A unique engineered hardwood floor is being introduced in the US this year.  Computerized technology is delivering on the promise of custom choices  rather than a few uniform choices.  The edges of the wood planks follow the natural curved shape of the wood.  The the result is minimum waste and a unique look.  The floors must be customed manufactured for a specific room, but once the measurements are made, the manufacturing process can be simple.  See the Bolefloor website here and check out the installation video here.

Perforated metal has become very popular in recent years and I've seen problems of rust, discoloration, and damage.  This good example shows a heavy guage perforated meted, powder coated and raised on a concrete curb. It has held up quite well. 

It you need to economize and use a lighter guage metal, then use it where there will be no impact.

From the outside, it forms a "solid" surface that provides privacy as well as sun protection on this south facing wall.  From the inside, you still get a fairly good view of the outside environment. 

Glazed terra cotta was extremely popular in the first half of the 20th Century.  Clay could be inexpensively molded to complicated shapes and could be glazed to give it a stone-like appearance.  Gladden McBean was a local manufacturer of glazed terra cotta and continues to make ceramic products in Northern California to this day.  I try and keep Gladding McBean in mind because they are local and ceramic tile is pretty sustainable -- earning possible LEED points.

Built in 1937, this building at 9th and Harrison in San Francisco was a Gladding McBean office  building -- just a block from our office.  It is completely clad in glazed terra cotta and is now the home of the Salvation Army.  I once thought glazed terra cotta was great, but if it was chipped it was gone for good.  I had noticed the nicks and chips on the building, but last a few months ago I noticed someone was repairing the damaged terra cotta.  He said it was no problem repairing it.  You fill in the voids and then they can "re-glaze" it in place.  The restoration was completed by Lewis Restoration and Consulting of San Francisco.  Now it looks good to go for another 70 years. 

We've been looking for bicycle storage solutions for our UA Homes project in Berkeley.  Perhaps this is most fun thing I've seen in a while.  Huntco is producing a secure bicycle storage product that not only secures the bike, but also shelters it from the weather.  It probably satisfies the LEED requirement for secured covered storage.    See their website here.

Life used to be simple. There was one kind of light bulb, the "A" style incandescent that was invented by Thomas Edison. Then fluorescent light bulbs provided another choice.  I first saw this on-line earlier this year and was really fascinated with the whimsical look that is intended to be exposed.  Now I see they are available locally at the City Lights - Light Bulb Store. They are 8 times more energy efficient compared to incandescent bulbs -- just be sure to dispose of them properly.

Over the years, the numbers and types of light bulbs grew larger and larger.  Now when you buy a light fixture, you have to be sure you know a source for a replacement light bulb as your local grocery store may not carry them.

City Lights - Light Bulb Store is the place I go to find any type of light bulb.   I just walk in and show them the specification for the light bulb and they magically produce it! Its located at Folsom and 12th Streets in the SOMA district of San Francisco.    Street parking is not too bad.  Click here for their website.  LM

Think again, maybe you do have space for another bathroom.  In Europe, I've  seen bathrooms that are really tiny.  They essentially make the entire bathroom a shower stall with a sink and toilet inside it.  The only problem is everything gets wet - ugh.  

Duravit Open Space has a new solution that solves both problems -- space and containing the water.  Their new corner shower enclosure is essentially two swinging glass doors that open to form a square shower enclosure.  When not in use, they fold against the wall to give you more floor space.

The success of this design lies with the flush-with-the-floor shower base and the integration of the door, shower base, and fixtures on the wall.  I think it's worth checking out.  I'd make the adjacent floor the same color and/or material as the shower base for a more seamless look.  LM
 

I came across this new ceramic tile floor at the entrance to a shop at 18th and Guererro Streets in San Francisco's Mission District.  Beautiful and intricate, in the old days it would have been painstakingly pieced together one by one on site.  I love herringbone in tile, brick, stone, and wood and once tried my hand at laying both wood and  brick in a herringbone pattern.  Now you can purchase herringbone tiles pre-assembled on mesh for easier and quicker installation.

Here is an image of a wood herringbone pattern.  It makes a nice unobtrusive pattern on the floor. 

Herringbone originates from the skeleton of Atlantic Herring fish and a patterns resembling this skeleton came to be called herringbone.   LM

It's too bad these hinges are designed to be hidden as they are truly beautiful and you only see them when the door is open. This hinge is needed when you want to detail a "concealed" door with no frame or other hardware exposed.

These hinges are manufactured in Japan by Sugatsune. Sugatsune manufactures many specialty hard-to-find beautiful items you won't find at your local big box building supply store. Check out their website here.

We used these hinges on a "concealed" door in our project on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco.  See it here.

The Nutone recessed fan-light solves the problem of obtrusive fans on the bathroom ceiling.  If you don't have an exterior window, then you absolutely need a bathroom fan.  Even if there is a window, a fan makes sense.  It removes moisture from the room and helps to prevent mold. This new product makes it indistinguishable from other recessed light fixtures.

Panasonic's whisper quiet fan series has been the fan of choice for many years, but this new product may put Nutone back into action.

When I first moved to the SF Bay Area, I started looking at old brick buildings and I was fascinated by these rough brick walls that seem to be thrown together haphazardly.  Usually part of an Arts and Craft style building, bricklayers actually installed them to emphasize these odd shapes.  They had incredible charm and were called "clinkers". 

When choosing bricks on some of my projects, I started looking for these bricks but couldn't find any - they were no longer made.  Apparently the furnaces and  techniques of brick firing 100 years ago could not be carefully controlled and monitored and there were always bricks that were over-fired and misshapen.  These were usually thrown away, but some architects decided to use these clinkers and feature their unique qualities.  Eventually it became a popular item.  Advancing technology eventually solved temperature control issues and brick came out uniformly colored and with precise shapes.   Now modern efforts to reproduce these clinkers have proved to be expensive and fail to capture that authentic look.