Show Me Your Best

I thought it would be nice to have my own Best of KBIS in the form of blog posts.  I know that a lot of you have attended and written about your experiences.  I would love for you to link them here, using LinkyTools.  Show me your best!

Sleek Showers

I discovered this product at KBIS called Lustrolite that is a fabulous find for sleek looking showers.  I already have a project in mind that it may be good for!  This high gloss panel that has superior hardness with an integrated color. I love the red and blue colors.  The panels have a high scratch chemical and stain resistance.  Lustrolite was highlighted at KBIS for being a Best of Bath gold award winner.  I'm definitely filing these guy under my "products to use" folder.

Images from Lustrolite.com

Bringing Surfaces to Life

One of the booths I stopped at in the KBIS exhibit hall was Hanwha Surfaces.  Thay had a great display of their quartz material, Hanstone, and solid surface, Hanex.  They displayed a variety of new colors and eco friendly surfaces.

Some of the solid surface test colors they were asking feedback on, with a reward of a starbucks giftcard on the spot! Among the new trendy they had a solid red, orange and yellow in a rubik's cube display and frosty translucent blues pinks and greens in an interior lit cube.  I thought they were fun but probably best applied in commercial settings.  I could orange and see red being used but the primary orange and yellow just reminded me of a fast food chain.

The main draw to their booth besides the ipad drawing and 49 new earthy colors were the the live models dressed in bodysuits that blended with the quartz slab in the background. 

It was a great photo op and many stopped to have their pictures taken with the models.  You can see all the fun on their flicker site.  I thought walking around the exhibits was tiring but I'm sure standing in one place all day may have been worse!

Happy Friday!

Images by Rebecca Ward and Hanwha

Summers In France

Simultaneously occurring with KBIS was the International Window Coverings Expo that I attended as well.  One of the luncheons was with acclaimed decorator Kathryn M. Ireland (not the swimsuit model).  She gave a presentation covering her career in decorating.  Her natural talent combined with great opportunity and connections her husband had working on Saturday Night Live, she has done many of Hollywood's homes, including the one Reese Witherspoon bought from her, turn-key!

Kathryn has recently published her book entitled Summer In France detailing the restoration of her house near Toulouse. 

The estate is called La Castellane. 

The book is a fabulous mixture of decorating, travel and even food!  If you have a love for France (like I do) you will not regret getting this book. 

I got mine signed, of course.

More great KBIS and IWCE info to come!

KBIS 2011

So I'm back and hitting the ground running today after spending the week in Las Vegas for the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS).  I gleaned so much information and saw so many vendors that it will take me a while to sift through it all.  Simultaneously, the Window Fashions Convention was underway with its own classes and vendors that I also participated in.  Over the next week or so, I will unfold the details but for now I will be playing catch-up on all that I need to address after being gone for a few days.  I hope you enjoy your weekend!  Happy Friday!

Craziness!

I hope you all had a great Easter Weekend!  My life is very busy right now with work and starting to look for a house!  I love it all though and am really excited for the next few months to unfold.

I am literally running out the door to catch a plane to Las Vegas.  I will be spending the next few days with my designer friends attending the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (aka KBIS) and the Window Fashions convention.  I know I will return with all kinds of great info to share! 

In the meantime, I will leave you with this photo of some of the ideas going into my new commercial project of a pizza diner.  It's going to be very modern and a fun place to get pizza!  The greys and blacks wil be a perfect background to all of the great food.

Photos by Rebecca Ward.