Do you know that out of all flooring options, vinyl and carpet pose the biggest threat to the environment and the air you breathe everyday in your home? 70 percent of carpet in the United States is made from nylon which is petroleum-based. Not only is this a non-renewable resource, it harbors allergens and chemicals that can make you sick. Vinyl is even worse because when it is produced, it causes dioxin which is a carcinogen and quite honestly, neither are biodegradable!

• Wool Carpet – This is fire-resistant, durable, hypoallergenic and stain-resistant. It offers springy fibers that bounce back so high traffic areas never wear down. Wool does come with a heavy price tab but you certainly get what you pay for.

• Sisal – The fibers from agave plant leaves make an easy-to-clean, durable and sound absorbent flooring.

• Other Plants – Seagrass, jute, abaca and coir are all fabulous choices! Interestingly, abaca is derived from the banana family and coir is made from coconut husks which dry fast so this is an ideal choice for humid environments.

• Linoleum – No, linoleum and vinyl are not the same thing despite what you may have heard. Linoleum is created from linseed oil, wood flour, cork dust, ground limestone, tree resins and pigments.

• Cork – Care to walk on air? That’s what this flooring feels like due to the tiny sealed air pockets it’s made of. This is a durable flooring. Even if you drop a weight on it, the floor will eventually spring back up. Cork is water-resistant, provides great insulation and will last almost five times longer than vinyl.

• Earthen – Created from clay, lime and sand, this is a floor perfect for cold areas because it holds heat. Earthen floors won’t dent, scratch, crack and they are unique and inexpensive.

If you are creating a modern home, also consider the health of you, your family and the environment and choose a green type of flooring.

Have you been wanting to experiment with a new color or even repaint for freshness but that tall vaulted ceiling is getting in your way? Painting this type of ceiling can seem like a monumental size project but with a little guidance, you can get it done!

Prepare the Room

Keep in mind that as neat as you may be at painting walls, vaulted ceilings are an entirely different story. There is a lot of potential for long drips that pick up speed on the way down and splatter hard on impact! Move what you can out of the room, take everything off of your walls and cover everything that is left (including the floor) with tarps.

You also want to get a cleaning device with a very long pole and clean away those cobwebs. Lastly, apply painter’s tape on all of the walls and molding that meet up with the ceiling.

Will Your Ladder Reach?

Depending on how high your ceilings are and how tall your ladder is, you may be all set to begin. Keep in mind that you want to be able to reach the highest point without risking standing on top of the ladder which is never safe! If you can’t reach, you can rent scaffolding or borrow a taller ladder from someone.

Painting

Paint the edges first using a paint brush, not a roller. This will allow you to get right up close to the painter’s tape without risking making contact with the walls. Using a roller brush on an extension, paint the ceiling from one end to the other, making sure that there are no bubbles. If you need a second coat, give the first coat time to dry so you can really get a good visual of any spots that you may have missed.

Painting a vaulted ceiling may be a bit of a pain but you’ll be glad you did it every time you look up or your guests comment on how spectacular the color is!

Collecting Eames: The JF Collection," an official Pacific Standard Time gallery show from noon to 5 p.m.

Curator Daniel Ostroff, producer and editor, eamesdesigns.com, will be available to meet and answer questions about "Collecting Eames" -- the largest and most diverse Eames collection in the United States-450 pieces in the JF Chen Eames Collection. With Ostroff, JF Chen has assembled an unprecedented collection, from the earliest-a 1939 Eames-Saarinen chair for the Kleinhans Music Hall-to the latest, a Vitra-made Eames La Chaise of the 1990s.  The collection includes rare posters, toys, graphics, and exceptional examples of "signed" Eames work throughout the long career of Charles and Ray Eames.

The formation of this vast collection was accompanied by JF Chen's generous contribution to Eames scholarship.  Chen commissioned 6,000 photographs, documenting every aspect of these important designs, and donated the photographs to the Eames Office for their new website, eamesdesigns.com, a virtual encyclopedia of all things Eames.

In this exhibition, Ostroff offers new perspectives on Eames connoisseurship and scholarship through a intricate study of this rare and significant collection. He is grateful that JF Chen has agreed to share it with the public in his vast new art space. 

Important Information:
Monday, October 3, 2011 thru Saturday, January 28, 2011
Mon-Fri 10am-4pm
Sat 11am-4pm
Sun CLOSED

If you are planning a basement remodel, you may run into a few concerns along the way such as low ceilings, mold, bugs, awkward pillars, ducts and pipes. A basement remodel can be a huge project but you really should make use of this valuable space. Not to mention, it will significantly raise the value of your home! If you are coming across a few complications, rest assured, there are solutions!

Low Ceilings

If you have low ceilings, recessed lighting or wall scones will become your best friend! The last thing that you need is light fixtures hanging that someone can hit their head on. Painting the walls a lighter color and making use of plenty of mirrors will help the space appear larger and not so closed in as well.

Underfloor Heating

Basement floors tend to be damp and cold which may accumulate moisture and result in mold. Not to mention, they are often a breeding ground for bugs. These are all bad news for allergy sufferers. Underfloor heating will solve these problems. Of course, this can be costly and a pain to install but certainly well worth it. As an alternative, baseboard heaters work fairly well too!

Accent the Awkward

If you have pillars in peculiar places, pipes where you don’t want them, etc., why not play up these awkward elements? Paint your pillars a bright bold color or buy piping and create a few artistic pieces to accent those pipes. Something that you may look at as an eyesore could really be an extraordinary focal point when given the chance!

Known to his friends and associates as Lajkó, Breuer studied and taught at the Bauhaus in the 1920s. The Bauhaus curriculum stressed the simultaneous education of its students in elements of visual art, craft and the technology of industrial production. Breuer was eventually appointed to a teaching position as head of the school's carpentry workshop. He later practiced in Berlin, designing houses and commercial spaces. In the 1920s and 1930s, Breuer pioneered the design of tubular steel furniture. Later in his career he would also turn his attention to the creation of innovative and experimental wooden furniture.

Perhaps the most widely-recognized of Breuer's early designs was the first bent tubular steel chair, later known as the Wassily Chair, designed in 1925 and was inspired, in part, by the curved tubular steel handlebars on Breuer's Adler bicycle. Despite the widespread popular belief that the chair was designed for painter Wassily Kandinsky, Breuer's colleague on the Bauhaus faculty, it was not; Kandinsky admired Breuer's finished chair design, and only then did Breuer make an additional copy for Kandinsky's use in his home. When the chair was re-released in the 1960s, it was designated "Wassily" by its Italian manufacturer, who had learned that Kandinsky had been the recipient of one of the earliest post-prototype units.