RoomRecipes » Tom Zemon

Fancy House for Little Critter

Tom Zemon — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 15:12:01 +0000

I love getting emails asking me how-to do fun projects around the house. Especially if it means the use of power tools. So when Krista received this email about my Guinea Pig house I wanted to post the instructions ASAP!

“I got the tail end of your August 24, 2010, Splurge & Save HGTV episode: Timeless Traditional Family Room (HSTEL-110). I would love it if you would send me a picture of the guinea pig house that you created for the Tuckman family on that episode.”

Recipe for Guinea Pig House:

• Make some different sized boxes with lids out of ply or MDF
• Don’t forget to put ample air holes in the lids
• Instead of a front wood panel, make a dado cut wide enough to accommodate a piece of plexiglass
• Attach the boxes and make sure that you create a passageway from any given box to its neighbor.
• I also added a dado cut to the back so that we could insert a piece of 1/8″ Masonite with the kids artwork on it – that allowed for changing the backdrop – scenery – whatever you want to call it of each box. It would be fun to do one that had home, office, grocery store, school, park, disco – different places for the little guy to go depending on his mood.
• Use a low or no-VOC paint to finish it off

Finding Invisible Space

Tom Zemon — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:10:59 +0000

Since most of my clients live in New York City, many of them come to me complaining that their apartments feel like storage units, with some furniture thrown in to the middle of their “stuff”.

This client was a voracious reader and had a bedroom that was filled floor to ceiling with books covering virtually every inch of wall space. She felt that while she loved her books, she didn’t really like having them in the bedroom.

During Construction: Stage Two

She said she wanted something warm, inviting and sexy – something that was feminine but someplace that a man would feel comfortable in – “a space that wasn’t too girly”.

I covered the walls in a sumptuous dark brown (Benjamin Moore “mink”) and flanked the enormous windows with an inexpensive pleated, pink, polyester “silk” taffeta, with a chocolate velvet trim one inch off the leader edge. A beautiful upholstered headboard in a neutral color, inexpensive chandeliers from IKEA ($39/each) and some accent tables completed the look.

Stage Three: Completion

But to solve the problem of the books, I came up with an idea. Stripping the sheet rock off the wall on one side of the hallway I was able to take advantage of the previously unused space between the studs. Those few inches may not sound like a lot of space, but they allowed me to create a nice deep unit, while retaining the hallway’s width (36”/standard) at any given point.

It also allowed me to give her a small pantry opposite her kitchen, and in New York where space is at such a premium, that was something that she really needed.

There’s a beautiful chandelier in that hallway from IKEA as well ($7) that throws a starburst of prisms across the ceiling, and a chocolate brown velvet swag for those moments when she wants the room to become what she now affectionately calls “her man cave”…

What to do with a small bathroom space

Tom Zemon — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:16:05 +0000

Living in Manhattan has its advantages – it’s an amazingly culturally diverse place where you can spend the day at MOMA and the evening catching a Broadway show, then go to dinner at midnight with a crowd of other night owls – all that on a Tuesday!

On the downside, we sometimes have to make do with smaller spaces, and the accompanying storage problems that come along with them. Especially in our bathrooms. Sure, you can go to the Container Store and get some storage boxes, but will you end up with a balanced design that is beautiful AND functional?

Look at the situation from a few steps back and do some advance planning. By building a simple, contemporary wall unit, you can perfectly accommodate those inexpensive boxes and get all the storage you need, while still allowing you the opportunity to display some of your existing household accessories in a unique way.

This client had a TON of things she wanted to keep in her bathroom, and she was also wrestling with how to display her tea-pot collection, which was nearly all but hidden in her overcrowded kitchen.

The result – a functional, beautiful space that gave her more than enough room for everything from towels to toilet paper, along with some great spaces to display pictures and other decorative items. The secret was in creating a wall unit that made the boxes look like an integral part of the look, rather than a hastily put together afterthought. Throw in a velvet trimmed, coordinated shower curtain, and you’ve got an beautiful, balanced, upscale look – and all without straining your budget.

She tells me that she feels sexier when she steps out of the shower now, but I’m not sure I can share the rest of what she said without betraying her confidence….