Posts in Sheffield School
Make a Big Splash (in Your Kitchen)

(Kitchen courtesy of MCKB)Janet Ramin - When designing kitchens, plenty of planning and energy go towards choosing the most efficient appliances or the best looking countertops or the most organized cabinets - but what’s often neglected is that wall separating your cabinets and appliances. I started looking into this much more closely since my friend mentioned how bored she was with her kitchen backsplash. 

Now, mind you, her kitchen is relatively new – it's only a few years old, but since she bought a condo, she really didn’t have much choice in the design plan of her kitchen. She had a choice of two wood finishes for the cabinets and a few more with her granite countertop. But that’s it. Some condo owners don’t even get that much.

I viewed her kitchen again – see photo below – and found that the walls really didn’t have much going there. They extended the granite countertop to create a short backsplash and the rest was just painted plaster walls. Time for a makeover!

(Kitchen, courtesy of Maxwell Place)

I headed over to some of my favorite kitchen showrooms in the city to check out what they had to offer for those kitchen walls. At Manhattan Center for Kitchen and Bath (MCKB), I found some very colorful unique kitchen wall treatments. To emphasize their circular theme, MCKB designers used round ceramic tiles of varying sizes as the backsplash for their very mod peephole cabinets (see top photo). In another installation, MCKB uses glass tiles that are designed to look like bamboo. Glass is highly functional as it’s easy to wipe off any liquids or food stains - and additionally, it’s recyclable.

For a very elegant and contemporary style, take a look at this kitchen designed by Regina Bilotta of Bilotta Kitchens. She created her backsplash using copper-backed glass tiles, called Treble, in a very sexy, ogee-shaped tile pattern. The varying hues of copper, ochre, and reds project a warm, inviting glow. She also applied a cream color glass tile for those who want a more neutral color scheme – see both photos below. Both tiles are available from Artistic Tile. 

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Sheffield School, interior designGuest Userbacksplash, kitchenComment
Interior Decorating for Small Spaces in Paris

What better time of the year than April for a quick trip to the City of Light? Temperatures remain brisk, but the springtime sun is warming up the earth, and Paris is awash with springtime blossoms. And, no matter when you go to Paris, it is, after all, Paris - filled with some of the world’s greatest design, art, and architecture, all waiting for you to jump in and enjoy.

Le Pinot Noir

Although it’s known as the City of Light, Paris could easily also claim the title City of Design. You could spend an entire day wandering the rooms of Louvre that have been restored to the way they looked when the building was, literally, a palace. The gilding! The mirrors! The marble flooring! The brocade!

But while Louis the XIV had acres of sumptuous rooms to work with, most Parisians today face the very contemporary problem of how to make the most out of a small space. In addition to being known for its grace and beauty, Paris is known, especially among tourists, for its miniature quarters, including hotel rooms with barely enough space for admiring one’s latest fashions after an afternoon’s shopping at Le Bon Marché.

And yet, as students in the best design schools learn, with enough creativity and know-how you can make any space work.

We dropped in on the apartment christened “Le Pinot Noir” to see how designer Linda VanderMarliere solved the space problem while creating a tiny apartment fit for a king.

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Sheffield School, interior designGuest UserLe Pinot Noir, Paris, decorating, small spacesComment