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Top Trends In Kitchen & Bath Design | Highlights from KBIS 2016

I’m still fresh off my recent trip to the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show with Modenus a couple of weeks ago and excited to talk with you today about some of my favourite trends.

TEXTURE TOPS THE CHARTS

One of the strongest trends I saw at the show was texture. Clockwise from top left, we are talking about:

1/ Stunning Ann Sacks tiles inspired by Kelly Wearstler’s iconic string art
2/ Top Knobs‘ newly released faceted Serene Collection, which I’m dying to use on a project. The pulls feel so good in the hand.
3/ Thompson Traders‘ gorgeous hammered brass pedestal sink that simply has to make its way into one of my designs very soon. I thought I’d died and went to hammered heaven when I found this booth!
4/ The new Litze Collection from Brizo which is on my personal Lust List for my Designer Dream House. The perfect brass finish with articulated details and a touch of industrial texture on the valve makes me swoon.

Textural elements were everywhere to be seen, offering designers the opportunity to awaken the senses in fresh ways. While texture is nothing new, we’re seeing unexpected applications in 2016, as with these carved panels on the face of Thermador‘s culinary preservation centre (below).

More than the texture, it’s the technical details that get me excited with Thermador‘s integrated refrigeration. Sometimes it’s what you don’t see that counts, like the hidden hinges (see below) that make it possible for the panels to be perfectly flush and fully integrated with surrounding cabinetry. Finally. No more working around unsightly hinges in cabinetry design.

(Cue: Designers everywhere rejoicing!)

PRETTY GETS PRACTICAL

Not surprisingly, brass and gold finishes and fixtures were stronger than ever at KBIS this year. Rest assured that brass is still boss. If you’re looking to integrate a metallic finish on custom cabinetry and want it to be as pretty as it is practical, you’ll need to know about Wilsonart‘s new metallic aluminum laminates. Available in sheets as large as 4’x10’ and in several colours and textures, the applications for this line are truly endless. I’m thinking a previously budget-busting custom modern brushed brass range hood becomes a designer’s best kept secret when created using this innovative surface.

Wilsonart-aluminum-sheeting-brass-brushed-brass-corrugated-brushed-brass

From Top To Bottom: Polished Gold Aluminum, Satin Brushed Gold Aluminum, Ribboned Satin Brushed Aged Gold

Also in the pretty and oh-so practical category is Blanco‘s latest introduction. The Ikon sink is made of SilGranit, the hardest composite material available on the market in sinks today. You can literally take a fork to this surface – with elbow grease and evil intentions – and still not leave a mark. My favourite colours in the Ikon are the Anthracite (below) and classic White.

Another innovative feature of the Ikon sink is the floating grid accessory, which can be used in a number of other sinks in Blanco‘s line up as well. From resting a colander on it (to keep food from sitting in liquids at the bottom of the sink while straining) to using it as a discrete perch for dishes to dry, the floating grid is a genius little accessory.

Last but not least in the pretty gets practical category, I’d say this is more of a practical gets pretty turnaround story. As a designer, I’ve always specified wool broadloom for both its hypoallergenic properties and its naturally stain-resistant nature. Until recently, most reasonably priced wool broadloom has only been available in very staid colour palettes and patterns, but Karastan‘s selection of wool broadloom makes the thought of creating a custom bound area rug or stair runner a much more enticing prospect. I mean, how gorgeous is the Cosmopolitan dove grey flame stitch pattern below?

Taking in the latest trends can prove daunting for some, leaving you overwhelmed and unsure of where to start. Stay tuned for my upcoming posts on where to begin when designing a new kitchen or bathroom.

xx
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|February 9th, 2016|0 Comments

Why Peer Mentorship Is Essential For Entrepreneurs | Modenus BlogTourKBIS

Photo by Tori Aston from Modenus BlogTourKBIS 2016

It was 2011 and I was riding high on a phenomenal full house reno that had recently finished to huge success. I was one of the lucky ones. I had come through the 2008 market crash without my business following suit. I had clients who were either smart enough or wealthy enough that the market didn’t effect our projects, and after a decade in business I was really starting to find my stride.

And then it happened. For the first time ever in a decade of business. 3 dishonest clients in a row stiffed me – a polite term for the financial and emotional trauma of what went on – to the tune of more than 10K. It wasn’t the dollars of it, it was the absolute shock. It felt personal. I felt like someone had scraped out my insides and left me hollow. I was a house of cards just waiting to be blown over by a gentle gust of wind.

Well, the gentle gust of wind came more like a tornado in the form of two serious car accidents 6 months apart, right on the heels of my business betrayals. Suddenly I found myself in physiotherapy 5 days a week. For two years. It was a full time job. My whole world as a business owner came to a complete stop, and oddly, the business pain was almost as intense as the physical pain.

It was during my season of physical recovery that I launched The Curated House and started to look for a design sisterhood. The truth is, the business of interior design can be very isolating. Yes, we interact with wonderful suppliers and clients, but often we lack a trusted peer group with which to share our highs and lows – our best practices and horror stories – especially when we own our own businesses. And as I’ve learned, it’s shared experiences that make us stronger.

It took some time for me to find the courage to start sharing my story in small doses. It was like testing the waters to see if they were too cold to go deeper. No one likes to go from designing and building/renovating 3-4 million dollar homes to landing flat on her badonkadonk. But there I was, and I needed a hand up.

Over time it got easier to share – bit by bit – and I found there were more kindred spirits out there than I’d expected. Turns out, I wasn’t the only one. I kept whispering to myself “It’s not just me” in amazement as I heard the stories of others. Many amazing designers, in fact, had been beaten and bruised along the way, and worst of all, left feeling like somehow it was their fault. Funny how a business that can appear so glamorous from the outside can be painfully otherwise behind the scenes.

My first real design sister – the kind who feels like family and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt would do anything to support my success – was Lisa Canning. This girl knows how to love hard, and she was God’s hand reaching out to help me up off my ass when she came into my life in 2013. And because of my experience with Lisa, I knew that sisterhood was indeed possible.

Enter Veronika Miller and BlogTourKBIS 2016. Before even meeting her in person, she shared some of her hard-won wisdom with me. She said, “Here’s the thing. I spent years being a woman and trying to ‘handle it’ or ‘fight through it.’ It’s when I started to ask for help and allow others to see my weakness that the knot unraveled. It’s actually what made me strong.”

It was Veronika’s vulnerability with me that gave me the courage to more than dip my toe in the waters when I arrived at BlogTourKBIS. And guess what I found? The waters were warm. I met 24 other designers ready to share not only in an experience together, but also to share the real stuff of what it takes to run a design business. The good, the bad and the ugly. Our five days together were another step in redeeming my design story. Five days of fun and wicked blisters and way too many selfies. Five days of amazing food and design inspiration and sharing our real selves with each other. I hate clichés, but this trip was one I’ll never forget.

All 25 of us slathered in mud masks as we experienced Mr. Steam’s incredible steam therapy together

I share all of this with you because I’ve learned over the years that a story that remains untold helps no one. I share this with you because I know that some of you out there are feeling like you’ve been knocked on your ass in business and you need a hand up. Well, I’m here to tell you you’re not alone. And I hope you’ll find the courage to tell the real story of who you are and what you’ve experienced with your whole heart. Share your story with someone you can trust so that you can experience the grace and kindness and hope that is waiting for you in the hand of someone ready to help you get back up again.

Let me clarify: Sisterhood does not require crisis. Sisterhood can be formed over glasses of champagne and laughter and mud masks and Chinese-Mexican fusion. But sisterhood (and brotherhood…real community) is what you’ll need when the hard stuff hits. And sista, it hits. That’s why I’m grateful to say that my design sisterhood got a whole lot bigger thanks to Veronika Miller, Modenus and BlogTourKBIS 2016.

Stay tuned for my favourite trends and highlights from KBIS 2016! I’ll be sharing lots of design goodies with you in the weeks to come. But somehow this just had to come first.

xx
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|February 2nd, 2016|22 Comments

How To Buy A Home And Have Someone Else Pay The Mortgage | Responsive Homes with Bobby Berk

We all have one – a vision of our very own dream home. A space to host the most fabulous parties, to live a meaningful and connected life, all the while easily entertaining both indoors and out. But paying the mortgage on that dream home can sometimes feel out of reach.

HOW THE RIGHT FLOOR PLAN CAN PAY YOUR MORTGAGE

Enter the brilliant space planning of the Responsive Homes we recently visited as a part of the Modenus BlogTourKBIS in Las Vegas. With interiors designed by Bobby Berk and built by Pardee Homes, these innovative spaces blur the lines between indoor and outdoor living with an apparent simplicity that belies their clever flexibility. But beyond designs that include sliding walls that open to invite the outdoors in, these unique floor plans offer homes that really can pay for themselves.

Targeted at Millennials, the Responsive Homes are uniquely designed with main floor “lock off” suites. The suites include a bedroom, bathroom, sitting area and small kitchenette that allow the homeowner to rent the space out to either a long term renter or – at higher short term rates – via online rental services like Airbnb.

Not only does the rental suite option make a new mortgage payment easier for Millenials in the short term, but it also offers a space that will flex with the needs of the home owner, evolving into a nanny suite, for example, when future kids come along. From bachelor parties to birthday parties, these houses will have no problem growing with their owners through the many seasons of life ahead.

What do you think? Are you inspired by this innovative approach to space planning, either for your own home, for a child’s first home, or for an investment property? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

And stay tuned for all of the many design finds I spotted at the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show. I’ve got lots of great highlights and exciting trends to share with you in the coming weeks!

xx
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|January 26th, 2016|3 Comments