Locker Room

My husband and I are members at the Squaw Valley Locker Room which we think is not only a convenience but a necessary luxury.  We keep our skis, boots and poles in our locker and it is only a few feet from the Locker Room door to shuffle on over to the Funitel.  Having a locker means we avoid clumping around in uncomfortable boots through a large icy parking lot carrying heavy skis (and skis are heavier these days!)
 
Lately though, I've seen another version of luxury ski lockers.  These are in private houses.  It makes perfect sense to put ski lockers into a mudroom off the garage entrance.  And, if you've got the space, why not give each family member their own locker?

The locker room in this beautiful house is kitted out with reclaimed lumber and limestone floors.  It's nice to have the built-in bench to sit down and change one's shoes, don't you think?

The grills with drip pans below make perfect sense for stowing snowy winter boots.
 

Take a closer look at the detailing inside each cubby.  The upper shelf is a safe place to store goggles, gloves and smaller items easily lost.  Hooks on all three walls make it easy to hang coats and sweaters.
This family stores their skis in the garage, but it would be just as easy to have included a taller locker for ski equipment, as in the house below:

I love the way each locker is a different color.  Great rustic bench, too.

Above, these charming hand-painted lockers were installed into the back hallway in a house I worked on some years ago.  There are four of them, two on either side of the hall.
 
And, below, storage lockers in a tiny lakefront cottage I am currently working on:

And, below a close up of the painted detail:

Tile, Tile, Tile Part 2

This is the second installment in a series chronicling my summer tile adventures.

The photos below are from a brand-new Arts and Crafts style house. It's such a charming little house and as the project progresses I'm really falling in love with all the custom woodwork and one-of-a-kind detailing that is going into it.

I have to say that this is the most enjoyment I have ever seen a client get from tile.  This client collected authentic Arts and Craft decos as well as modern reproductions from many sources.  They are tucked into the tile and flooring throughout the house.  She had a wonderful time tracking down each and every deco tile. After all, the fun is in the hunt, right?

Let's start with the fireplace. This was the first tile we purchased and it set the tone for the house.  We found this tile in an antique mall in Sonoma County.  The 4 x 4 Monterey Pottery tile as well as the decos are all original Arts and Crafts tiles that had never been used before.  We were so excited to find the whole cache that we scooped it right up, though we knew we would be a little shy of the total needed for the fireplace. 

We solved the quantity problem by topping the hearth off in brand new 2 x 2's that we had custom made in colors to match the older tile. 

There is a lot of woodwork in this house and the floor will be wood, too.  I'm really glad we added this colorful fireplace because I find that in houses with wood walls and floors, color tends to disappear making it easy to end up with dark, bland rooms.  As the antiqued wood floors and antique Arts and Crafts furnishings go in (primarily dark stained wood and leather), this tile will tone down and become one of the few color pops in the room. 

By the way, the other bit of color planned for the room will be curtains in this fabulous large-scale Mulberry Flying Ducks fabric.

http://www.dragonflytahoe.com/mulberry-home-flying-ducks-fabric-choose-from-4-colorways/

Isn't it beautiful!  You can buy it here, and it comes with matching wallpaper, here.

Although many authentic antique Arts and Crafts furnishings and fittings will be used in the house, the client did not wish to sacrifice modern function and practicality, so the house is becoming what we like to call an "updated mountain version of Arts and Crafts".  This is especially true in the kitchen where we used modern appliances and granite counter-tops which can easily be wiped clean.



The photo above shows the kitchen tile above the cook-top.  Unfortunately, I don't have a finished photo with the tile grouted.  Here, we mixed modern and old.  The ginko tiles are current but are made from old patterns.  We mixed them with slate, Pratt and Larson 4 x 4's in an Arts and Crafts glaze and a fabulous Art and Craft inspired mosaic from Syzygy Tileworks.

In the master bathroom, we used custom Syzgy tile again in an Arts and Crafts inspired deco panel. 

There is a gorgeous copper sunflower tile featured in the center of this.  The strip of glass up the right side of the back shower wall is also trimmed with Syzygy mosaics.  Here is a close up of the deco panel:

And below, the vanity back splash has just been installed:

Finally, here is a photo of one of the guest baths:

And a detail of one of the flower decos:

This house isn't finished yet.  We are still busy tracking down just the right antique Arts and Crafts furnishings.  Someday when it is finished I'll be sure to publish more photos.