About Me

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I have 20+ years experience in Home Furnishings and Interior Design, specializing in Kitchen and Bath Design since '01. I work for Bilotta Kitchens in the A&D Building on East 58th Street in the Mid-town Manhattan. I have a passion for learning and love the opportunity to collaberate on projects of all sizes. My strengths in the field begin with my design background, use of color and texture to bring interest to a room, spatial relationships, organizational skills, innovation, decisiveness, and planning. I have had the thrilling experience of helping hundreds...?maybe thousands of people with their projects, and what I love is it never gets boring, and no two are ever the same. Thanks for reading.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Looking Forward to Designing in 2011

Happy New Year to all…2011 is off to an excellent start…we have seen a big surge in showroom traffic and several of the pre-new year project commitments have already been realized.

On January 6th Gales Steve’s noted speaker, author of Right-Sizing Your Home as well as other books, and expert on home organization and space utilization visited MCK+B and met with my colleague, Hany Gerges and me to discuss trends in kitchen design with a focus on aging in place technology. Researching the very relevant topic for her latest upcoming book, she chose MCK+B particularly to reacquaint herself with the product offerings from Rutt Cabinetry, a company we love for their quality and style, that Gale is familiar with and says she has turned to in the past for storage solutions.
We were happy to report to her that the change in the real estate market and subsequent drop in “flip renovating” has led to nicer better equipped kitchens that folks plan to live in long term. For us that equals more client input, and more requests for extras in the way of LED under cabinet lighting, Drawer inserts to pre-dedicate storage, and additional storage areas in the home that tie in to the kitchen such a wall units, desks, and mud room storage etc.

Specifically relating to aging place, we are seeing a commitment to full access storage, where every cabinet has a roll out function, or other purpose, and upper cabinets which are equipped with pull-down shelving, so nothing is lost. Additionally these kitchens will have function in their toe kicks space, everything from platter storage to the step ladder needed to retrieve anything that is beyond easy reach, or to clean taller cabinets and the kitchen window. If you are looking for more information on aging in place there are designers who specialize in it, some are certified, one knowledgeable person in our industry who is a  great resource, and a Certified Aging in Place Specialist or CAPS is Andie Day,  talented Interior Designer who runs her company out of Boston.

Our urban easy living attitude has again seen a further drop in use of granite and a rise in the use of quarts, particularly Caesarstone, counter surfaces. Clients asking for the differences are thrilled to learn of the anti-microbial properties of the Caesarstone, and the fact that it requires no sealing for the lifetime of the product.
The irony is that my best selling granite right now is a stone that looks more like marble; it seems everyone is willing to try something new these days. That said, our line of engineered veneers has captured a lion’s share of our contemporary slab business, everything from deepest Ebony, to Rift Cut White Oak, to Quartered Zebrano, to Ribbon Sappele, the natural color palette is intriguing and inviting at once. With the advantages of using material from managed forests, knowing that you are doing something that is natural, beautiful and Green it has been an easy choice for many.

We have added new displays for 2011 and I am thrilled for the public reaction I’ve been getting. We have one more new display going in this first quarter, and it promises to cause a lot of excitement!

1 comment:

  1. Great counter! Caeserstone has some really beautiful products.

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