How to Add Steam to Your Shower: Q&A With Mrs. Steam

A highlight of my experience with BlogtourVegas was the respite afforded us by Mr. Steam after the intensity of three days and four nights spent at ModenusTalks, Las Vegas Market, KBIS and the 2015 New American Home. Mr. Steam, the largest manufacturer of steam boilers in the world, treated us to an afternoon at the luxurious spa at the Aria hotel complete with an education in the art of the hammam, or Turkish bath, with Tala Bath & Body products.

   

Photos courtesy of vegas.com (left) and modenus.com (right)

After luxuriating in the hot pools with a Tala mud mask and steaming it off in the steam room, I had a beautiful pink glow to my skin. It made me want to repeat this bathing ritual often. But without an at-home spa or health club membership, how could I?

Believe it or not, being able to enjoy the hammam experience is indeed possible and affordable in your home, explained Martha Orellana, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Mr. Steam and nicknamed by Blogtourists "Mrs. Steam." I asked Martha some basic questions to help me --and you-- understand how easy it is to install a steam shower in your home.

LG: What are the minimum space requirements for a steam shower in the home?

Martha: Our Steam@Home package can be installed in a space as little as 3 x 3 and 7 feet high.

LG: Maybe that's all you need for the shower. But where would I put the steam generator?

Martha: The smallest steam generator is actually about the size of a briefcase and can be installed in the bathroom vanity, a nearby closet or even a heated attic, as long as it's within 60 feet of the steam enclosure.

LG: Is that it?

Martha: Kinda. The size of the steam generator is tailored to the size of the shower. So for bigger showers, you need a bigger generator.

LG: Some day I hope to redo my Master Bath (Seriously, I still have the builder's fiberglass all-in-one shower unit). What material can I use for the shower surfaces?

Martha: You can use natural stone, ceramic or porcelain tile, as well as acrylic, fiberglass, or other composite material. But -- and this is a a big BUT -- the material you use affects the size of the steam generator you'll need. Some materials are more porous than others. Like stone. You'll need to produce twice the amount of steam for a shower lined in natural stone than you would for a shower lined with ceramic tiles. More porous materials -- more steam. More steam -- bigger generator. Luckily, we have a tool on our website that helps you with this. You just plug in the shower dimensions and the building materials, and it will tell you the size of the generator you'll need.

LG: Now Martha, where I live, the water is very hard. Do I have to do anything with the water if I have a steam shower?

Martha: Yup. The high mineral content in hard water, like calcium, can build up and clog the generator. That will affect the steam output and the life of the generator. You'll need to install some kind of water softening system to pre-treat the water for the steam shower.

LG: Martha, I like clean . . . but I hate to clean. Is there a lot of upkeep involved in maintaining a steam shower?

Martha: Let's talk about the shower first. You'll have to take precautions to avoid the build up of mold or mildew in the shower. Running the exhaust fan while taking a steam and routine cleanings will help with that. But you'd have to do that for a regular shower anyway.

Now for the steam unit, we offer AutoFlush Technology to insure a practically no-maintenance system.

LG: Tell me about AutoFlush.

Martha: With AutoFlush, the steam shower tank automatically empties two hours after every shower. Impurities flush out, and every shower starts with clean water.

LG: Martha, all of this must cost a boat load of money. Dare I ask?

Martha: Please, ask! Our Steam@Home packages start at $1,250.

LG: I'm sold! Where can I buy?

Martha: Check our website for authorized dealers in your area or authorized e-tailers.

For more information and requirements for installing a residential steam shower, read Mr.Steam's blog.

Disclaimer: Mr.Steam was a sponsor of BlogtourVegas and, together with other sponsors, paid for my Blogtour experience.

Jewelry for the Home

Is there an outfit that doesn't benefit from accessorizing? Michael Kors, the great American fashion designer, has said, "I've always thought of accessories as the exclamation point of a woman's outfit."

As accessories are to fashion, so is decorative hardware to cabinets. It's frequently described by interior designers as jewelry for the home.

At the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in January, decorative hardware sparkled like diamonds in a jeweler's showcase. Everything from crystal knobs to lucite for adorning kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, closet dressing rooms and furniture was featured.

Top Knobs, an industry leader in decorative hardware for the kitchen and bath with over 4,000 designs to choose from, debuted an interesting collection in cast bronze. Made from 90 percent recycled content, the collection features classic forms in contemporary finishes. Some of the handles, like the faux bois, I particularly liked for their ergonomic feel. All of Top Knobs pieces come with a sealed finish to protect against wear and tear.

   

Upper Right: crystal knob from Top Knobs' Chareau Collection; above left: Top Knobs Aspen II Collection; above right: Top Knobs Transcend Collection. Photos courtesy of Top Knobs.

Top Knobs' sister brand, Atlas Homewares, featured cabinet hardware in unusual shapes and finishes.

               

Left: U-Turn Collection; Right: Roundabout Collection; Below: Level Pull

                                      

I love the sculptural forms and silhouettes and how the shapes morph into a different geometric form on adjacent cabinet doors.

The finishes on Atlas Homewares' hardware were amazing. I can easily picture the leather and chrome pulls in a bachelor pad's bath and the acrylic in a high gloss luxury bath.

                 

Left: Zanzibar Collection. Right: Paradigm Collection; Below: Optimism Collection

                                 

The takeaway from these beautiful examples of decorative hardware is that a little can go a long way. Like the right pair of shoes or necklace for an outfit, hardware can transform basic cabinet styles and make a powerful design statement in a kitchen or bath remodel.

A Matter of sTILE

From January 18th through 22nd, I spent the most fabulous week as part of BlogtourVegas presented by Modenus.com. If you're unfamiliar with Modenus, let me explain. Modenus is a digital resource for design professionals and design enthusiasts. Producing Blogtour is one aspect of Modenus.com's mission to connect design bloggers and professionals with each other and with suppliers to create a global design community.

BlogtourVegas coincided with the 2015 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS). Together with 18 other designers and bloggers, I met with 11 brands, had the first glimpse of new product introductions and toured the 2015 New American Home, presented by the National Association of Home Builders.

I'll be featuring the brands and the 2015 New American Home here on the blog over the next few weeks. But today's post is all about sTILE. Seriously, new tile styles for kitchen and bath were abundant at KBIS and featured such a wide variety of colors, shapes and textures to please anyone contemplating a kitchen or bath remodel.

Walker Zanger debuted several new collections at KBIS, each offering a variety of applications. For the traditional home, the Duquesa collection of handpainted ceramic and terracotta tiles presents beautiful opportunities for backsplash and feature wall applications. Although made in the US, the collection draws upon global design influences like Italian textiles, Portuguese ceramics, Moroccan mosaics and Chinese decorative screens.

                                                  

                                            

Top: Lisbon Decorative Tile in Color Ambra; Bottom: Fatima Decorative Field Tile in Color Mezzanotte

Inspired by menswear fabrics but made of porcelain and marble, the Sterling Row collection presents classic and contemporary patterns that mimic the texture of wood. Decidedly neutral in tones of warm gray, black and white, the collection would be equally suited for contemporary and traditional decor and could be used in any interior application.

       

Patterns left to right: Argyle, Derby, Wingtip

      

Patterns left to right: Link, Buckle, Chesterfield

In its Tangent collection, Walker Zanger explores geometric motifs in water-jet cut natural stone. As part of Blogtour, I had the chance to see the chevron pattern of the Tangent collection installed in the bath of a penthouse residence at the Las Vegas Mandarin Oriental. You can see the pattern on both the floor of the shower and to the right of the shower shield.

                              

Walker Zanger's Tilt collection explores geometry in three-dimensional relief and playful colors. Patterns range from a David Hicks-inspired hexagon to rectangles inspired by the Battlestar Galactica science-fiction series.

     

Left photo, top: David Hexagon Mosaic; Left photo, bottom: Galactica Mosaic; Right photo, left: Alexander Oval Mosaic; Right Photo, right: Ottoman Mosaic

First introduced at the 2014 International Contemporary Furniture Fair, the Robert A.M. Stern collection of ceramic tiles -- a collaboration between the Robert A.M. Stern Architects and Walker Zanger -- was also featured in Walker Zanger's KBIS booth. The collection re-interprets classic architectural forms in tile. Included in the collection are a classical ionic capital paired with large-scale subway tile; various tiles with subtle relief; and tiles with shingle-style Victorian architectural motifs.

                       

                 

A treat of Blogtour was seeing many of Walker Zanger's products installed in the 2015 New American Home. I'll feature the home in a later post, but I have to include my favorite bathroom in the home here. It showcased Walker Zanger's new Globetrotter pattern from its Jet Set collection. This collection features intricate marble mosaics reminiscent of midcentury Hollywood glamour. The home's designer used Globetrotter to create a stunning feature wall and focal point in this shower. By extending the bathroom vanity mirror into the shower, the designer exponentially magnified the impact of this pattern. Ironically, the designer's intent was purely practical: he extended the mirror into the shower to facilitate men's shaving. But what a stroke of design genius!

                                                                        Photo by Chasen West Photography

Disclaimer: Walker Zanger was a sponsor of BlogtourVegas and, together with other sponsors, paid for my Blogtour experience.

What's Nu

2015 has started out to be a transitional year to say the least. On January 6^th, my dear, sweet, only son, Jordan, moved to start his life and first career post-college in L.A. If you knew Jordan, you would know why this hit me hard. But it's the right move for Jordan, and I’ll deal.

Sadly, the day after Jordan moved, my dear father-in-law passed away after a 12-year battle with Parkinson's Disease. Eli Gorelick was one-of-a-kind, and one only has to read the tributes to him in the Legacy.com guest book to realize the impact he had on mine and other people's lives.

Between these transitional events, the holidays, an unusually long school vacation for my youngest, and clients being away, I've kinda lost my work mojo. Getting Jordan ready for his move and enjoying his final weeks living at home preoccupied me. Then, with my father-in-law’s passing, we were consumed with arrangements and observing shiva, the Jewish mourning period. Ironically, as difficult as these transitions were, they reinforced one very significant aspect of my career: the meaning of home. Creating a home environment—the infrastructure to support and nurture us through life’s pivotal events—truly inspires my work. 

I'm confident that this week will surely help me get my mojo back. I'm in Las Vegas with Blogtour, an event presented by Modenus.com that brings a select group of interior designers and bloggers together with industry brands to learn about product lines and innovations. This Blogtour is in Las Vegas and coincides with KBIS (the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show), IBS (the International Builders Show) and Las Vegas Market.

                                             

I'm sharing the event with 18 other distinguished bloggers and designers and the following generous sponsors:

• KBIS
• Thermador
• Mr.Steam
• BLANCO
• Poggenpohl
• Top Knobs
• TOTO USA
• Walker Zanger
• Wilsonart
• Wood-Mode
• Mohawk

Nothing like a good road show to get back to blogging and energized for my projects. As a matter of fact, I'm doing quite a few bathroom renovation projects right now. Bring it on, Blogtour and KBIS! I'd say there's no better place for me to be right now.

The Sixth Plane or Pain?

I've got a bone to pick with wallpapered ceilings.

The ceiling, often referred to by designers and architects as the sixth plane (after the floor and four wall planes), is often sparingly treated in residential design. It makes sense to leave a ceiling unadorned in a low-ceilinged room. (There are clever ways to treat the ceiling in this type of space, but that's for another post.)

Sometimes the ceiling features important architectural details in a space. Think of a cathedral ceiling with exposed beams, rafters or trusses. Also coffered ceilings. I like the use of coffers to unite the ceiling plane with wall planes. In the space below, the coffers align with the fireplace and overmantle, creating unity between the planes, drawing the eye to the fireplace as the focal point in the space.

                    

But recently I've been seeing wallpaper added to coffers. This bothers me. The coffers create forms which define zones in a space. Or they create linear elements that draw the eye to certain other focal elements in the space. But when you add wallpaper -- technically, a pattern according to the elements and principles of design -- you're drawing the eye upward, making the ceiling a focal point. This is a design faux pas (unless the rest of the space is minimally treated and your goal is to highlight the ceiling; more about that below).

                      

The pattern on the ceiling above creates disharmony. To me, it's just a gimmick, and I don't like gimmicky design.

So when is it appropriate to put wallpaper or pattern on the ceiling? It's fine when the ceiling is the focal point. Like in a dentist's office. Or in a nursery. The image below, from Domino magazine, features the nursery in the former home of J.Crew's executive creative director and president, Jenna Lyons. Jenna painted stripes on the nursery's ceiling so her baby would have a pattern to look at while lying in the crib.

                           

A bedroom might also call for a wallpapered or patterned ceiling. Jennifer Mehditash of Mehditash Design included a panel of Gracie wallpaper in her bedroom for the re-design of the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island in 2013. The color of sky, the panel gives residents, staying at the facility while a loved-one undergoes medical treatment, a visual focus to uplift the spirits.

                        

                                                   Photo by Stacey Van Berkel, courtesy of Jennifer Mehditash

I've used metallic wallpaper on ceilings with cove lighting to create a glow and add illumination to a space.

                                  

                                                                              Photograph by Eric Roth

Bottom Line: don't fall for design gimmicks. Treat the ceiling as part of a composition and don't add wallpaper unless the spatial composition dictates it.