If walls could talk, they might say that paint and wall coverings are great – but why not think tile?!

Tile is a wonderful, wide, multi-use product that is the durable hero of backsplashes and bathrooms.  But tile can also be right at home in the finest, most elegant rooms in your home.

Lately I’ve been noticing tile applications in very unusual, creative settings. The first encounter I had with some amazing tile work, recently, was at the Driehaus Museum when I visited the Dressing Downton costume exhibit.  There, on the first floor, was a magnificent salon/reception room filled with heavily carved, deep teal art tiles used instead of paint or paper or cloth above the wainscoting.

Apparently, this was the Victorian approach to elegant appointments.  And the whole concept seems to be in vogue again.

Twice in the last week I’ve spoken with clients who want something different for their fireplaces – not just for the surround, but for the entire fireplace box to the ceiling.  And tile appears to be winning over stone choices.

Many new restaurants, I’ve noticed, are featuring beautiful tile work – everywhere.  Either as wainscoting or as entire walls.

I’m dazzled by the array of types, and colors of tile available – stone, ceramic, porcelain, cement, wood, glass.  Photos tell the tale – at The Merchandise Mart, on the street, in fully-tiled bathrooms – so many ways tile serves to create an exciting wall, backdrop or graphic design.

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When Spring rolls around, so many wonderful little things happen.

In my house, one sweet thing is that I can display my cello out of its case again.   The humidity that returns with Spring is actually very good for the wood.  And the beautiful sound coming from my cello has more to do with the atmosphere than this cello player!  (Also, I’m more likely to practice if my instrument is at an easy reach.)

I love my cello.  It was a rental many years ago.  But I eventually made enough payments to call it my own.  It’s battered and worn and repaired in places.  But it’s beautifully vintage looking, and in my mind, a real work of art.

Displaying it again made me think about other instruments as works of art in the home.  So I started poking around to see what some people do with their musical items on the floor or walls.  I found out that there’s a lot of creativity in this department!

I’m not a huge fan of pulling musical instruments apart and torturing them into art pieces.  But I am intrigued by an occasional repurposed instrument.  Just one caveat here.  Please don’t put a series of black metal notes on the wall to accompany these unique pieces.  The 70s took care of that for us!

Here’s a little parade of wonderful decorating with musical instruments – might inspire you to dig out that old violin in the attic, or call the piano tuner and move the piano into the middle of family activity again.

My client asked me to decorate her office around her drum and exotic musical instruments collection – such a happy room!

And if you don’t have space for that baby grand, how about creating the virtual piano room?

Here are a few more creative interiors that honor the joy of making music. 

I just received a goat-skin drum for my birthday and was displaying it in my favorite room with the rest of my African artifacts.  However, it seems that it’s a little too interesting to my dog, Billy.  This will definitely have to be a wall piece.

Seems like,  for the last several weeks,  I’ve been inundated with “rooms.”  First I wrote my blog on my favorite room, then I watched “Room” before the Oscars.  Last week I happened to re-watch “Room with a View.”  Then, yesterday, I went to Van Gogh’s rooms at the Art Institute.  And ironically there’s a copy of Virginia Wolff’s “A  Room of One’s Own” on my bedside table.

How interesting that this concept of “room” takes on a whole new meaning when it becomes metaphor, in each instance, for imagination, confinement, free-thinking, comfort and liberation.

As I wandered through the Van Gogh exhibit, I learned many things about the artist that finally led to the creation of his famous room and its three different paintings.

Originally, Van Gogh painted in very dark, muddy tones.  Then he moved to Paris.  And we all know what that city’s influence has had on the world of art.  He discovered COLOR.  Saturated color-and opposites on the color wheel.  He even kept a small Japanese lacquer box full of yarns that gave him spirals of colors that complement and enhance each other.

His first painting of fresh fruits on the table shows his true exuberance with this new love of color.

Eventually Van Gogh moved to Arles to get a sunnier, more colorful lease on life.  He even bought his little yellow house and got busy creating his famous bedroom, where the curator tells us, he finds peace, tranquility and a security he never knew until then.

I look at his room.  It’s spare – almost as spare as a Japanese interior, with an economy of comforts.  The chairs are straight- backed, with lumpy rush seats.  He actually painted portraits to hang on the wall over his bed – I guess to make him feel that his friends were near.  There’s no rug on the floor, and no window treatments.

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I have a friend (no, it’s not me!) who has an entire village in her basement. It’s the village of Honeysuckle Hollow, where the Li’l Woodzeez families live in harmony.  This friend is wild about all types of miniatures – she assures me many people are.  And I wanted to visit and take photos because I’m wild about all types of interiors – both great and small.

Li’l Woodzeez toys are miniature animal families, including the Waterwaggle Beavers, the Whooswhoo Owls, and the Diggadilly Raccoons.  You get the idea.  And their domain – whether it’s the bakery or the general store or the nursery school – is filled with the most delightful details imaginable.  Details that I can’t believe the designers even thought of.  And to think the package states that the toys are made for kids aged 3+!  These tiny, tiny items would be lost in a second in the hands of a little child.  So obviously they have been created to delight the kid in all of us adults!

Apparently Li’l Woodzeez were conceptualized by a Canadian designer.   The food and snack truck is even on display in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts!  And they have thrived happily  – as an exclusive toy item found at Target, and sometimes on Amazon.  I don’t remember anything like this from when my kids were small – but we were all-consumed with My Little Pony.

There is a rival animal group, Calico Critters, that are a little pricier, and a little more serious in demeanor. But I am very fond of the Li’l Woodzeez for their cartoony, happy lifestyle.  Those of you who have a genuine interest in comparing the two critter populations should check this website:

http://www.toyboxphilosopher.com/2012/04/calico-critters-vs-lil-woodzeez.

Here’s another wonderful glimpse into the world of miniature interiors that my friend told me about.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/gyanyankovich/the-dollhouse-of-your-dreams#.koPEvkoyq

http://www.littlearchitecture.com/

But back to the Hollow. I’ll let the Li’l Woodzeez speak for themselves through my numerous photos.  (I should have used my macro lens – some of my photos are a little blurry.  But I think it adds to the dream- like quality of spending time in the Hollow…)

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Blank, white walls. I’ve seen them hundreds of times.

What’s wrong here?

What’s wrong is that we’re missing ART.

Art. We all need it to complete our homes – yet where do we get it when the budget doesn’t allow us to spend much on it?

Over the years I have noticed that some bargain retail outlets offer better mass-produced art than others. Of course, this is a subjective opinion.  But that’s what you can have in a blog…

My sister and office partner, Ann Ayres, ayressteinmetz.com, is an art consultant for corporations. She advises, appraises, catalogs, reframes and installs.  But she also helps me from time to time on my residential projects when there’s a call for art.  She has great sources that sell strictly to people like her who then present to their clients. She also has a real grasp of what local galleries have and how much you might spend.   But where do other people find their art?

I walked into Crate & Barrel the other day, and they have a whole new thrust on contemporary art. The pieces are giclee prints of original art.  And all of it is huge (for that big white wall) and under $700.00.

Stretched canvases, looking really professional and original, highly colorful, and totally cool.

I also stopped in at the Old Town Triangle, which is a cornerstone of Old Town and friend to many artists. They’re having a student show this month – pastels, watercolors.  Some of them quite good.  Things are smaller here, but well-priced.  Generally under $500 – and that’s for an original.  It depends on your style, of course.  But I would guess if you headed to Lill Street Studios, there are many artists there with a variety of styles who would love to sell you something.  They’re always starving.

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I have a favorite room in my house where I watch TV, read and write. Some of my friends love the room and enjoy spending  time there.  Others are amazed and confused by it.  Some call it my “Isis” room.  This room developed slowly as I traveled more and more, and reflects my love of the Arab world. Not the world of turmoil and bombings  as we know it today, but the world of the Casbah , Gertrude Bell, Freya Stark, Lawrence of Arabia…tents and camels, hookahs and carpets, and sand…lots and lots of sand.

Since I was a kid I’ve been intrigued by ancient Egypt. This led to more the recent fondness for Morocco and Turkey.  I’ve collected a lot of wonderful photos, graphics, vintage ceramics and tins that add to the beauty of my room.

It’s a room that looks well- traveled and wise. A room that holds mystery and secrets.  And I like the way I feel when I step in.  Sort of like my real world never happened, and I can become part of the history that this world will never see again for real in the middle east.

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