So I went to  he movies last night. There's nothing unusual about that, but where I went to the movies was incredibly and wonderfully unusual. My friend Mike and I went to Tampa's brand new CineBistro theater. CineBistro got its start over the summer in Miami. The new one in the Hyde Park neighborhood in Tampa is the second CineBistro in this market and the third in the chain. CineBistro is a venture of Cobb Theaters and there are plans underway to open additional locations ... Read Full Story

Help! Is granite tile really less expensive than slab granite? I really want to redo my countertops with granite but cannot afford it. Is this a good option? To answer your first question; yes, granite tile costs less than slab granite. So far as the second question goes, the answer is as resounding a no as I can muster. Granite tile looks like crap on a counter and there's nothing you can do to make it look good. Worse, there's nothing you can do to perform well. Granite tile counte... Read Full Story

The talented and gracious Pam Rodriguez from Pam Designs posted this video on her Facebook page yesterday and I think I've watched it five times since it first appeared there. Fallingwater from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo. Pam's a kitchen and bath designer who can crank out a photo realistic architectural rendering like nobody I've ever seen, so when she's impressed with someone else's work I pay attention. This depiction of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater is one of the best virtu... Read Full Story

I have been researching sources for cabinetry and range hoods for an outdoor kitchen I'm working on and recently, I came across an innovative outdoor grill hood from Danver. The outdoor kitchen in question is going to sit under an overhanging roof and not venting it is definitely not an option. One problem though. Outdoor grills are 30 inches deep and most range hoods are 24 inches deep. The add in the annoying fact that most decent range hoods aren't rated for outdoor use. Well, my new p... Read Full Story

I know, I know, I need to stay away from that website. I log into Apartment Therapy every couple of months, and I swear I have an open mind heading in. I land on their page and I have a genuine curiosity about what the under 30 set is thinking. Well, after the first handful of posts, it starts to get to me. The pose. The dread Apartment Therapy editorial pose. "We take our shoes off when we come home." "We think that kittens and puppies are cute." "We need to get organized but we're too busy... Read Full Story

One of my beautiful nieces and her handsome husband had a baby two weeks ago and in a few weeks I'm off to DC to see the three of them and the rest of my family. I am looking for some guest bloggers to fill in for me while I'm gone. I will be away for five days, from 10th of December through the 14th and I'd like at least one post a day to appear while I'm gone. I plan to work this the way I always do. I'm going to set up my guest bloggers as contributors and just let them do their thing. ... Read Full Story

At the entrance to Pompeii's House of the Tragic Poet, you will find this. It's the original Cave Canum, and translated from Latin that means Beware of the Dog. Here's a cleaner shot of it. There are a number of these mosaic entryways scattered around Pompeii and most of them just show a chained dog. They're yet one more thing that really humanizes the experience of walking around Pompeii. As an archeological site, Pompeii is enormous. Once you're on the grounds you cannot see out o... Read Full Story

I spent the early part of 2009 working on a renovation that ended up transforming a home. I don't usually publish a whole lot of my work here, but I'm particularly proud of this one. Like a lot of homes built in the early '80s, this one was full of unnecessary, non-structural walls and dropped ceilings. I met the clients in question in late January and luckily, I took a couple of photographs of their home as it was the first time I saw it. Here's one: In this photo, I am standing at ... Read Full Story

BiBiBiBi by Ingo Maurer Form Plus Function is on my short list of favorite online sources for modern and contemporary lighting. They stock and sell all of the greats and I can usually find anything I need somewhere on that extensive website. I have an unusually difficult time finding lighting sources locally. Oh they're here. And how. But have yet to find a lighting source that's capable of returning a phone call let alone delivering my lighting in anything close to a reasonable t... Read Full Story

Ceiling images from Angelos.be A couple of weeks ago, I started reading a new (for me) design blog called Doorknob. Like just about everything new and interesting I find any more, I found @doorknobdesign on Twitter. Doorknob is run out of New York and it's the project of a man named Kurt Kohlstedt. He finds some great things, give him a peruse the next time you're looking for some inspiration. Anyhow, he was tweeting about a fantastic ceiling he'd found the other day and I followed his l... Read Full Story