How to: Outdoor Kitchen...

Outdoor Kitchen Project-The Artisans Group Seems like all us PNW-ers like to do ’stuff’ outdoors, whether it’s raining or not. Fortunately, our winters are mild and the other seasons are heavenly, a fair balance, I think. We also seem to like to cook food and gather with friends. Because it’s so mild here year round, it’s an ideal place for an outdoor kitchen. An outdoor kitchen doesn’t have to be elaborate or costly. In our climate, a very basic outdoor kitchen will commonly have overhead coverage, a cooking unit, usually a grill,...

Affordable Kitchen Remodel...

The other day a friend, we’ll call her “Mary”,  told me that she was bored with her kitchen, she said she wanted to do something with it, but couldn’t justify a “real kitchen remodel” as she put it. Mary’s kitchen is in mint mid-80’s condition. She doesn’t cook very often, but her kitchen is integral to the great room where all the action of life takes place. So, it’s visible… and boring. As much as I’d love for The Artisans Group to design and build for her a fun, new kitchen, short of that, there is...

Greenest Countertops in Olympia...

Lots of ‘green’ countertops to choose from out there these days. Many of those products are incredibly viable, beautiful, and green. When considering among green options, one consideration should be the proximity of the product to the job site. How far did that product have to travel to get on-site? If you live in the PNW, or more precisely, in South Sound, then Paperstone is the ‘greenest” product around. It’s manufactured right in our back yard, in Hoquiam, WA, about 30 miles outside of Olympia. Paperstone is made from cellulose fiber...

Lego Kitchen Island...

…A little Sunday afternoon design inspiration. I just spied this super cool Lego kitchen island in my most recent copy of Dwell magazine. It may not be for everybody, but you aged Lego fans know who you are… Read on: Lego Island Story by: Miyoko Ohtake Photo by: Celine Clanet Step back, Jacobsen, Utzon, Kjaerholm, Wegner, and all you other great Danes. When it comes to Danish design domination, the unrivaled champ is undoubtedly the almighty plastic brick—Lego. Billund, Denmark, could easily be considered the prefab capital of the world: Each year, its...

Mid Century Bathroom Remodel...

As the marketing person at The Artisans Group, part of my job is to coordinate photo shoots of our projects. Yesterday,  I had the opportunity to go  to a lovely bathroom remodel project we recently completed out on Cooper Point, with a 180 degree  view of Bud Bay.  The home originally started out as a cabin sometime in the early part of the last century, some time around the mid century the cabin was remodeled into a home with definitive modern architectural elements. Clean lines, large low pitched roof planes, pleasing geometry. The current homeowners had been living...

House Remodel Part 2...

By: Tessa Smith, lead designer Before remodel, old roof line from streetside Although personally I very much liked the modern aesthetic of the original flat roof (a bit of a mid-century modern buff myself) Mr. Demich had been in an epic battle with it for as long as he lived there, constantly leaking and failing under wind conditions.  Not to mention not a bit of insulation in it, resulting in high energy consumption and cost.  Also, although they said this in different terms, the Demich’s longed for a more archetypal profile to their home (a form more recognizably a...

House Remodel Part 1...

By: Tessa Smith lead designer Free hanging uppers around range allow for sense of openess I met the Demich’s at a tour of homes several years ago, as we stood in my project they described wanting a similar sensation of light and balance in their own home, a small mid-century house on the water. Earthtone hues in bathroom The Demich’s needed a whole house remodel, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a great room and all the floors needed to be addressed, as well as the tired, flat roofed exterior. The Demich’s pictured coming home to a contemporary cottage retreat, soothing...

Recycled Glass Countertops...

Okay! Countertops are blossoming before us. Building green has been great in so many wholesome ways and has been the genesis of some very very cool products! May I introduce the extraordinary recycled glass countertops by ThinkGlass. ThinkGlass is aggressively pursuing a green standing in their manufacturing processes and end products; they have a nice pitch on their environmental position. Below is a piece off of their website which gives you an idea of what goes on behind the scenes at ThinkGlass. By the way, I recommend going to their site to look at all the images in...

Eco by Cosentino Green Countertops...

This is a nice product that  recently came out on the market; we just received samples for our showroom and are quite impressed with the high end look of this product and the fact that it is certified GreenGuard. A very nice green option! Here’s the scoop: Cosentino is the world’s largest manufacturer of quartz, they recently launched a new eco-friendly countertop called ECO by Cosentino. ECO contains 75% post-consumer and post-industrial recycled raw materials, as well as 25% natural elements. These countertops are made from salvaged mirrors, window and...

Laminate Countertops and Surfaces...

Can you believe these are little snapshots of modern laminate? Though I work for The Artisans Group, I don’t typically work directly in our Design Center. Today as I was passing through, not unlike our dog on a visit to Petsmart, my eyes were roving over all the colors and textures while quickly cataloging little mental notes of “oh, yeah, THAT would be fun…” and “mm hmm, those are going on the wall behind my range…” and before I knew it I had a full remodel worked out in my mind, despite that I just had a full remodel less than a year ago. So many...