Effective Straight - Photos & Ideas

Project #126 | Contemporary Staircases with Integrated LEDs & Glass Railing

This contemporary home features two striking staircases with integrated LED lighting, glass railing, and thick wood treads. The color-changing LEDs shift from red to blue to yellow, transforming the staircases into dynamic focal points throughout the day. Wood treads and handrails are paired with frameless glass balustrades secured by black pins. Open risers amplify the LED lighting effect while maximizing transparency. The first-level staircase uses cantilevered and field-supported construction, while the second rises on dual metal stringers. Glass railing continues on the second-floor balcony, creating a cohesive system where light and glass elevate the design beyond the purely functional. 1976-2026 © Century Stair Company

A Bathroom with a View

Bilotta Kitchen & Home

Everyone dreams of a luxurious bathroom. But a bath with an enviable city and water view? That’s almost beyond expectation. But this primary bath delivers that and more. The introduction to this oasis is through a reeded glass pocket door, obscuring the actual contents of the room, but allowing an abundance of natural light to lure you in. Upon entering, you’re struck by the expansiveness of the relatively modest footprint. This is attributed to the judicious use of only three materials: slatted wood panels; marble; and glass. Resisting the temptation to add multiple finishes creates a voluminous effect. Slats of rift-cut white oak in a natural finish were custom fabricated into vanity doors and wall panels. The pattern mimics the reeded glass on the entry door. On the floating vanity, the doors have a beveled top edge, thus eliminating the distraction of hardware. Marble is lavished on the floor; the shower enclosure; the tub deck and surround; as well as the custom 6” thick mitered countertop with integral sinks and backsplash. The glass shower door and end wall allows straight sight lines to that all-important view. Tri-view mirrors interspersed with LED lighting prove that medicine cabinets can still be stylish. This project was done in collaboration with Sarah Witkin, AIA of Bilotta Architecture and Michelle Pereira of Innato Interiors LLC. Photography by Stefan Radtke.

Project #126 | Contemporary Staircases with Integrated LEDs & Glass Railing

Century Stair Company

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Simply Perfect Symmetry

Simply Perfect

Advice on interior design is available everywhere—from TV shows and websites to books, magazines and apps. We love seeing people become engaged in design and educated on the wide range of possibilities. But we hope you’ll proceed with caution. It’s not that style errors are a matter of life and death. It’s just that it’s easy to choose designs that aren’t necessarily reflective of your own personality and character. And since you’re typically stuck with your interior design decisions for years, styles that don’t quite fit can tend to grate on you. Interiors that give one person comfort may unleash chaos in someone else. This goes beyond favorite colors or hot trends, right to the heart of interior design, where you find questions of composition, balance, repetition, space and more. The goal is to find that unique combination of design elements that gives you comfort, support and balance. In one home, that perfect balance was struck through the use of symmetry. A pair of comfortable swivel chairs sit beneath matching indigo patterned paintings. Matching bookcases below the paintings contain similar, but not identical, arrangements of books, vases and bowls. Woods and bronzes help warm up the simple white bookcase shelving. Two matching poufs in front of the fireplace provide additional seating. The sofa is accented with a pair of pillows with a blue pattern that echoes the artwork. The effect of the symmetry is to achieve order and simplicity, which I promote at every opportunity. After all, your home interiors should be the setting or the backdrop of your life—not center stage. Antique bronze and blue are complementary colors. Together, they offer a rich palette of richness and depth, which brings out the beauty of wood and stone. In the home office, a unique, whitewash-stained wooden desk rests on metal, Sawhorse-inspired legs for a warm, rustic look. The black leather chair features a contemporary silhouette with an antique brass frame. An adjustable desk lamp has bronze accents. The bookcase combines a sleek, black metal frame with concrete shelves, for another unusual pairing. It’s kept uncluttered for an orderly, peaceful look. Items on the shelves include a bronze-accented lamp and a pair of high gloss-finished wooden bookends. The elegant artwork behind the desk is a simple midnight-blue and bronze with mottled white. Deep blues are again picked up in the rug, which adds a stately vibe with a modern pattern and satisfying texture. Within the framework of symmetry, the living room repeats the blue-and-bronze color scheme. A large midcentury brass clock above the fireplace keeps the natural stone visible, rather than hidden behind a painting or television, while its straight lines and color create a beautiful contrast. The sofa is a soft, neutral blue. The pattern on the round brass side table features echoes the darker blue-patterned rug, as well as the rug in the office, tying the rooms together. Indigo blue books adjacent to bronze vases on the shelves repeat the color scheme. The soapstone-topped coffee table echoes the shape of the fireplace. A pair of tall, matching floor lamps with long wooden bases, brass pulls and simple linen shades combine both the colors and symmetry found throughout the home.

Bathrooms

MK Remodeling & Design

For this modern master bathroom, we worked extensively with the client to capture his vision of the bathroom and brought our expertise and finishing touches to bear. The master bathroom features floating SOLLiD Cabinetry Frameless Series – Elegante II Satin X cabinets. We added the central stacked cabinet for additional storage since there was minimal space in the bathroom and existing closet. The cabinet pulls are Key West Jeffrey Alexander by Hardware Resources and the countertops are Pental Quartz Misterio. The modern effect is finished off with motion activated under cabinet lighting For the rest of the space, we removed the water closet to open the space and bring in more natural light from the existing window. We also removed the existing glass block and added a larger bathroom window for more natural lighting and a larger feel for the space. We replaced the tub deck and bathtub with a Whitehaus free standing tub and used two framed columns in the shower to add separation without closing off the space for the dual shower heads the client wanted. The clear frameless glass finishes off the shower enclosure while still maintaining sightlines through to the back of the space. Finally, a barn door was added to lend privacy to the space without sacrificing active areas. The finishes are all geared toward a modern aesthetic with Alfi Brand plumbing fixtures (we love the large square rain head!), LED Recessed lights, subway tile and grey wood plank tile. The barn door is a Rustica Hardware 5 Panel door with a stainless steel Industric handle and a stainless steel Bent Strap track painted to match the cabinets. Shane Baker Studios

Project #126 | Contemporary Staircases with Integrated LEDs & Glass Railing

Century Stair Company

Colleyville Fire and Water

Mike Farley Pool Designer, SWD, ASLA

This is the pool of precision - one big math problem that sparkles with water, glass tile, and fire. The primary view from the front door straight through the back door is across the widest part of the pool to the fire and water feature. The other 2 views from the dining and family room had focal points lined up with the lines of sight. The gushers were lined up on both lines of sight. One of the challenges was the required diving board for the five boys in the house. So the diving board was hidden in the raised wall with stone matching the house. Spill edges were incorporated in all the raised walls to create a subtle waterfall for sound and visual effect. All the elements had to line up with sightlines of the doors and windows so the patio pattern would then keep its precision as well. The details were in the materials, color, pattern, and the combination of materials. The blue fire glass matches the glass waterline and veneer. Subway detail carried through paving detail, patio cap, to travertine pattern and glass tile pattern. The tumbled Travertine was used on the patio and coping and the deck was patterned to match in color and texture. This kept the monochrome look. The dwarf mondo grass was incorporated in the patio to create a more organic setting and blend with the home's rustic contemporary feel. Project designed by Mike Farley