Design Exhibit Showcases Modern Style With a Twist

Design Exhibit Showcases Modern Style With a Twist

By Barbara Capella Loehr

That's according to DIC director, Ellen Frankel, who notes that, "Each Design Idea Center room is very much the product of its own design team's imagination."

As in years past, Woman's Day Specials will have a display, with this year's display measuring 900 sq. ft. and including a kitchen, two baths and a deck.

However, for four out of the five vignettes, a diverse mix of design experts were tapped first, Frankel explains. The reason for this, she says, is that this year, "The driving force behind the new and improved Design Idea Center is the designer," as opposed to a single style or theme driving the design.

"The most well-respected, seasoned professionals in the home design field have joined the project to give it a boost and a more cutting-edge approach than in years past," notes Frankel.

Given that the kitchen and bath are stretching far beyond their boundaries into other parts of the home, not all of the vignettes in this year's display depict a typical kitchen and/or bath. For example, two out of the four smaller displays, which measure 300 sq. ft. each, have a kitchen and/or bath component that is incorporated into an atypical setting, such as in a playroom area or in an outdoor terrace setting.

Each one showcases modern style with a twist, sending NKBA's DIC leaping into the new millennium, according to Frankel.

COLOR POWER
Offering four unrelated areas a full kitchen, a master bath and a powder room, plus a deck with an outdoor cooking area Woman's Day Specials' Color Power display blends each area's unique style with punches of color, according to Merv Kaufman, project manager.

Indeed, the four-part display mixes neutrals and stainless steel with accents of darker woods and a potpourri of color emphasis, says Kaufman, who worked with John Troxell, Jr., design director of Wood-Mode, Inc. and John Buscarello, ASID.

The kitchen has overtones of the Arts and Crafts period, paying careful attention to the details, such as using three different finishes on the Wood-Mode cabinetry to evoke the feeling of the era without creating a period kitchen, notes Troxell.

Though modern in its overall look, the master bath reflects the Art Deco era via the use of small details and amped-up colors. It features separate bathing and grooming areas, a curved dressing table, TOTO USA sinks, round mirrors and silver-colored metals.

Meanwhile, the West Indies-inspired powder room offers a more classical design with rattan panels on cabinet doors, natural quartz countertops, grasscloth wallpaper and subtle, yet sophisticated cabinet colors, such as a rich tomato red.

Lastly, the deck establishes a somewhat traditional outdoor kitchen with a stainless steel grill, an undercounter refrigerator/ice maker and an earth-toned tile work surface and backsplash.

MOUNTAIN RETREAT
As if plucked from the Colorado Rockies, the Mountain Retreat Gourmet Kitchen is as dramatic as the great outdoors, notes Sally Belk King, who served as project manager for this vignette.

This kitchen reflects the colors and rusticity of the Rockies and the Adirondacks, but uses a contemporary interpretation, says King, who is also a consulting editor for Bon Appetit magazine. She worked with artist Patti Ryan and Chad Scothorn, culinary consultant and chef/owner of The Cosmopolitan restaurant in Telluride, CO.

King et al, along with Denver-based Jack and Corbin Campbell who did the floorplan, shed the usual design markings of mountain homes plaid fabric, rough-hewn logs and antlers and created a new "mountain style" using modern materials that evoke a sense of nature.

The cabinetry is made from lyptus wood by Custom Cupboards, with the wall cabinets finished in a caramel color, and the base cabinets finished in black. The tile colors on the island, main countertops and backsplash echo the colors of nature, while the metal tile flooring nods to the stainless steel finish on the Frigidaire from Electrolux appliances.

BATHED IN LUXURY
Inspired by the ever-evolving idea of the bath as an oasis, the "ultra-chic" bathroom in this vignette, called Bathed in Luxury, is chock full of luxury touches that make it a private retreat from the stresses of the world.