Level Up (Graduate your level)
About five years ago Ciara dropped a song called Level Up. She was touting to “graduate your level”. Similarly, there is a parallel we see in interior design where you can decide to level up your interiors. Here are some ideas for graduating your design level.
Bio ethanol fireplaces - One of the best quick fixes to replace a wood burning fireplace is to install a burner kit into an existing fireplace for burning bio ethanol. While it produces actual fire, there is no need for a chimney (a flue). A small sliding door controls the amount of flame and the amount of heat generated into a room. There are complete fireplaces in island styles for indoors and outdoors, as well as for inserting into walls, bookcase compositions, etc. They are safer than gas fireplaces when used properly and cost less than running a gas line. In addition, they’re very energy efficient and don’t produce greenhouse gas emissions.
Courtesy of Sherry Scott Design
Sintered particle surface material for counters - The next generation of factory-made slab countertop options was introduced a few years ago. There is essentially no maintenance needed and hot pots will not affect it. Neither will food acids, wine, etc. A knife blade cutting on the counter will not scratch it. The reason it performs at such a high level is there are no binders in the material. (The binders in solid-surface materials are what reacts poorly.) Therefore when solid materials are sintered to adhere together, it can be used outdoors too without a change in appearance.
Courtesy of Sherry Scott Design
Wall hung vanity, storage cabinets and drawers under bathroom sinks - For too many years vanity cabinets have been difficult to use due to the wasted space under the sink and bending over to find small items. By installing ledger strips attached to wall studs cabinets can be attached to the wall float about six to eight inches above the floor. This allows the room to visually expand because more of the floor is seen. Utilizing all drawers instead of cabinets with drawers, the amount of storage space is increased in the same linear space.
Courtesy of Sherry Scott Design
Linear drains and curbless showers - Aesthetically, removing the need for a curb around a shower is a big win visually. It can add five to six inches to a shower’s footprint without increasing the size of a shower. Functionally, having a continuing floor surface allows for both able and dis-abled persons the same access into a shower. This is enabled by the use of a recessed linear drain which takes the slope of a shower from all directions to one direction.
Courtesy of Sherry Scott Design
Wall-hung toilets - To save space and make cleaning around the toilet much easier, a wall-mounted toilet is awesome. The support, called a carrier, is supported by the wall framing and the wall itself needs to be a little bit deeper than a standard wall, however the toilet bowl itself is just the same as a floor-mounted type.
Courtesy of Sherry Scott Design
Swivel shower heads - Adding to the adjustable shower heads which are mounted on vertical shower bars, there are now shower heads fixed at one height on the wall that can swivel almost 180 degrees side-to-side. This is convenient when a shower spray can be moved out of the way for soaping up.
Courtesy of Sherry Scott Design
Surface mounted LED light fixtures instead of recessed lighting - Recessed can lighting has been in use for almost 75 years. For a few reasons they are not ideal. They appear as dark holes in a ceiling when the lights are turned off. They create shadows on people’s faces when standing under them and they have a sharp cut-off so there are cones of light that don’t disperse evenly. With a glass-trimmed LED fixture mounted on the ceiling, light spreads more evenly and the glass trim is attractive when the light fixture is not in use.
Courtesy of Sherry Scott Design
Readers are encouraged to submit design questions, which may be printed in a future column. To submit questions, email design@sherryscottdesign.com.
Sherry Scott is a Certified Interior Designer in California, professional member of the American Society of Interior Designers and the proprietor of Sherry Scott Design in downtown Los Altos, 169 Main St.
