OPEN, BUT NOT OVERWHELMING
A: Then feast your eyes on the photo we show here, where the half wall is further defined by a pair of classic Tuscan columns. Running from wall-top to ceiling, the columns emphasize the rooms' separate personalities without blocking either the cook's view of the living room, or the interior flow of conversation and traffic.
The same idea works in other all-in-one rooms like loft spaces, where columns can suggest different activity areas without actually dividing and closing off floor space.
The columns, by the way, are readily available - no need to go sleuthing through salvage yards. The source is Chadsworth's, (800) COLUMNS or www.columns.com, a manufacturer who is keen to keep its newly made columns true to their Greek and Roman antecedents.
- - -
Who says "There's nothing new under the sun"?
Someone who's never been to a design-industry press debut, that's who. Startling new ideas first percolate to the surface at trade shows and press openings, then quickly move from there to become standard-issue in America's homes. Microwave ovens, video games, dishwashers in a drawer: they all made their debuts in the bright lights of one industry marketplace or another.
What have I seen lately? Here's a sampling of new ideas that may soon be showing up under your own roof:
- Glow-in-the-dark ceramic tiles. Not your same old phosphorescence, the tiles we saw at the Tiles of Spain show in Valencia actually radiate light from a new photoluminescent vitreous coating.
Think of the possibilities!
Your entire bath as a night light. Whole skyscrapers lighting up the cityscape. "Follow-me" paths across the kitchen floor for a late-night snack in the dark.
- Woven leather carpet in broadloom sizes. That means wall-to-wall carpets woven from thin strips of luxurious leather. From Stark Carpet at www.starkcarpet.com, "Jockey" is available in three leather-luscious colors: chocolate, caramel and saddle. Just don't spill the red wine!
- Silver lining to laundry day. Literally. Samsung electronics is about to bring out a washer that works by positively charging silver ions that virtually sterilize your home laundry. The healing abilities of silver are captured in two plates about the size of chewing gum sticks, over which flows the water into Samsung's new SilverCare washing machines.
The company claims that this sanitization process not only kills 99.9 percent of (tested) bacteria, but does it using cold water without bleach, which pampers fabrics and prolongs the lifespan of your clothes. Price tag: $1,099 - $1,399. For more info go to www.samsung.com.
- Ceramic tile on a roll. Leave it to the English to take their beloved wallpapers to amazing new highs. Graham & Brown recently introduced paper that looks for all the world like hand-blocked mosaics. Available in "swimming pool shades of blues," the paper lets you "tile" a backsplash or bath. The price is about $30 for a roll that covers 11 yards by 20 1/2-inches. Go to www.grahambrown.com for information.
Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of "Hampton Style" and associate editor of Country Decorating Ideas. Please send your questions to her at Copley News Service, P.O. Box 120190, San Diego, CA 92112-0190, or online at copleysd@copleynews.com.
© Copley News Service
Comments (0)
Greater Paramus News and Lifestyle Magazine
http://www.paramuspost.com/article.php/20060422103057268