Nirmada: Interior Design in New York City

Things I find for my clients I want to share with you!

Cole and Son "Octave" Wallpaper

I am using this in a Powder Room at 15 Central Park West. Perfect combination of modern and classic!

Octave is a collection of stylish designs from Coles Studio suitable for multiple uses including each and every wall and surface in the room. There is a tonal exploration through color from dark to light in lustres and metallics on designs playing with botanical, optical and textural themes.

Delightful!

Last month I spent the entire day at an NKBA/AIA seminar and came back with many tidbits that I’ll be sharing with you next week in honor of the KBIS show which I’m unable to attend.

Kitchens and bathrooms are by far the most important rooms in the house when it comes to remodeling, selling and buying. Interest in these highly specialized and technical areas of the home gobbles up a huge portion of HGTV and DIY Web sites, and is a specialty among designers like me.

The National Association of  Home Builders reports that improvements in these rooms also carries one of the largest rates of return when houses are sold; 78% of the remodeling costs are usually refunded, so builders, consumers, buyers and sellers carefully watch the trends in kitchen and bath design.

What can people expect to see at KBIS?

More (and smarter) appliances: More kitchens are being fitted with two ovens, two work islands, two dishwashers or dishwasher drawers and two refrigerators, and not just in Kosher Kitchens. We’re also seeing double laundry rooms, which hopefully means more European-style washer/dryer combos which take up less space. Make sure if you need to double up, you use Energy Star rated appliances.

More kitchens: Some high-end homes boast double, triple or quadruple kitchens. We see this now in Kosher homes, but it’s becoming more mainstream. Thankfully, Manhattan building codes prevent us from doing this in the City!

Smarter storage: For ergonomic reasons, we’re seeing less upper cabinets (too hard to reach) and more drawers rather that base cabinets (easier to access). Because of this we will see an increased pantry size, and the use of more ergonomic storage with practical accessories, such as plate racks, accessory drawers, pivoting pantry units, and corner drawers.

Zona Cucine knife drawer from Blum

The cyber cafe: The computer has become and integral part of the Kitchen environment. In our recent Kitchen renovation in Boston, we installed twice as many outlets as required by code, including data ports and a mounting station foe viewing recipes and checking email while in the Kitchen.

Bathrooms:

Separation of his/her space: While double-sinks have always been a must-have, the master bathroom is dividing in two, with more demand for not just for two sinks but for two separate vanities, along with his-and-her dressing rooms.

The toilet room: in colonial times we used to house the toilet in a separate room and once again the toilets will be increasingly compartmentalized.  Along with the separation of master baths, expect to find his-and-her toilets as a design feature of dual master baths.

Hardware: One of the most economical redos for either the kitchen or bath is to replace outdated hardware with new fixtures. The most-popular hardware finishes on the horizon are nickel and oil-rubbed bronze.

Water towers: Showers with multiple heads that pulsate, rain, change colors and give you a massage  are the newest bath luxury. How do you balance this luxury when water conservation is also of utmost importance? Low flow, high efficiency heads solve the problem without sacrificing performance.

Cabinetry: No buyer has ever asked for less storage, and the bathroom is one place people seem to want more. Especially in the City we commonly design floor-to-ceiling cabinetry and more drawers than doors. As always, we only use FSC certified woods, no-VOC finishes, and formaldehyde-free substrates.

Last week the Museum of Arts and Design celebrated the 40th anniversary of Maya Romanoff and the launch of three spectacular tie-dye wallpapers. I wasn’t able to attend the event, but my dear friend and colleague Lisa Pak, brought me a souvenir scarf from the event tonight! (thanks Lisa baby!)

The collection unveils  in Spring 2010: Half Plaid, Snowflake, and Crystal. This anniversary folio was inspired by the artist’s early work, created in collaboration with New York designer and co-founder of Design Miami, Amy Lau. The museum display has been arranged by friend and architect, David Rockwell.

A pioneer of monumental textile installation, Maya Romanoff is noted for his deep knowledge of ancient craft techniques and ability to synthesize environments with the resonant beauty of handmade, utilitarian objects out of materials that range from paper and felt, to mica and glass bead. The guiding force of his artistic career has been to make art that is “ . . . not so much objectified as occupied,” to make art of every day life.

To achieve the art of everyday, Romanoff early on saw the need for artisanal production at scale. He gave an entrepreneurial platform to his artistic vision by founding a company for the purpose in 1969. Through nearly half a century, his enterprise has remained true to its founding ethos. Romanoff’s atelier – now a bona fide factory with a staff of skilled artisans, many of whom have worked with the artist for decades – produces handmade materials that lend a transcendent vibrancy to interior spaces around the globe.

Maya Romanoff’s work has garnered many awards, including Icon of Industry from NEWH, the IFDA Trailblazer Award, GOOD Design Award and International Design Excellence Award, as well as earned the permanent placement of several collections into the Cooper-Hewitt Design Institute Smithsonian.

You can purchase these new papers through me, starting next month. Until then visit the installation at Bergdorf Goodman to view the collection.

“To make a beautiful thing once is easy – to do it over and over again, that is the true art.” -Maya Romanoff

Sitting here sort of half watching the Olympic closing ceremonies, I happened to notice one of my favorite chairs gracing the Olympic Stadium.

The chair is the iconic cantilevered stacking chair (1960) by Verner Panton. I’ve had these chairs for over 10 years now, and have never gotten tired of them! This cantilevered chair was first single-material and single-form chair to be made and has been produced by Vitra through three decades of development in plastics technology.

This version consists of a single piece of strong, flexible polypropylene with integral color that will not fade over time. As striking as modern sculpture, this classic piece is appropriately durable and easy to clean in cafés or restaurants, and is comfortable enough to use as an occasional chair in an office or residence.

And in case you want your own gold medal this year -

To commemorate the opening of the Panton Chair exhibition at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, 500 limited edition miniature Panton Chairs were created. The iconic chair now comes in a new gold metallic mini version. The chair, a mini version of the real thing is 1/6th the size of the original chair. The chair is handmade and produced using the same manufacturing process like the original one. The elegant gold chairs are considered to be the crown jewels of this exhibition.

Champion style!