Post 16 - Materiality

"Materiality" "material...ity"? Yes, for some people that's a real word.  You know who you are.  What is it supposed to mean?  Well as far as I can tell it's supposed to explain the thinking behind why that thing is made out of that material, and why that other thing is made from the other stuff.

So as we're sitting here on this labor day, taking a deep breath before Dmitry and his crew begin the drywall onslaught tomorrow, I thought I'd share a better idea of the real materials and artifacts that we will touch and look at and clean and manipulate and bang against for the long haul.  You've seen some cartoons, you've read the descriptions, but why not go one better:

First, the upstairs bathroom:

This is the tile that will line both side walls from floor to ceiling.  It's a glass subway tile, 2x8 size from the Bedrosians 'Manhattan' collection.  The color is 'coast'.  This was a late addition, replacing another tile that was on serious back-order. It's costing us a lot more, but oh man i think it will be worth it!

This tile will cover the entire floor, including the shower, the bench, and up the outside wall around the skylight.  An undulating magic carpet of 3/4" penny-round white '360' mosaic tile, from Oregon Tile and Marble. It will be cozy warm underfoot, with an under-floor radiant heat mat.  Bring on the winter mornings!

The shower - Kohler 'Purist' in chrome.

This sink basin will sit on top of our white-on-with vanity, which will be built by Vlad the cabinet maker.  It's narrow--only 22" wide-- but will do the trick. Once again a late substitution after our original Kohler basin was delayed due to a strike at the factory in Wisconsin.  It's from the American Standard Studio series.  That won't be our faucet...

...THIS will be the faucet.  Another from the 'purist' line by Kohler.

The light over the vanity mirror is this sweet little LED number called 'Crisp', made by Rich Brilliant Willing. I think its name is derived from the wavy potato-chip pattern on the surface (called 'crisps' in ye olde England). Clever, eh? We can thank my colleagues in the  Hacker Architects interiors department for finding this. It will also be coming to a new apartment building near you in a few months.

Our trusty commode - the Toto Aquia II. No crazy air-spray or other 'personal care' gizmos, just a solid low-flow dual-flush and a toilet seat that doesn't slam when thoughtful husbands lower them for others.

Next, the downstairs bathroom:

The walls surrounding the bathtub and beyond, plus the bench at the bottom of the bathtub will be covered in your classic white glossy subway tile.  We're doing a little update on the standard by going with a more stretched-out 2x8 size.  This is from the Dal-tile 'Modern Dimensions' series, in glossy Arctic White.

The floor will be covered in long planks of Marmoleum 'Click'. A nice, inexpensive, 'green', cleanable surface underfoot.  The color here is 'Grey Granite'--pretty close to the grout color we're choosing for the tile.  See the idea there? hmm??

Same Kohler 'purist' shower as upstairs, this time with a faucet for the tub.

 the Kohler 'Bellweather' bathtub--pretty basic, only this time with a little grip on the bottom to keep your bathing experience from becoming a life-threatening deathsport.

Honest, there is a material picture here! it's the 'Thassos' quartz countertop by Pental, which will sit on top of the vanity, also white-on white, made by our man Vlad.  So damn white not a spec can escape notice!

Sitting on top of the invisible countertop will be this Kohler 'wading pool' vessel-style sink.

Kohler 'purist' faucet again. What's good enough for the upstairs...

Same goes for the vanity lights, only this time there will be 2.  The room is that much bigger, you know.

keeping things consistent, we love our Toto! (insert Wizard-of-OZ joke here)

Notice how pale everything is in this bathroom? well so did we, so we're introducing a few little bits of rich Walnut here and there:  a small self over the vanity, and--most importantly--the lid in the tile bench, which will access our laundry chute.  That's right, laundry chute.

And the kitchen:

Part 1 of the major material theme in the kitchen is the Walnut cabinet faces, built by Vlad.  That bathroom accent is starting to make sense now, yes?

Once again, seemingly invisible, but actually part 2 of the major kitchen material theme:  white cabinet sides, and the frosty Pental 'Thassos' quartz countertop, to calm down all that wood.

The kitchen floor is also long planks of Marmoleum 'click', this time in a color called "White Cliffs", to make a visual link between the white/walunt kitchen cabinets and the existing maple wood floors in the dining room.

The kitchen faucet.  We're actually salvaging this from before, so it will finally look like it belongs!


New microwave:  the Sharp R-551ZS. This will go under the countertop between the fridge and the range.  Sharp, no?

I won't bore you with photos of the rest of the appliances we're re-using, just suffice to say they're your good old solid stainless steel faced range and dishwasher from Bosch, and refrigerator from Frigidaire.  But I had to throw in this cool find: the Zephyr Pisa under-cabinet range hood.  Not a macho-60-billion CFM model like is seemingly so popular in new kitchens these days, but I think if will be powerful enough, and won't dominate the landscape.  Hell, it's better than what we have now, which is nothing!

And finally the backsplash tile.  A little punch of blue in the middle of all the white and wood and stainless steel. Seems weird? well you'll have to trust me on this. It matches another blue in the house, so we took the leap of faith here.  The pattern is called 'martini' from the Oregon Tile and Marble 'Muzuni' glass collection.  It's not a distorted photo, but is the actual pattern, chosen because it matches the shape of these sweet mid-century light fixtures salvaged from an old Boeing office building in Seattle.  I wish I had photos of those, but you'll just have to come over to see them in the flesh.