Art Deco Origins

We have a fantastic library of design books at work, which is, not surprisingly, focused on gardens and architecture. Hidden on the shelves with some of the other architecture books I found this gem, and I've been fascinated with it ever since.


The book includes articles from House and Garden magazine as well as the mostly black and white photographs that accompanied the articles. In the section on the 1920's there's a great article written by the then-editor of House and Garden magazine, Richardson Wright, about his mixed reactions to the 1925 Exhibition des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris. The intent of the exhibition was to showcase French design and designers as leaders in the design world; it was mostly a state-sponsored marketing campaign on a giant level. The exhibition is now pinpointed as a sort of starting point for the modernist design movement; the Art Deco label was applied many years later, in the 1960's.

Detail above and cabinet by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann,
noted cabinet designer,
who participated in the 1925 Paris exhibition.


Ruhlmann's Hotel du Collectioneur, from the 1925 Paris Exhibition.

Bathroom Renovation: planning stage part II

(Click to enlarge image)

Sorry for the lightweight graphics, but the picture above is my sketch for re-working the bath vanity, etc., while maintaining the current layout. I was inspired by an old article in Domino showing separate cabinets, with a pedestal sink inbetween. Since I don't have enough actual floorspace between the left-side wall and the commode to put in a pedestal sink, I'm thinking about a wall-mounted sink like this:
I like the vintage look of the separate hot and cold faucets, but is it a bad idea in reality?

And I would like to use this pair of Deco nightstands as a sort of deconstructed vanity.





















The nightstands aren't as tall as a typical counter height, but I think that with the sink at the proper height, it will all make sense. The nasty colonial green paint will be stripped off the cabinets, so that the beautiful golden oak will show.

And in a possible step of overkill, I've already painted most of the bathroom white (Pratt and Lambert's Seed Pearl), and in an attempt to use up old paint, I've added 2 horizontal bands of darker paint (P& L's Lambswool and B. Moore's Alexandria Beige) starting at the baseboard. Then I'm planning on adding a hand painted motif like this in the corners of the room, just above the top band:
I think the pattern will reinforce the carved pattern on the nightstands - if it doesn't just look insanely tacky instead. Here's some of the carving on the nightstands:
It sounds sketchy, but I think it's going to work when it's all together.

There are still some decisions to be made and a budget to be worked on...This is not going to be a quick project!

Bathroom Renovation: the planning stages

Is there such a thing as looking at too many design magazines and design blogs? All of my research has helped inspire me, and give me some interesting ideas for a bathroom overhaul. But it's also given me a big case of bathroom envy!

I've posted about the house in general here. The master bath was originally a side porch on our little 1917 cottage, back in the days before indoor plumbing, at least in our neighborhood! So, it makes a bit more sense that our master bath has always been a very plain, tacked on rectangle of a space. We have the basics: a tub/shower, toilet, and a sink cabinet, even an oddly placed window for some natural light. The clear floor space measures about 5' x 8', plus the tub/shower at the short side of the rectangle. What we lack is any kind of built in storage or even moldings. And the floor has a very definite slope away from the main body of the house. (Makes a certain amount of sense for a porch to sheet rainwater away from the house. Makes less sense in a finished bathroom!)

I've lived here for about 10 years, and over time the bath has been a couple different colors. Paint tip: avoid olive green paint in any small space in which you have to apply makeup or see yourself first thing in the morning! It casts a definite corpse-like glow to the face. I ought to be terribly embarassed to post this, but here's a Before pic when the bath was a more soothing taupe.

Bland and awful, no?
The current plan is to stick to a mostly cosmetic overhaul of the bathroom. I'm simply not going to have the budget to change walls or the window location, nor are we likely to level the floor at this point due to labor costs. I think that we can accomplish a lot with freestanding furniture and maybe some wall-mounted shelves for storage. The list of improvements looks a little like this:

1) Paint the walls - already in progress.
2) Replace sink cabinet with vanity.
3) New sink with vintage looking hardware.
4) Add baseboards and maybe molding at the ceiling.
5) Replace light fixtures.
6) Replace sheet vinyl flooring - what we have is intact, but not pretty.
7) Keep the tub/shower combo but change out the faucets, re-caulk, etc., and add a subway tile surround.