ways to dress your windows

Have you ever wondered how you can dress your large, two-story windows? There are a couple different ways to do it. We have seen our share of window challenges over the past 10 years…

Here are some of the solutions we have come up with…

These tall windows are dressed with flowy sheer panels. We added a detail of shell trim towards the top to bring your eye up. The family wanted privacy but wanted light to still be able to filter through so we selected this subtle striped trevira sheer - it's beautiful AND durable to stand the beating sun.

This large two story hearth room needed some privacy and sophistication. We designed silk panels that open in the center, so the clients can take advantage of the great views. By bringing the panels down to the second tier of windows it makes the room seem more cozy. Since the fabric is silk, we had the panels interlined so the silk fibers will be protected.

In this large two story living room, the client wanted a way to soften the windows and still have privacy. We designed and installed four stationary panels on a long rod along with some honeycomb Hunter Douglas shades. By mounting the rod under the 1st set of windows, we brought the visual ceiling of the space down to make the tall space seem more cozy. The stationary panels feature an exotic pattern to bring in some attitude.

tips for your home office

These tips are good to keep in mind for your desk in your home office or even your desk at work. They are tips and guides from the principles of feng shui. Over many, many years fen shui has helped to create balance and restore creativity, wealth, relationships and more.

Use these tips and guides to re-engergize your workspace:

• Sit in your chair and look at your desk. What do you see? The objects that you see should be inspiring and not cluttering. The top of your desk is the key to your creativity.
• De-clutter; if pictures of family and friends inspire you take one picture and set it on your desk. You can rotate it out with others, but multiple pictures on your desk can cause distractions instead of inspirations.
• Instead of piling things; file things! This might be easier said than done, but filed items are out of your way and they clear space on your desk and your mind.
• Look at your desk through the eyes of a special client. Have only purposeful and inspiring objects on your desk that speak to you and to the people that will meet you at your office.

Pay attention to the wealth corner of your desk. Take a look at the feng shui map above. All spaces in feng shui are set up and managed according to this map. It applies to whole houses, to rooms, even to pieces of furniture. If you're sitting at your desk; the top left corner would be your wealth corner. Make sure to put purposeful things in each section. For example; you wouldn't want an old plant or dirty coffee cups cluttering up your wealth corner.

kitchenette design

The upstairs of this new garage wanted to become something special. And since our clients entertain we knew just what to give them.  Dan and Cindy knew they wanted a wall of storage an some appliances in their new kitchenette so we designed one to suit their needs and their style with a dishwasher, sink, a one-burner cook top, microwave drawer, and mini fridge.

A 'Before' shot of the kitchenette space.

hauthaus drawing of the cabinets.

Kitchenette details:

• We specified cherry cabinets to coordinate with their cherry bathroom that is connected to the space.
• The upper cabinets have mesh doors for sound to flow through the already built in speakers.
• The long shelf will display their Starbucks mug collection.
• Cambria counters were installed since they are virtually no-maintence and the color, Halstead, worked great with the mosaic wall tile.
• Over time, the cherry cabinets will darken and will pop nicely off of the hickory floors.
• We chose a single dishwasher drawer to save on space. Drawers can be very efficient if you have small loads to wash!

An 'After' shot of the kitchenette. The outlet covers need to be painted and the rest of the hardware installed, but it's almost done!

kitchen design solutions

Here is a snippet of one of our kitchen remodel projects. Our clients came to us to re-work their kitchen after we worked on their master suite a while back. They had moved into this parade home in the 90s and were in need of some updating.

Below you’ll see the before and after pictures and our problems and design solutions.

Before: The white kitchen needed some changes and updates.

a. problem: The clients were tired of their white cabinets and wanted something new. The existing cabinets weren’t constructed very well and didn’t seem to function the way that they needed them to. solution: We designed new cabinets and stained them espresso and outfitted them with pretty french brass hardware.

b. problem: The existing granite and cook top were still in great shape and the clients wanted to keep them. solution: We kept the floor plan the same to accommodate for the existing granite. The cook top stayed in the same place as well.

c. problem: The upper cabinets were only 15″ off of the counter top and this made working under the cabinets hard. solution: Since we raised the cabinets up to 18″ off the counter we selected new back splash tile. Now the counter top can be used to it’s full potential.

d. problem:  the microwave was only 14″ from the cook top so cooking in a tall stock pot was out of the question – it simply didn’t fit! solution: We relocated the microwave and designed a custom hood for proper space above the cooktop and the right ventilation.

e. problem: The current set up didn’t allow for adequate ventilation for the gas cook top. solution: The newly designed hood works great for venting and aesthetically fits into the new cabinetry since we framed it in the same wood as the cabinets.

f. problem: The glass cabinets made the existing kitchen feel too busy. solution: We designed paneled doors for most of the upper cabinets to create a more cohesive, clean feel.

g. problem: Once we took the microwave out from above the cook top, it needed a home out of the sight line. solution: We placed a new drawer microwave in the base cabinet to the right of the cook top to keep it in the work triangle, but to keep it out of the sight line.

h. problem: We felt that the base cabinets needed some details. solution: We added legs to the cooktop cabinet and the left and right of the sink. This breaks up the long, linear lines of the base cabinets and adds a custom feel to the new kitchen.

After: Once we studied the kitchen and came up with a list of problems, we designed solutions to make the kitchen more efficient and functional.

backsplash tile: before & after

Tile can add another layer of interest and texture to any space; bathrooms, mudrooms, kitchens, etc.

Below, you’ll see some Before and After pictures of a kitchen our clients’ condo Downtown Minneapolis where we added some pizzazz by adding in a tile back splash.  When we were sourcing the tile we needed to keep in mind that it needed to work with the existing granite counter tops and it also had to be neutral enough to work with the flow of the main living space of the condo since it features an open floor plan where the dining room, home office and living room area all connected.

We ended up selecting a beautiful  handcrafted tile made with 70% recycled glass in a brick pattern from Fantasia Showrooms at IMS for this project.

The finished result is quite beautiful!

Top: The sink wall before the tile went in. Bottom: After.

Top: Overall shot of the kitchen before. Bottom: After.

Before and After pictures of the corner of the kitchen.

kitchen organization

One of your New Year’s Resolutions might be to get more organized. It seems we all say this at least once a year… “if only I was more organized then…”

Well we’re going to show you an example of a hauthaus kitchen design and organization notes. Below you can see a floor plan of a kitchen; we met withe client and used our imagination to ‘take out’ all of the pieces in her current kitchen and ‘put them away’ into her new kitchen. We wanted to make sure that the new kitchen will be well organized and that it will work for her and how she specifically uses her kitchen.

A few notes about the plan:

• You can see that we kept a large storage space for her kids’ school stuff; papers, lunch bags, supplies, etc. They are stored away in baskets on adjustable shelves. Each kid has their own basket.
• The Wolf range is located on the center of the left wall. Since the client is right handed, we put her cooking utensils and spices on the right. The upper cabinets to the left of the range are hinged so that you can access them both from the range without having to maneuver around open doors.
• We designed a specific spot for the KitchenAid mixer to always sit on the counter. The upper corner cabinet will continue all the way down to the counter top and act as a mixer ‘garage’. Her baking utensils and mixing bowls are located in that corner as well on the lazy susan.
• There is a designated breakfast prep spot on the right side of the kitchen. This will allow the kids to make their own breakfast while staying out of the kitchen work triangle (the space between the sink, range and fridge).

Here is a drawing of the wall with the range; you can see how we called out where the pieces will be ‘put away’.

Will you be re-designing your kitchen in 2012? If so, hauthaus can help! Give us a ring!

year in review: july – december 2011

And to round out our highlights from the past year of blogging, here are some of the entries we picked to share again from the last six months of the year…

For July we shared a blog about a cabin remodel on Clearwater Lake that we designed. The project included a new mudroom addition, re-designed kitchen with custom cabinetry, and handmade tile.  It turned out to be a great place to spend the warm and sunny summer days and nights!

In August, one of our entries highlighted different projects we worked on with different color schemes.  There is one for every color of the rainbow.  Revisit the blog for inspiration for your own home.

Cambria came out with new colors this year and in September, we highlighted the new Waterstone Collection. This new collection was the most buzzed about yet – the colors and patterns are so pretty and innovative!

In October we shared an article and video from ABC that talked all about a project in Montana where EVERYTHING going into building the house was made in the USA. The interview is interesting and comes with some eye-opening facts.

During November, we polled our readers to see what color was their favorite and orange won. In this blog entry we posted products that we love in orange… what fun!

In December, we shared pictures and drawings of a master bathroom project we worked on in Edina. With its cozy heated marble floors, shiny Kohler fixtures, and fresh paint, this bathroom is definitely work checking out.