Annual Holiday Sale 2013

This Sunday the San Francisco Chronicle will feature Sally Socolich's popular Bargain Hunter column that highlights all the year end sales events that are happening around the San Francisco bay area. She focuses on manufacturers in the home decor industry and we're alway happy to be among her picks. This year we will be holding our sale 2 weeks earlier than usual.

We will  have a fantastic selection of knobs and pulls in our sale inventory as well as switch covers and table lamp floor samples. It's a great opportunity for our local customers to stop by our studio and nab a bargain!

Here are the details:
Saturday October 19th 10am - 5pm
463 Coloma, Sausalito, California

Spotting Trends at the Las Vegas Furniture Market

I had a chance to visit the World Furniture market summer event in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago. Especially focused on the trends, I couldn't help but notice a few recurring themes that were also big at the Kitchen and Bath Industry (KBIS) show. Whether it be faucets, light pendants or furniture frames, metal surfaces are gleaming with sheen. Lots of high polished gold, platinum and chrome were an obvious hit in the most vibrant showrooms.

In terms of style, the mid century modern look still prevails. Some of the popular color combos of the time are the hot choices of today. I'm referring to orange with avocado and olive greens and the turquoise, aqua teal family. These colors schemes are everywhere in fabrics, wall coverings,  area rugs and table top accessories.

But I was definitely drawn to the new color on the block that had a major presence at the show. A new shade of yellow is having it's heyday. It's not a sunshine variety but the more earthy raw umber or dijon mustard hue. I like the way it mixes with it's complement, a purplish plum that speaks old European charm or a combat green that gives it a modern twist.

When I got back to my studio I immediately rifled through our product lines and spotted some excellent examples that fit the 2013 color ways.

Cherry Wood

It's probably the most popular wood choice for kitchen cabinetry and also the most diverse when it comes to color tones. I'm never quite sure if I'm interpreting the term cherry correctly so I googled "what is cherry wood, and found this explanation in finishwiz.com.

Cherry wood natural finish

"Cherry is a beautiful wood! It has an impressive look of depth where the subtle shades and hues of color seem to originate from deep within. Although the heartwood is a "salmon" pink with streaks of multiple colors running in it when freshly planed, cherry ages to dark color with reddish brown tones and strong orange/yellow undertones. The sapwood is almost white when fresh and ages to a "toasted" brown color."

Cherry wood stains

Whoa - pink, red, brown, orange, yellow, toast -there's a lot of color territory covered here!  I guess this is where I get stumped when asked which knobs and pulls go best with cherry wood. That's of course, assuming that there is a clear lacquer varnish that accentuates the natural color. There's a whole other world of cherry wood stains that opens up another completely different conversation.

Knobs and pulls and cherry...
The first thing to address beside the cabinetry are the other large blocks or fields of color that are in the room.  Starting with the floor, then the walls, the back splash and finally the appliances. It's always interesting to see how people are quick to add their comments on their favorite hue in their design scheme and will be just as quick to mention the colors that they do or do not want to accentuate.  It's all part of the design process that eventually narrows down the choices.

The Lure of Gray

The big annual KBIS kitchen and bath event took place in New Orleans last week. Growing in popularity, the color trend to watch encompasses all shades of gray. It's made it's way into the hearts of both kitchen and bath designers and it's easy to understand why gray has mass appeal. Nature serves it up in all varieties of stone, glass and clay, an earthiness that's comfortable in all styles of decorating from traditional to contemporary to modern. Peaceful as a morning mist or dramatic as a stormy sky, gray dishes out all kinds of mood and and lots freedom for self expression.

Charisma Sink Cabinet

Silver, moonstone, deep opal, metal details, and faceted crystals – these are the special versions of "gray, the key components that characterize Susan Goldstick designs. Knobs, pulls, switch plates, bathroom vanities, drapery hardware, you name it – these touches of gray are used generously throughout our line of products. Our silver offers the paleness of white with a metalic twist while moonstone has the depth of gunmetal. Deep opal is not really like the gem but best described as slate with bluish or greenish tints depending upon how it behaves in the light. Then of course our satin plated silver metals add a quiet gray detail while crystal offers hints of lead and brilliance in the reflections of it's facets.

Metamorphosis of a Jitterbug Dresser

I'm amazed at how many transformations our jitterbug dresser has undergone over the years. Even a desk has blossomed from the original form. One of our advantages of working with a cabinet maker is that we have the flexibility to change a furniture piece by tweaking it's architecture.  This is how many new designs are born of course.  Altering the height, width. drawer sizes, or even the number of drawers will dramatically affect the look and even style of the piece. And that's just the structure! Details such as color schemes and cabinet hardware also play a hugh role in the design scheme as well.

Jitterbug makeup station

As I was looking through my picture files the other day, I came across some custom projects that we've done for our customers.  A classic case of "out of sight out of mind",  I was happy to discover some projects that I had almost forgotten. Here I've selected two extreme modifcations of our fabulous Jtterbug. The first is for a commercial space where we stretched the height of the cabinet from 29" – 36" to serve as a makeup station. We also straightened out the back legs so the piece could rest flush against a wall.

Jitterbug small dresser

In the second example we squeezed the overall width from 42" to 26" to allow for a night table's tight space. To give it a little wonderland feel we embellished the small drawers with 2. 5" diameter knobs.

Art or Function?

I'm fascinated by the creative ways retailers use our decorative hardware for displaying merchandise. The other day, I was reminded of a buyer from a shop in Banff, Alberta who  turned our banister finials into mannequin heads. Far fetched and fun. 

I probably should have insisted on seeing some pics of the finished project. I always notice how visitors to our studio gravitate to a grouping of small mirrors that are suspended with chains from our knobs anchored to the wall. Although they appreciate the clever application of a decorative knob, I can see them thinking and wondering how they can use this concept in their own homes.

I thought it would be a good idea to offer some visuals on the subject. So I ruffled through my photos and put together some novel uses of decorative knobs and finals,  which by the way,  are easy to attach to drywall with the use of a plastic toggler or anchor that's inserted into the wall.

Pulls in all directions – Mapping handle placement

When we first introduced our handles I realized that unlike a knob, they offer an awful lot of placement options. You not only have to consider where you want to put it, but also the orientation of the pull itself.

Obviously if your doors and drawers are pre drilled you needn't be concerned unless you plan to fill the holes and redrill. Horizontal, vertical, diagonal, at the top of the cabinet, within the paneling or on the molding,  whether determing the direction of the pull or where it's situated, these are all decorating decisions that face the designer.

For those who see their cabinetry as a blank canvas, there's no right or wrong, but just a creative exercise where the outcome is ulitmately a personal preference. Of course our assymetrical pulls such as our eels and bundles offer even more design challenges.

Keeping all this in mind, I realized that a handle placement guide could help our customers understand their options and came up with a what I like to call a my handle placement cheat sheet.