is made for that person who can not begin the day without a trip to ‘bucks. The 2012 design is a darling snowman on a cup that even tea fans must admit is darn cute.

Pier 1 Imports

High Heel Ornament – $5.95

For the shoe lover. Still another tree I’d love to see is bags and shoes. Begin with these glittery shoes, which are worthy of a diva.

Sundance Catalog

Hand Knit Sweater Ornaments Set of 3 – $48

For the knitter. Who knows, this vibrant set of comfy sweaters may inspire your favorite stitcher’s next creation.

Amazon

Old World Christmas Basketball Ornament – $12.69

For the sports lover. What’s great about this particular basketball is that it adds a sporty touch and it’s beautifully hand-painted and glittery.

Sundance Catalog

Quartz Crystal Ornaments, Set of 6 – $35

To the person who’s extremely persnickety about their elegant tree. You know the tree I mean: It looks like it came straight out of a luxe Christmas showhouse, with ornaments that are confined to silver and crystal clear glass — no coloured lights or children’s popsicle stick ornaments permitted. These beautiful crystals look like elegant icicles.

Pottery Barn

Woody Car Glass Ornament – $8.50

For just about everyone. In my comprehensive search of the year’s ornaments, this one seemed universal. The wood-sided wagon, the tree on top, the vintage look, the red shade, the cherry — this decoration should please everyone, except maybe the earlier mentioned perfectionist who doesn’t want any color on the tree.

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Kitchen of the Week: Preserving Traditional Flavor in Moscow

The owners of this miniature 1920s kitchen in one of Moscow’s oldest districts needed to preserve its traditional appearance, but they needed the 55-square-foot space to be practical, too. Designer Irina Tatarnikova preserved the kitchen footprint throughout the remodel and employed little appliances, a white palette and custom cabinetry and furniture to take advantage of the room.

Irina Tatarnikova Decor

Although Tatarnikova wanted to create this little space practical for the family, she made sure that its history would shine through. Vintage, simple-looking stuff became a huge priority, such as marble counters and white MDF cabinetry. An all-white palette visually expands the little space.

The chandelier is a replica of a popular Russian art deco chandelier.

Cabinetry, shelving: painted MDF; countertop: Granite; carpeting: kilim, from Istanbul

Irina Tatarnikova Decor

The clients decided to conserve the kitchen footprint, therefore Tatarnikova chose extra-small appliances to fit into the tiny space. A range and oven in Italy nestle perfectly into an present cabinet nook. Originally the kitchen had no room for a complete refrigerator, therefore Tatarnikova carved out a market in a former closet.

Oven: ILVE; refrigerator: Smeg

Irina Tatarnikova Decor

The designer understood that ready-made furniture would be hard to use in this restricted space. Taking precise measurements and designing a custom made kitchen table allowed her to save on cabinetry space and match a little microwave and dishwasher into the panels.

Dining stools: Kartell

Irina Tatarnikova Decor

A very low ceiling made the room feel much smaller, therefore Tatarnikova picked a glossy white paint to raise it. The shine reflects light a bonus for a little room with one window.

Sink, fixtures: ILVE; Shop pulls: habit

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