Insta-Gratification

The original Instagram, circa 1977

I am a visual person. I remember as a kid I never had the patience to take a picture, drop the film off at the local D&S Pharmacy, and wait the five-to-seven days while the film was sent out to be developed. So when my stepdad Jim showed up with his Kodak Instamatic camera, I thought it was the greatest thing on earth. I remember he even bought me an instant camera one time when we were going on vacation, a Kodak Handle, the original crank-style “Instagram,” which is actually in a box in my attic. I should find it.

My Grandson, Lennox

The magic of photography is that it holds still, forever, a moment in time. Now, with all the photo apps and services -- like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and my current favorite, Instagram -- those captured moments can be instantly shared with people we love and even strangers ... in some ways shrinking the world but I also think, in the best way, making the world bigger. 

Tennessee storm

There’s a joy when your phone chirps, burps, jingles, vibrates or tingles, and you open it to find that somebody has sent you an image ... a face, a flower, a grandchild, a storm. They could be sitting across the room or a thousand miles away and you instantly know what their world looks like. 

No bueno

I even use my Android phone camera in conducting business every day: is this the granite you like? How about this hardware? Or this tile? Or, this is the broken pipe we found in your bathroom floor under your shower. The fun and the frustrating. 

So, send me a picture. Let me know what your life looks like, what interests you, what your eyes see that mine don’t ... yet. 

Out of Awe

Have we lost our sense of awe? The world flashes by us and we barely have time to conquer the mundane, much less the awe-inspiring. To be awe inspired takes time, precious time. Pausing to see the imaginative, the beautiful, those things worthy of our admiration would most likely make us late for a meeting or even worse, cause us to miss our favorite TV show ... God forbid. 

I am just as guilty as the next person. I am busy, I am inundated with information, buried in a pile of data. Don't get me wrong, I see things I "like" everyday. I even see things that "move" me but it is on rare occasion that I am actually in awe. Sitting here thinking about it, the last moment of actual awe was a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago. I sat in a room full of Monet and Seurat; I actually sat for over an hour absolutely engulfed in the beauty of the work ... consumed. I only left because I didn't want the security guard to think I was casing the joint. I have to admit, It was emotional. I took the images with me in my mind and played them a million times during the remainder of the day.

I have, of course, had other moments - visiting Edinburgh Castle in Scotland or seeing my grandson for the first time -- but these are all events that have the context of creating awe. I am already predisposed to shut off the "noise" around me and focus. But what about the everyday moments in life, what am I missing? There is a great story from 2007 where the Washington Post did an experiment to see if extraordinary beauty would be recognized in the hurry of the day. Virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world, would play one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars in the lobby of the Metro Station in DC, and see if anyone would stop to listen. They didn't. The analysts ... who, of course, analyzed ... came to the same conclusion they have been concluding for years: for something to be awe-inspiring it must be presented in the proper context. Basically, we need to be told something is inspiring to be inspired by it. How sad!  

I will make a promise to myself: I will take the time to find the awe in the everyday. I will not rely on others to create context, I will create it for myself. I will open my eyes, ears, heart and mind to the possibility that what is happening right before me is awe inspiring.

What will you do? 

Give a Little Bit.

I haven't blogged in a while because I have been busy, busy, busy with preparations for the "House in a Week" build at Rancho de Sus Niños, an orphanage just outside of Tijuana. We are calling it "Casa de la esperanza" - "The House of Hope"

The build is less than two weeks away...we still need funds to make sure we have all of the materials to build, not just a house...but a Home.

Please donate to Rancho "House in a Week" at this link: House in a week
Your donation is tax deductible and will show love and care to generation after generation.

Thank you,

Beauty In The Desert - A Note to My Design Community

After reading this tweet from the design community's very own @JamesSwan this week, I decided to tell you about a project that is close to my heart.

At the end of February, this coming year, I will be heading up a monumental task: to build a house in a week … in Mexico. I had the opportunity to help with an Extreme Home Makeover here in Nashville a year or so back and I know pulling that off in a week in America, with corporate sponsors and large contractors, was crazy; to try doing it in Mexico with donated materials and all-volunteer labor is quite, well, mad. Why am I involved, you ask? For many reasons, but I will only give you a couple.

For the past three years I have spent my time volunteering at Rancho De Sus Niños, an orphanage just outside of Tecate, Mexico. I say orphanage because that is how it began 20-plus years ago; these days it is actually an orphanage, a daycare, a K-through-college school system, a hospice, and a ministry providing free, clean drinking water to area families and garbage service so their community doesn't have to live in filth. It has grown because Rancho people see a need, fill it, and worry about the funding later. It is a faith-based organization and they are being the hands and feet of God. You don't even have to be religious to see the good they do and the financial and social change they bring to a very impoverished area. The couple that runs Rancho, Jimmy and Genea Horner, left a very successful land development and homebuilding business in Southern California to bring their time, talent and treasure to those in need.

So, February 29th through March 7th we will build a house -- a 2,272-square foot, seven-bedroom, three-bath house, completely furnished, at a cost of $70,000. That is only about $31 per square foot; for reference, the average cost per square foot to build in Nashville is around $110 per square foot, unfurnished. I have included a snapshot of the floor plan so you can see the layout. 

Plan View

Now that we have all the particulars out of the way, this is what I am asking my fellow designers, architects, decorators, craftsmen, anyone in the design community: help me with this project. You can donate funds via Hopepark Church (select "Other" and please mark your contribution “Rancho House in a Week.”) All donations are tax deductible. You can talk to your vendors about donating goods and services -- we need everything from concrete to pillowcases. Or you can lend us a hand, literally -- I would love to see some of you actually come to Mexico with me. Post a comment below, follow the links provided, or message me on Twitter (@Billy_Williams) to let me know how you would like to contribute ... you might even have a way that I’ve not thought of. Even if you are unable to help right now, there may be someone in your world who can. So re-post, tweet, facebook, spread the word by carrier pigeon if you have to … just spread the word.

As a design community we have the daily privilege of bringing beauty, form and function to our clients’ lives. Join me in bringing beauty to the desert ... to people who would never be able to afford our services or benefit from our talents.

Thank you,

b.

The Perfect Tree

My Christmas tree is a mess, a hodgepodge of items that neither match nor make good sense color-scheme wise. Wood, glass, plastic, paper … unknown substances hang from its branches with no apparent rhyme or reason. It's PERFECT!

I am not so sure that a Christmas tree should be a reflection of the latest and greatest decorating trend. I am of a mind that it should be a story of life, its branches heavy with thoughts and memories, scattered about like jewels. The hand-blown glass ornaments purchased in Colorado for the first Christmas. Four small hand-painted glass balls from the late 1930s, their colors dulled by time. My mother gave them to me a few years back -- they were hers as a child; they hung on our tree when I was a child. Cheap satin red balls purchased at Big Lots, reminders of lean financial times. Three tiny rocking horses which were originally flower arrangement decorations received when our son was born. I made them into ornaments complete with his birth stats handwritten on each one … in Sharpie, of course. I see a green and red construction paper wreath framing the face of my son when he was in kindergarten; he has a son of his own now. Ornaments from friends and family that have come from all over the world and now reside in my world. And it is all topped off with an angel from Sears, her mauve cardboard dress a bit tattered after 27 years. She was a gift from my great-grandmother who passed away in the ‘90s -- in her 90s.

To me, it's not about what my tree contains, but who. I sit looking at each eclectic treasure and see a loved one captured in a moment in time … that is the true gift. So my 2011 Christmas design advice is, if you want a decorator tree with matching black and silver ribbons and bows, go for it. But also take the time to decorate another tree -- fill it with memories. Look at each piece you hang and remember the moment and the person it represents … soak it in. I bet I can guess which of the two trees will bring you the most joy.

What is your favorite Christmas ornament or memory?

The "Nest" Thermostat

This is a hot idea...or maybe it's a cool product, either way, I love it. 

About 14 years ago I installed my first programmable thermostat to help save on my heating and cooling bills. I have since replaced it with newer versions as they have become smarter and smarter. The problem has been that the thermostats are either hard to program or have few day-evening-night-weekend setting options, so they work on a fairly rigid schedule. This means I spend a lot of time overriding the settings that took me forever to program in the first place. To me, this looks to be the answer to all of this: a thermostat that learns how you live and works with you to maintain a comfortable temperature in your home, while saving energy. 

Also, from a design point of view, it is a very attractive device -- clean and sleek looking.  

Rather than have me go on about it, take a look at this video.

You can also visit the Nest site here Nest.com

Why Are We Afraid to Innovate?

Innovation...inspiration...imitation...limitation...exasperation...

These seem to be the five phases of design. We start out to innovate, look for inspiration, which usually leads to imitation, where we see our (perceived) creative limitations, which eventually leads to total exasperation. Do we follow this chain of events because we doubt our own eyes or brains ... maybe because we are afraid to put forward what we think is innovative because someone will shoot it down? Creativity leaves us very vulnerable.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Henry Miller: "Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heartache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifle because we lack the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty." The line that strikes me the most is "...we lack the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth" -- that is it in a nutshell. We don't believe what we imagine as innovation is true -- only those like the late Steve Jobs innovate, right? 

Apex Design ©2011 b. williams design

Earlier this year I was granted a great opportunity to design some concept kitchens with the idea that there was "no box." However, without the client's knowledge, their well-meaning ad agency began to send me image after image of what was "cutting edge," "innovative" -- before they had even seen what I could do. I actually never looked at the images they sent, as I felt it would taint my creativity and not allow me to do what I had been asked. I know that sounds egotistical but hear me out. They were sending images from magazines. Now consider the timeline associated with those images. The magazine article was four months old which means the story was most likely written five months ago, which means the project was at least eight to nine months in the build phase; add another six to 12 months from conception to actual building date. This means by the time I see this innovative design it is already two years old or older. To have designed from those images would have been imitated innovation at best. 

I have an Android phone; it seems innovative in a "How can we compete with iPhone" kind of way. Apple did (does) a great job innovating so by the time HTC imitates Apple's newest device, that device is old news and Apple is on to the next innovation. Sometimes we don't innovate because we fear those around us just "won't get it" My designs were published in an article in an industry magazine. A few weeks later a highly successful architect friend of mine, whose views I greatly respect, spent a good amount of time telling why my designs were not right because they did not fit within the confines of historical architectural thinking. He said they were outside the "rules of design." My response would be, "Whose rules?" I didn't sign up to design so I could simply follow a rigid set of rules -- maybe I want to break the rule so it can be re-written. In my mind my designs worked, if for no other reason than they made him think. 

So here is my advice: innovate. Sit and design something out of your own mind, no matter how weird or unconventional it seems. (You might not want to do this on a work-for-hire -- or maybe you do.) Believe that YOU might know what the next innovation is, that YOU know what beauty is, that the crowd should follow YOU, not the other way around. Recently, I sent a kitchen design to a client where I took a chance and put a small door at the bottom of the upper cabinets and the larger door above. His comment  was, "Are you suggesting we put a drawer in the upper cabinet?!" I explained it was a door and that my concept was to set the look of his kitchen apart. I took a chance; it cost me nothing. He chose to go the traditional route but I like the idea and someday a client will like it, too.  

Here is a link to the article mentioned above 

Jocks and Nerds

It was almost like being back in high school -- the "cool" people didn't want to be seen with the "un-cool," the jocks giving noogies to the nerds, and those band geeks like me stuck in-between with no social status at all. (By the way, this post has nothing to do with design ... please file under "Ramblings.") 

Photograph: Roy McMahon/Zefa/Corbis

I am, of course, not talking about high school; I am making reference to my recent little experiment with Klout. For those of you who don't know what Klout is, it is one of a growing number of "social media influence measuring services." In its own words, Klout is THE measure of influence. Really?! Let me tell you what bothers me about Klout and the other social media indicators out there: in a word, they are divisive. They tell the jocks who the nerds are and bid them to keep their digital-distance for fear of digital cooties. They stratify people according to their ability to influence the so-called influencers. They make those among us who enjoy social media for the right reasons (being social) doubt our worth once we and our friends are stuffed into neat and tidy high-school-esque boxes. Now, the service may not do it outright but the matrix by which they reduce you to a mere number is the world's largest schmooze-fest. 

When I started this little journey, my Klout score was actually decent, even though I had never heard of or pandered to my score. I looked into how they quantified my social media interactions and decided to play their game for a few weeks ... just for fun. Within a few days I took my very average score of 36 and power "klouted" it into a 71. That is up there with the big boys like Conan and social media celebrities. I then made the mistake of tweeting a friend my new score. They were devastated, not because my score was higher than theirs but because I seemingly reduced our social media relationship to a competition. I later found out this person had been un-followed by a group of muckety-mucks who didn't want to reduce their own scores by being associated. How incredibly juvenile. 

Though I was a band geek in school, my mother had taught me to respect people for who they are inside. My best friends were a jock, a speech club nerd, a student council president and a fellow band geek who was teased mercilessly because of his acne. They are all wonderful people with great hearts and minds; they are not numbers to be manipulated, reduced or artificially inflated. I have since gone back to my normal social media routine which consists mostly of being goofy and occasionally linking to this blog or something that is actually cool, and my Klout score is dropping faster than a high school prom dress.  One of my favorite people to follow (who has a Klout score of 15) has my attention; when he speaks, I listen. I see him as a person not a number. 

I have decided to start my own social media grading system -- I'll call it B-Dubs. If I think you are a human, I'll give you 100 B-Dubs. If I think you are an internet bot without a soul, I will give you zero B-Dubs. Enjoy the people in your path, open your ears to jock, nerd and every so-called status above, below and in-between. Life is meant to be shared and if you do this, yours will be richer.

Trends and Time Capsules

I've heard this statement in defense of something hideous or outdated, more than once in my time in the industry: "I have classic taste; I don't want to be trendy."

What we're really talking about is the difference between trendy and trending. Let me list a few things that are or have been trendy: pet rocks, parachute pants, the mullet, velvet Elvis paintings, orange-and-black shag carpet, and David Hasselhoff. None of these things should you design a room around.  And then there are trendings, such as popular color pallettes, furniture stylings and restylings, architectural elements -- these things are trending, they're in constant evolution. Do we still paint rooms green?  Yes. Is it Hunter Green? No. Colors are trending.

So when a client defends something unattractive or awful with the words, "I don't want to be trendy," in my mind I hear: A) "I have an emotional attachment," or B) "I am trendy -- that trend has long passed. I have bad taste and don't know it."

Let's begin with A. I totally understand emotional attachments. However, they should never be allowed to cripple or date a new design. When it's first suggested you remove your brass-and-black-laquer sofa table with matching framed Nagle print, your reaction may be, "But I love that piece!" Maybe the questions to ask yourself are, "Why do I love it?" "Would it work somewhere else?" "Would a picture of it in a memory album suffice?" "How does it speak in the current landscape of my design?" The same goes for color. The beauty of updating your kitchen cabinetry, appliances, flooring, window treatments, countertops, can be easily negated if you insist on reusing your favorite mauve pallette, which has long been retired by the rest of the world.

Now let's deal with the elephant in the room, B. It's been said "Beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder." Your collection of 3,000 hand-painted miniature garden gnomes might be the most beautiful thing you've ever seen but that doesn't mean you should design a room around them. It's also okay to admit you don't have good color sense or you don't keep up with current trendings.What I'm saying is, among other things, bad taste and time capsule decor can be overcome with the help of a professional. Even as a designer, admittedly there are things within that world where others have more of a gifting. My strengths are space planning, color, cabinetry and hard goods. When it comes to rugs, window treatments and furniture placement, I enlist the help of other designers and decorators. If you need help, get help.

As I mentioned in the previous blog (and I mention this time with a caveat that color trends are tricky), if it's on the market, in a magazine, and available anywhere but Goodwill, it's probably part of a current trending.

So here's a quiz to determine if something should stay or go:

1. Is it an heirloom piece, or is it nice enough to become an heirloom piece?
      A. If your answer is no, it should be gone.
      B. If your answer is yes, now ask yourself:
              1. Should it be put in storage until it becomes cool again?
              2. Should it be moved to another room and enjoyed? Or
              3. Does it honestly work within your new design aesthetic?

2. If you saw your room in a magazine but it wasn't your room, would you question the sanity of using this piece or color in the design?

3. Will my choices -- color and otherwise -- make people entering my home feel like they've stepped back in time?
     A. If your answer is yes, please seek professional help.
     B. If your answer is no, please seek professional help ... to confirm or deny your findings. Mauve, for some reason, is still available.

Death By Committee

What's the quickest way to kill a good idea? Appoint a committee to discuss it.

This post will concentrate on working with your designer or architect or decorator to achieve the very best outcome. And my basic point here is, design-by-committee does not work.

Actually I consider design-by-committee the equivalent of painting by numbers. Does it look like a horse? Of course. Would you hang it in a museum? I hope not.

To execute any vision for a space, and my specialty is kitchens and baths, the reason you hire a professional is you need someone who is the visionary and has the expertise to know what will and won't work. Imagine having your dental work done by committee; the orthodontist has the vision and expertise, yet you check with everyone from the hygienist to the maintenance staff and come back to the doctor with their plan. It's safe to say you would have an interesting-looking grill.

So the first thing you should do is work with the designer, architect or decorator that you trust, and that doesn't necessarily mean their taste has to be your taste. It means they work in a professional realm and they can bring to fruition your design by interpreting your aesthetic. Where the trouble begins is where you don't believe your own criterion of truth and that fear causes you to second-guess the design choices. Most of the time when I encounter a client who wants to design by committee, it has more to do with their fear of making a decision and having to defend it later. Thus begins the journey into Committee Land, where every design aspect is run past a neighbor, a daughter-in-law, a daughter, a great Aunt, a cousin twice removed, someone you met in the grocery store and the yard guy, all who once watched an episode of something on HGTV and therefore, somehow, have more credibility with you than your own design team.

I'm not saying you shouldn't seek counsel, but when seeking that counsel begins to fragment the original design, look and feel, the trust begins to unravel between you and your design professionals. The design becomes convoluted. And 90-percent of the time, people end up with a final product that is very, very similar to what they began with.

So here are my five tips to save yourself from design death-by-committee:

1. Trust the professional. Not only will they help you create something much greater but in most cases will save you money by not allowing you to make mistakes.

2. Don't be swayed by well-meaning people's advice or criticism. Should you seek wise counsel? Yes. Do you always have to follow it? No.

3. Don't be afraid of change. Some people avoid design changes and blame it on not wanting to be "trendy" when, in actuality, anything on the market right now is the trend.

4. Relax and trust yourself. Your kitchen wall color is not a life game-changer; it's a kitchen wall color.

5. Have fun sharing your new designs with the aforementioned people confidently. If they don't like it, it's okay.

BONUS LIFE LESSON:

6. Never trust a man who wears suspenders and a belt; don't trust a man who doesn't trust his pants.

Feeling a Little Blog

I have a little blog. If you are reading this, you have seen it. Not a lot here, a thought or story once a month or so -- ramblings, mostly. I have two friends that have completely opposite takes on blogging. One blogs every day. Every day. I am not sure I even think every day, much less gather those thoughts and write them down for the world to comment on. His blog is insightful, funny, snarky, smart. It is his goal to write everyday, part of his routine to wake, eat, brush teeth, jog ... and blog. He shares huge portions of his life with the public at large. On the flip side, my other friend thinks blogging would put too much of her life on display; even if the blog were about things other than her, she believes it would always come back to her interpretation, mind and heart, and expose too much. Funny, her Grandmother journaled and those journals were eventually made into a book - a blog in hardback?! I fit right in the middle. I blog when I want, and hope people read it and find a nugget to take away. I neither market it to the masses or keep it hidden ... it simply exists. I feel there is nothing wrong with any of these approaches.

I spent today at the World of Whirlpool as a guest of Jenn-Air appliances and Digitas, a digital branding agency. It was a bloggers' luncheon and a chance for the Whirlpool corporation to show off its new Chicago facility and get a buzz going in blog land. By the way, WOW, as they call it, is quite apropos. With the exception of me, they invited big-time bloggers, industry-leading bloggers, blog gods (small "g"), even. I expected a room full of smelly hipsters sipping chai; what it turned out to be was a room full of ladies: professionals, moms, singles, and everything in-between. Being the only guy there, I stayed at the back of the group and tried to blend in with the Whirlpool employees. I stuck out like a sore thumb. We looked at each brand in the Whirlpool family, snapped pictures with our smart phones, tweeted, re-tweeted, ate a fabulous lunch, learned about invisible stains, which seems a bit of an oxymoron but has apparently plagued mankind since creation, and asked lots of questions.

Now, here is my take on the event. I think it is grassroots marketing at its finest. Peer-to-peer is the best way to sell your brand -- in the old days we called it "word of mouth." One of the ladies in the group summed it up with a great comment concerning the purchase of an Induction Cooktop. "I need a friend to buy one first," she said. Advertising is great, but we all want someone we trust to tell us it's OK. I looked back over the Twitter feed from the event and saw the conversation that had already started ... induction, stain removal, home brew laundry concoctions. I would also venture a guess that at some point these bloggers will do what they do and blog. There was no hard sell, no "But wait, there's more" gimmick. What a great idea, to pull the curtain back at Oz and let people see what you have.

What's The Difference?

One of my Facebook friends had an interesting status the other day. It read, "What is the difference between art and decoration?" At first I just hit the "Like" button, considering it a nice ponder, but the question has been with me all week. What makes art "Art" and what makes other art simply "decoration"? It's the same question I ask myself about my favorite TV shows, "American Pickers" and "Hoarders" -- one man's trash is another man's treasure.

(Photo: Case Study #22 by Julius Shulman, Circa 1960 - Art in three styles: Architecture, Image, Photography Style. This image moves me.)

I think for me to answer the question honestly, I have to look at the effect each has on my heart and mind. I consider true art to be a very high calling. I don't necessarily have to like something to consider it art; actually the fact I don't like it may be the very thing that places it in the art category. Art always stirs emotion. There should be a visceral reaction to its form or color or subject -- or the lack thereof. Art has a tension to it. Consider Monet and Picasso, who painted things as they saw them, not as they actually were; there is the tension. Even masters of realism like Michelangelo and Titian created great tension in their work, drawing the viewer in, making us question why or how. Decoration, on the other hand, is neutral. It fills space and may be pleasant to the eye but it doesn't affect the heart.

Like most of you, I have many things in my home. Some items are there simply to keep the space from feeling empty and to add form and balance to a room: decorations. Then there are those pieces that capture my attention: art. These are the things I look at and ponder, their significance, my significance. They turn on that seldom-used part of my brain that searches for answers and craves beauty over clutter. I can look at them a million different times and feel a million different things. They are timeless and will not end up as garage sale fodder in the next few years as trends and tastes change.

How would you answer the question, "What is the difference between art and decoration?"

The Next Open Door

I waited until the last day of 2010 to write this post for a reason. This year I've done something that I've never done -- allow the year to wind itself down gracefully and slowly ... not a frantic push to the end. Really, the last day of the year is no different than any other day, a rising and setting of the sun as we fly through space. But we all enjoy new beginnings, we all love moving forward, we all look ahead to our next adventure.

It is easy now to look at 2010 as linear time and see how one moment led to the next, but as I lived it in real time I could see no further than the next door in front of me. A few events rise to the surface as I look back.

Early this year I was granted a seemingly out-of-the-blue opportunity to go to a Jenn-Air event in Atlanta: a little product explanation, a little hands-on cooking, a nice weekend in a nice city. It ended up being a great opportunity for me, both personally and professionally. What started small ended with an invitation for me to serve on Jenn-Air's Design Advisory Council with an incredible group of professionals from all over the country.

I took advantage of an unscheduled meeting with a stranger and was able to help her out; from this I gained not only a friend but insight into someone else's life and situation.

I was granted occasions to mentor people and in the process, encountered people with great knowledge and wisdom who, in return, mentored me.

I used my skills as a designer and project manager at an orphanage in Mexico and found new inspiration and an added sprinkling of excitement about what I do.

I spent most of the month of November moving my shop. It's amazing how much you can accumulate over five years and 7,000 square feet and to say that moving a shop that size was a monumental task is an understatement. Plus, it was a little dusty. The move allows me to work even closer with my cabinet maker, who is also a great and trusted friend.

In the beginning these things all seemed very random but with the advantage of time I see they have one thing in common: each little door led to a new adventure and tied my life to the lives of others.

Life is about the choices you make. Sometimes the most random opportunity is the one that takes you in a whole other direction and ends up being the clarifying act as you move forward professionally or personally. I borrowed the title of my final 2010 blog post from a video documentary featuring singer/songwriter and recording artist Lionel Cartwright. The video is not long - about 15 minutes. In these last few moments of 2010, turn off the noise around you, let the year end gracefully, watch the video and think about your own world creatively, personally, professionally. What is your next open door?

The Next Open Door from Aaron Williams on Vimeo.

The filmmaker, Aaron Williams is my son. Happy New Year!!!!

The Key to Salsa is Passion

I recently spent a very passionate four days in Chicago with 14 other people. I was at the inaugural meeting of the Jenn-Air Appliances Design Advisory Council, of which I am a member. This is an intense group of designers, architects and industry professionals that Jenn-Air has assembled to advise the company on a myriad of topics. Needless to say, when you get in a roomful of designers and architects, everyone's pretty sure that they're right. But I don't see this as ego; I see it as passion.

During the four-day event, we met with representatives of each of the departments at Jenn-Air--cooking, refrigeration, dishwashing, etc.--and were even allowed to see and give our feedback on prototype appliances that won't hit the market for a few years (insert confidentiality agreement here). The thing that stood out most about the Jenn-Air individuals who presented to us was their passion for their product. This wasn't a meeting to just get us to head-nod at their ideas; they wanted honest and real feedback from the group and honest and real feedback they got.

One night the group had dinner at a restaurant called "Moto." The restaurant was chosen because of its innovation, which had been an ongoing theme during our meetings. The restaurant and food are a science-based theme. Most of the food looked nothing like you thought it would taste, or tasted nothing like it looked. The chefs at Moto break their recipes down not just to the ingredient level but down to the molecular level, and then reassemble them in unique and innovative ways. Even beyond that, it was the wait staff that blew me away. Our waiters John Vegas, Chakra and Trevor, pictured below, were really REALLY passionate about their job. As a matter of fact I don't think they would call it a job. To them it was more of an adventure in food. These were young men, in their early 20s, and to have them be a) so knowledgeable, b) so passionate about their work and c) so fun, clever and creative was refreshing when, quite honestly, this age group is usually a little lost. I think the bug that had bitten them was passion--not just a job or a paycheck, but something they related to and could hold as their own. It was inspiring to see these young men so deeply immersed.

I want to do the things that I am passionate about; these are the things that we pour our hearts and souls into. And I'm lucky that it is my occupation, though it doesn't necessarily have to be -- your passion can be art, or music, or cooking, or wine, or helping people, or a million other things.

Have you encountered anyone lately who displayed passion or intensity, and did it inspire you?

Extreme Community

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of working on "The Nashville Build." This was the Extreme Makeover Home Edition that was filmed right here in my fair city, Nashville. The project was a new daycare and preschool for Lighthouse Christian School, which lost a majority of its buildings during the recent Nashville flood. This is not my first foray into the world of extreme construction volunteering -- I have helped my church build homes for Habitat for Humanity and I am part of a special team that works with an orphanage in Mexico. Last year I and six other men built a 1,600-square-foot daycare building for the orphanage in two-and-a-half days.

What I love about this kind of work (if you could even call it work) is the sense of community it creates. The day I worked on the Nashville Build, I can honestly say I have never seen so many people in one place working around, under, next to, over and beside each other in all my life. Instead of the usual grumps and groans and even fights that break out when you have too many people trying to work in a small area, this was a wonderful symphony of smiles, helping hands, laughter, new friends and community. People are at their best when they are helping others. At this build, status in the "real world" did not matter; what mattered was the willingness to serve. I picked up trash with bankers and school teachers, unloaded trucks with a retiree and his children and their spouses, and painted alongside housewives, city council members and bus drivers. It was wonderful.

I am glad to live in a city that knows how to come together in a crisis, and for months afterward, to put the pieces back together. I am so proud of Nashville for its volunteer heart and spirit of community.

Where do you like to serve and what brings you a sense of community?

A Little Nip & Tuck (Working Within a Budget)

Not all kitchen makeovers have to be total remodels. Quite often a few well-thought upgrades here and there are all you really need to get your kitchen cooking again. I see a lot of '70s, '80s and even '90s kitchens that could be pulled from the world of drab into the world of fantastic with a simple face-lift.

This lovely 1970s kitchen actually had a lot going for it. The layout functioned just fine for the owners, a small but growing family. The cabinets themselves were dated by the door style, color and countertop materials but were well-built, giving us a good place to start. What the homeowner wanted was better lighting, a more modern look, and a more functional cabinet to replace a catch-all desk in the corner next to the refrigerator. And they wanted to be able to do it on a pretty modest budget.

Here were the solutions:

• We had a local cabinet shop build new cabinet doors, and we painted and glazed the cabinets.
• Horrible fluorescent soffit lighting and a single ceiling "salad bowl" fixture were replaced with ample recessed lighting -- remember it's always better to over-light and use dimmers rather than under-light a room and have to use a mining helmet to find your crock pot.
• The old laminate countertops were replaced with a new textured stone-looking laminate, very attractive and, I might say, at a great price point.
• Walls and trim were painted; appliances were replaced; we jazzed it all up with a tumbled limestone backsplash -- a beautiful product that also comes at a great price point.
• We did spend a little extra money on a custom baking center hutch next to the refrigerator and enclosed the refrigerator to make it look more built-in.

I work on kitchen projects that range from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars; in this case we transformed the heart of the home for a fraction of the cost of a total remodel.

17 Hours in the Baked Apple

Is it hot in New York or is it just my career? Last week I was treated to a trip to New York City by my friends at Jenn-Air appliances to see the "House Beautiful" 2010 Kitchen of the Year, designed by Jeff Lewis. The only thing hotter than the new line of Jenn-Air appliances featured in the kitchen may be the midday temperature in Times Square. If you read my earlier post, "A Lot of Hot Jenn-Air," you know I was recently won over by their new appliance line and the forward thinking of their design team.

It was a bit of a whirlwind trip; I was in New York City, from touchdown to takeoff, for less than 17 hours, during which I attended a private viewing in Rockefeller Plaza. I would have to say my first impression of the kitchen was that it was a bit predictable, though there were features that did stand out. It was a California Contemporary but the designer had used some interesting elements to add texture, including a three-dimensional backsplash, reclaimed wood as a counter and seating top, and a "wine wall," which was a great use of space and very visually appealing. The dark, stark European flat-faced cabinetry and white Corian countertops were something I had already seen and I wish the designer would have been a little more aggressive in his palate choices. Then again, he did get Kitchen of the Year and I didn't... note to self: I need a hit TV show!

It was, for all intents and purposes, a beautiful room. I think my issues have less to do with the aesthetics and more to do with the fact that I hoped to see ideas and execution that are way beyond what I might currently design or even be aware of. I wanted to be inspired by the creative use of materials; I wanted to be intrigued by its originality, not just in awe of its scale. (Remember the 1950s and '60s "Kitchens of the Future"? Where were the robots, conveyer belts and and hovering skillets?!)

What would you expect to see in the Kitchen of the Year?

Bamboozled

Sustainability, sustainability, sustainability -- if you're not using sustainable products, you are a hater of nature and no friend to the earth. Sounds a little harsh, doesn't it? Over the past few years the "green" movement has gained a lot of ground and I myself try to use "green" products whenever possible. Like many of you I want to enjoy my life, have nice things and leave the smallest possible fingerprint, but with all of the cry to be "green" why doesn't it seem to be happening?

I find it interesting that the NKBA (a national kitchen and bath designer group that I am a member of and from which I get my certification) released its list of kitchen and bath trends this year with such stunning conclusions as "traditional is the new contemporary," white is the most "in" color, and cherry still holds its place as the number one choice of wood for cabinetry. What seems to be missing from this list? Bamboo.

Have you looked at bamboo lately? It's sustainable, beautiful, and though the color choices are a bit limited (two), a great product to work with. I'll admit it's a little hard to find and a little more expensive because it hasn't grown into the market -- pun intended. It seems we tout "green" design but vote just the opposite with our wallets.

Personally I like bamboo - the floor in my master bedroom is bamboo; the furniture I designed and built for my master bedroom has bamboo elements. I recently had a client who used bamboo as a countertop material in a guest bathroom, to stunning effect. But it seems to be an incredibly hard sell, much like another sustainable product, cork.

My question to you: have you considered bamboo, cork or other sustainable products? Why or why not? Do you think using these products limits your design choices?

Washed By The Water

Photo by Larry McCormack/The Tennessean

I have spent the week with my good friends -- picking up and throwing away large, soggy sections of their lives. Their life, like many in the Nashville area, was swept into the river physically, mentally and emotionally. The recent flood is the largest (costliest) non-hurricane natural disaster in U.S. history and for many will be a game changer...I know for me it is a game changer. I have spent countless days on job sites during the demolition phase. I usually find it fun to help tear out a cabinet or two and maybe pull down a piece of drywall here and there; this, however, felt much, much different. The strange thing is that for the first couple of days their neighborhood was full of homeowners and volunteers working to clean up the mess ... all doing so in almost total silence. Lots of activity and very little conversation. Just neighbor caring for neighbor, working, thinking and praying.

I have been witness this week to the best of my fair city, Nashville. We didn't cry foul, we didn't wait for the government to come to our rescue...we rescued ourselves the old fashioned way -- neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend and even total strangers, hand in hand. The national media gave us 15 minutes for what will most likely take years to clean up and will forever change the tempo in Music City. There wasn't any looting, there wasn't any violence, and the loss of life, though tragic, was small compared to other disasters. Maybe our story of waiting for the waters to go down and being a community that cares for its own and is willing to begin the healing from within just isn't sexy enough. I'm proud of my city, our churches, organizations and people for the determination to pick up the pieces and do it with neighborly kindness and dignity.

I don't want this post to sound sappy and sweet. It was hard work that took its toll on us in every way possible but we leaned in and realized that stuff is just that, stuff. This might sound funny coming from a man who makes his living helping people with their stuff; I even help people get more stuff. What I will take away from this is that I need to spend more time reaching for and enjoying people. People are what matter. Of course, as a musician this renewing thought brings to mind lyrics to a Needtobreathe song:

Even when the rain falls

Even when the flood starts rising

Even when the storm comes

I am washed by the water

Ahhhh... Excess...

I own an Advantium microwave oven, a slide-in glass-top range with built-in warming drawer, a french door refrigerator with purified ice and water in the door, a state-of-the-art stainless tub dishwasher, an instant hot water dispenser...the list goes on and on. All of these gadgets are here to make my life better and to make cooking the ultimate adrenaline rush -- still we eat most every meal out.

This week I attended K-BIS, the world's biggest kitchen and bath industry showcase. Here, vendors from all over the the world showcase their latest and greatest wares. I enjoy attending the conference so I can be armed with knowledge and inspiration for my clients. I do have to ask myself if these wonder gadgets actually improve my quality of life. It seems my early ancestors may have had it much easier ... a fire, a sharp stick and a piece of meat -- dinner is served. I, on the other hand, need a degree from MIT to pop popcorn.

To me the excess is not the gadgets, it is the attention to self. I think what we need to do in such a blessed nation is to enjoy the gadgets and at the same time leave our fingerprints on the world, not just on the stainless steel. Now before anyone reading this decides not to do a remodel, I say hold on. Your kitchen or bath remodel adds value and beauty to your house and feeds the economy, which produces jobs, which feed people; this is a good thing. The call to action I propose is to use your remodel to help others. How? Simple. Here are a few ways.

The last few years, I have used Habitat for Humanity for my demolitions (they may or may not have this service in your area). Habitat will remove your old cabinets and appliances and then sell them in its home store. The money is then used to build homes for deserving people. Here's another: why not take $50 of your remodel budget and send it to Soles4Souls? Fifty dollars can buy 50 pairs of shoes for people in a needy part of the world. Imagine being able to look up rather than down as you walk; for many this is life changing.

How will you leave your fingerprints?