Category Archives: Recycled products

Architectural Salvage

Posted on July 8, 2010 | 4 Comments

Find Your Inner Robber Baron

A Sunset magazine headline of some years back — Recycle, Restore, Reuse — is more relevant than ever in today’s economy. So, where can you find affordable but distinctive home products and building materials

like this Talaveras pottery sink for $50?  The answer is: at architectural salvage yards like Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores across the US and Canada. ReStore is a home improvement outlet that sells donated, new, used, and surplus goods to the public at greatly reduced prices.

Profits  support the local Habitat for Humanity, a network of community volunteers who build modest affordable homes with the families who will live in them. Browser beware, however: you’ll need to visit an outlet regularly to catch the most popular items — that sink came in to the Sonoma County, California Restore outlet (entrance pictured above) just after I arrived and had sold before I left!

These outlets and other salvage yards are where you can make like the insatiable artifact collector and San Simeon Castle builder William Randolph Hearst but without his billionaire budget. (Remember: a lot of the doors, paneling, and even ceilings in Hearst Castle came from Spanish monasteries and French chateaux — in those days Europe was the ultimate salvage yard for some people.) In addition to the sink shown above, I found

solid core paneled doors for $100, and a granite-topped

corner bar cabinet for $850.

If you don’t see what you want at a ReStore, google “architectural salvage” or check with your local building department to find recycle outlets in your area.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, for example,   Ohmega Salvage Yard now has some unusual Gothic-style oak panels saved from the old Carnelian Room

Restaurant on the 52nd  floor of the Bank of America building in San Francisco. Historic Houseparts in Rochester, New York boasts a large inventory of vintage plumbing and bathroom fixtures

and would be a good place to look for early twentieth century porcelain sink spigots. At Architectural Artifacts in Chicago you’ll find items like these Art Nouveau interior doors.

A Builder’s Recycle Sourcing Tips

Our in-house contractor expert Brian Garrison has some good advice for the home product hunter-gatherer:

On Older Windows  and Doors: “I would not recommend recycling doors and windows for the exterior because of the heat loss and gain. Older building materials and practices may not be worth the upfront savings. “

On Appliances and Fixtures: “Suppliers often finds themselves with opened boxes or damaged/imperfect products and these can be great buys. As long as the imperfections cannot be seen or do not take away from the beauty or function of the product there is no problem with using them in your new home.”

Thanks Brian — and Mr. Hearst — for showing us how to shop the recycle market.

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Appliances and Fixtures, architectural history, Building Materials, Cabinetry, Green Design, Home Products, Recycled products, Uncategorized

News from ICFF 2010

Posted on May 21, 2010 | Leave a comment

New Furnishing and Lighting Products

Our fearless Manhattan correspondent,  former New York Times Home Section editor Michael Cannell, filed this report on the latest design trends.

“Furniture fanatics filled the streets of New York last week as the city hosted the annual designapalooza known as the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. ICFF, as it’s commonly called, is this country’s biggest design exposition, mixing the best new American lighting, furniture, and accessories with introductions from big-name European outfits.

(The view above is of the Spanish pavilion, with blue “Agatha pendant” by Luis Eslava Studio.) The mood was surprisingly buoyant this year with an emphasis on the eco-conscious and a vibrant mix of colors. Here are some of the most noteworthy introductions:

Intricate Room Divider

Everybody loves big open loft spaces, but there may be times when you want to separate a living area from, say, a home office or media center. For this purpose the Dutch-American couple Mike and Maaike created Swarm, a playfully chaotic screen made of strips of wood connected with aluminum links.

Swarm is a porous divider, with plenty of room for light to pass through.

Colors include: natural, black, white, yellow, green (81” high; 38” wide): $1,425 (the two images above courtesy Homedecorg.com).

Woven Light

Timothy Liles is a New Hampshire designer who puts a contemporary twist on regional crafts. His new collection, called “New New England,” includes Sweetser,

a lamp with solid ash legs and a woven shade made in collaboration with New Hampshire basket weavers. The cord is covered in red textile. (52” high; 16” in diameter): $375.

Ancient Perch Updated

Tatit is a pair of ergonomic stools based on the bathing traditions of Finland and Japan, but it could be used anywhere.

Designed by the Finnish architect Toni Kauppila, Tatit is made of lightweight laminated pine from a Scandinavian forestry firm known for sustainable practices. Tatit will be available this summer from the Finnish Design Shop. (17.7” and 9” high, respectively): Price to be determined.

A Classic In Plastic

In 1944 Emeco began making a basic aluminum chair for use on U.S. warships. The Navy chair and its variations have surged in popularity in recent years. This spring Emeco and Coca-Cola introduced the 111 Navy Chair, a version made from 111 plastic soda bottles.

Emeco estimates that more than 3 million plastic bottles will be recycled annually for the production of the chairs.

The 111 Chair will be available in June in six colors: Coca-Cola Red, Snow, Flint, Grass, Persimmon and Charcoal (34” high; 15.5” wide; 19.5” deep): $230.

Ambient Origami

One of the more attention-grabbing items at this year’s ICFF came from the Spanish designer Ray Power who created a table lamp (it can also be used as a sconce) called Air MP out of a single sheet of twisted plywood veneer.

Available in seven colors: American white wood, Cherry, Beech, Yellow, Orange, Red, Green, Grey (13.3” high; 9.4” in diameter): $365.

Recycled Seating

Loll Design is known for outdoor furniture made from recycled HDPE, a plastic resin used in detergent bottles, margarine tubs and other packaging. Loll expanded its collection this year with the addition of Coco, a modern lounge chair with contoured slats.

Each chair is made from 184 recycled milk jugs. Available in six colors: black, white, apple, chocolate, leaf and sky (29” high; 21”wide): $350

Trees Not Required

Hammy is a hammock by a group of young designers who call themselves Plywood Office. It can be used indoors or out.

Materials: powder-coated steel, vinyl mesh and cypress wood. (40” high; 8’6” long; 36” high): $1850.

Beautiful Snarl

The artful tangle is one of the more conspicuous design trends of the moment, particularly in lighting design. Rachel O’Neill, a designer from Northern Ireland,

fashioned Polka from strips of Velcro woven around an aluminum frame. (23.5” high; 15.75” in diameter): Price to be determined.

Large-Scale Prints

Trove is a wallpaper studio with an emphasis on photographic imagery used in unusual formats.

This year the company introduced Fuoco, an oversized black and white image based on a historic photograph of the interior of the Venice opera house. (153” high; 67” wide): $13 per square foot.

Reissued For Summer

Richard Schulz, who his best known for his work with Knoll in the 1950s, designed the Fresh Air outdoor furniture collection in the 1980s, but it was never produced.

Available for the first time this spring, it is made of powder-coated aluminum. Available in sixteen colors. (34” high; 27” wide; 24” deep): Price to be determined.”

Thanks for keeping us current, Mike!

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Appliances and Fixtures, Furniture, Green Design, Home Products, Lighting, Recycled products, Uncategorized

Textiles, Artisan Wood, and Cabin Plans

Posted on April 2, 2010 | 1 Comment

T-Shirts to Timbers

In Melbourne recently my daughter, who knows her father well, pointed out various design galleries. At Spacecraft, an innovative artist-owned textile firm, I immediately spied this comforter emblazoned with

a large image of  Dutch baroque row houses. Perfect for a good night’s sleep dreaming of European travel. Want it.  Or how about this T-shirt showing St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice.

Now you see how patient my family is with someone who has AOS (architectural obsession syndrome).

Another gallery fanned my table and chair fixations: The Mark Tuckey Company designs, makes, and sells elegant modern timber furniture — often from recycled woods.

Their Melbourne showroom and workshop (they also have a gallery in Sydney)  is a woodworker’s fun house. I was drawn to the minimalist geometry and flexibility of these sideboard storage and display cases.

Combine the sturdy open boxes and and drawer modules into whatever size credenza suits your space. I also liked this coffee table made from recycled American oak.

In case Australia is a little far, browse Urban Hardwoods, a company with galleries in Seattle and San Francisco that specializes in wood from urban trees — like this elm

that died and was born again as

a sculptural dining table.

The Wharton Esherick House

Speaking of wood furniture, sculptor Wharton Esherick (1887-1970) was one of the most influential American woodworkers and the house he built for himself in Paoli, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia (now a museum) is an extraordinary invention in its own right and worth adding to your summer itinerary.

I toured it not long ago. From the outside it recalls something from The Lord of The Rings, with its central board-and-batten-covered tower and sunken stone-and-glass studio.

(Photo of rear-facing side with deck is by G. Widman for GPTMC). Inside, one of several dramatic surprises is the wooden stairway leading from the studio up to the bedroom, kitchen, and dining area.

It’s a marvelous architectural vertebrae: the house’s backbone exposed. The studio contains many of Esherick’s furniture and and lighting designs

along with models for larger pieces. Esherick brought an Arts & Crafts esthetic into mid century (stair and studio photos courtesy Esherick Museum). I recommend the new book that explores this house and those of two other great American woodworkers: Esherick, Maloof, and Nakashima: Homes of the Master Wood Artisans (Schiffer, 2009).

The cover shows how stairways become a fine furniture maker’s Everest: to be conquered (reinvented) and climbed!

Our New Cabin Plan

So, where to put all this new bedding and furniture, not to mention the odd woodworking book? In your new vacation getaway, of course. Architect David Wright’s cabin, Plan 452-3, one of the latest additions to our Exclusive Studio Collection, is an especially appealing example. The barn-inspired design combines a wrap-around porch

(that’s wide enough for a dining table) with a soaring light-filled interior.

The kitchen is by the stair; bedroom and bathroom are at the rear;

overflow sleeping area is in the loft. I think it’s exactly what a cabin should be:

simple, easy to secure — note the metal shutters that slide over the windows — and flexible. Browse our Cabin Collection for more plans. Which one calls you?


→ 1 Comment

Posted in Architectural Innovation, Books, Building Materials, Cabinetry, Decorating Ideas, Design Ideas and Inspiration, Furniture, House plans, layouts, Plan Collections, Recycled products, Uncategorized

Wall Gardens, Deck Maintenance, Spring

Posted on March 24, 2010 | 1 Comment

Bubbles and the Biosphere: Micro Farms at Home

I just planted a row of sweet peas: a big deal for this green dumb (I mean thumb). Now I must remember to irrigate every day. Which makes me think: How can we use water more efficiently in the growth of plants and food? That happens to be a question posed by the inventors at a small San Francisco company called Inka Biospheric Systems. They have developed sculptural, free standing, self-contained  “micro-farms” that combine a fish tank and “vertical hydroponic grow structure” to provide protein, vegetables, and clean water in a “self powered environment.”

Shown at the Coyote Point Museum for Environmental Education in San Mateo, California, Inka’s Sun Curve is an especially ingenious  and elegant contraption that uses an arching steel frame to support solar panels and the vertical garden. The water from the fish pond acts as a reservoir and a nutrient source. Inka’s patented “Bio-Quilt” (which holds the plants without any soil), the plant roots, and a film of micro-organisms act as a biological filter, cleaning the water for the fish. The closed loop system recycles the water. The solar panels produce enough  power — stored in a battery bank — to run a built-in water pump, ultra-violet filtration system, and a lap-top computer or cell phone. (Maybe that should be a salad-to-shore phone!)

Another variation,

shows how the basic elements can be adapted to a residential entry. With their bubbling tanks, pipes, hanging gardens, and brightly colored fish these inventions have a wonderful mad scientist quality, as if Dr. Frankenstein had studied agronomy and The Whole Earth Catalog instead of Hungarian anatomy and high voltage electrical charges.

Other Inka “micro farms” omit the tank, like this custom-designed planted flange.

The standard Inka Wall Garden measures 3- by 4- feet and has a 2 foot 7 inch-square growing area.

It circulates water and nutrients to the seedlings, which aids the plants’ vegetation production rather than root production — this usually increases the standard growth-rate of plants. The Wall Garden costs $349.

NOTE: a version of Inka’s micro farm is an important plant source

aboard the Plastiki, the boat (photo above courtesy Doug Millar) made of 12,000 plastic bottles that is now sailing to Australia from California to call attention to the perilous amount of plastic refuse now present in the oceans. You can see the tall plant cylinder and solar panels. The boat is a modern-day descendant of the famous Kon-Tiki raft that explorer Thor Heyerdahl used to cross the Pacific in 1947.

I’m eager to see Inka’s next green invention.

On Decks

Spring means getting outdoors more, so here are three designs to fuel your deck-building dreams.

This classic contemporary example by San Francisco architect/sculptor Olle Lundberg shows how the house, deck, and a wine tank pool form a seamless unit celebrating outdoor living. The Australian landscape design firm Eckersley Garden Architecture takes a similar approach for a more compact urban site

(photo courtesy Trendir.com).  Or for something even smaller, where the wood deck alone shapes a quirky and appealing outdoor room, take a look at the aptly named Pork Chop Garden

by CMG Landscape Architecture (Conger Moss Guillard) of San Francisco.

If you already have a deck, now may be the time to do a little maintenance. I asked a contractor friend, Brian Garrison, for advice on getting a cedar or redwood deck back  in shape. Here’s his step-by-step guide:

  1. Repair. Replace any nails or screws that have popped. Use galvanized square head deck screws: they last longer than nails and don’t pop out as easily. Fix squeaks by adding screws.
  2. Clean. A power washer is quick but strips all of the softwood along with the dirt and grime, so use a deck wash or cleaner such as Behrs or a diluted bleach and water mixture of 10% bleach to 90% water. A broom or brush will help lift the dirt and tannins from the deck. Most of the deck wash systems recommend 2-3 rounds of applications. Do this early in the morning – don’t let the cleanser dry before you can rinse it off because it contains bleaching chemicals that will stain the wood.
  3. Rinse thoroughly. Allow 2-3 days drying time before applying finish.
  4. Apply a durable and long-lasting finish. An oil-based deck stain protects the wood longer than a water sealer, which must be applied at least once every 6 months to work properly. The finish should be water repellent or waterproof, not just water-resistant, provide UV (ultraviolet) protection, and contain a mildewcide if mildew is a problem. Brian used Preserva Wood® Pacific Redwood Penetrating Finish stain. Apply with a paint brush or sprayer — a roller will create a sticky mess. Don’t leave puddles or pools, which dry slowly and can become sticky. Allow a couple of days to dry thoroughly. Cost for finishing a 1,000 sq. ft. deck: about $75.

Flexa Studio Footnotes

Our Flexa Studio modern prefab room is getting noticed. You can see it in on CabinZoom, and on Materialicious.com, The Room Vote (you can vote for it!), Shedworking, the Tiny House Blog, Treehugger, and a Spanish website called Cobertizos. Onward and upward, one room at a time.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Architectural Innovation, Building Materials, contemporary home design, Design Ideas and Inspiration, Green Design, Landscape Ideas, Recycled products, Uncategorized

Contemporary Floor Coverings

Posted on February 22, 2010 | 3 Comments

Modern Patterns Under Foot

It may still be dark and wintry outside but here’s a way to brighten the indoors: browse the range of contemporary floor coverings now available. Start with the new rugs designed by Los Angeles architect Stephen Kanner, FAIA and his 14 year-old daughter Caroline. These floor coverings give new meaning to the phrase “cut a rug:” the grid of vivid colors seems to float and dance, creating a room-within-the-room.

It, and the elegant runner below, are part of the “Squares” line.

The rugs are part of the Ariana + Kanner Modern Rug Collection, constructed by Ariana Rugs’ Ahmad and Alex Ahmadi, who are third generation Afghan rug weavers from Kabul.

These hand-knotted, hand-tufted cotton and wool rugs incorporate sustainable materials including bamboo silk and banana. The one above is from the “Square Compressions” line. Inspiration for the designs comes from the geometries and color field explorations of 20th century painting, including Russian Constructivism, the Bauhaus, and American Abstract Expressionism.

Stephen is known for sleek machine age architecture — from futuristic homes and a zig-zagging In-’n-Out Burger outlet to the sweeping car-commanding canopy/marquis of his United Oil Gasoline Station,

completed in 2009 (photo by John Linden, courtesy archdaily) and  shown here.  But in the rugs I detect a new found freedom with hue and pattern that must have come from his collaboration with Caroline.

Another product — more a floor covering than a rug — is by a company called FLOR. It’s all about flexibility: you can mix and match the 19.7 inch squares or “carpet tiles” (made of renewable and recycled content) as you see fit. Launched in 2003, FLOR’s offerings keep expanding. We used FLOR in several Sunset Idea Houses and they were very successful.

These blue striped squares are part of the “Stripe It Rich/C Note” line and run about $16 per tile. Or here’s the “Shiny Doodle 2 Rug Kit:”

which includes ten tiles. A special “FLORdot” system holds each square securely in place.

Chilewich is a New York company that has made a name in very contemporary matting made from woven vinyl in a variety of textures, patterns, and colors.

They can add lightness as well as warmth to a room, as the image of a modern dining area, above, shows. Here’s their “Bright” series:

And the more subdued “Dark Neutrals:”

These mats are elegant and practical at the same time: easy to clean by vacuuming, or mopping with a detergent solution.

So now as you take a break from watching the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, you can think about ways to bring a little gold medal design excitement into your home!

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Architectural Innovation, Architectural Styles, contemporary home design, Decorating Ideas, Design Ideas and Inspiration, Recycled products, Uncategorized

Tagged , ,