Tracey Stephens Interior Design
April 2010
Classic bathroom
Mindful Living
Inspiration
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Classic white and black bath
project of the month

classic white and black bathroom

My fifth bathroom for long time clients features a roomy shower with Waterworks polished nickel faucets with black porcelain handles, black and white marble basketweave floor and a dramatic wallpaper with images of classical architecture.

See before and after photos and learn more about the project on my website, traceystephens.com >>
 
Mindful Living & Green Design --
Conserving water


Although more than three quarters of the earth's surface is made up of water, only 2.8 percent of the Earth's water is available for human consumption. The other 97.2 percent is in the salty oceans.  The average American uses 140 to 160 gallons of water per day according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Here are a few simple actions you can take to conserve water in your bathroom:

Turn off water while brushing your teeth or washing your face and save 5 gallons each time. My son learned this on Sesame Street 20 years ago. Still a great idea! This information is taped to the mirror in his college dorm bathroom.

Fix leaks.  A slow drip or leak can easily waste more than 100 gallons of water a week.

Replace your toilet. Toilets before 1978 used 5.5 GallonsPerFlush with an average American family using 32,120 gallons/year. A high efficiency toilet uses 1.28 GPF and can save 24,665 gallons/year. A dual flush toilet uses 0.8 GPF for "liquids" and 1.6 GPF for "solids" saving even more.

Check out these Toto toilets:   http://tinyurl.com/toilets88
Inspiration
Hadestown, a folk opera by Anais Mitchell

Anais Mitchell's new album is a cycle of songs with gorgeous melodies that tell the story of the ancient Greek myth of the poet Orpheus and his doomed quest to rescue his wife Eurydice from the underworld. In Mitchell's hands, the familiar saga is reimagined as unfolding in a version of the U.S. that simultaneously evokes our Depression-era past, the current financial disaster (though it was written before the stock market collapse), and a post-apocalyptic future. It's a land where people hide behind walls in a misguided attempt to preserve their "freedom" and protect their riches.  Anais says, "The real moral of Hadestown to me is, yes, we're f***d, but we still have to try with all our might. We have to love hard and make beauty in the face of futility. That's the essence of what Persephone sings in the last song: "Some birds sing when the sun shines bright / my praise is not for them, but the one who sings in the dead of night / I raise my cup to him."

www.righteousbabe.com/artists/anaismitchell/hadestown/story.asp

Featured in many national publications, Tracey's award winning kitchen and bath design showcases her innovative design sensibility and her exceptional and confident use of color.  Also offered - whole house design services including paint color consultations and furnishings.

If you are ready to redesign your bathroom, or know someone who is, contact me at 973-744-8947 or tracey@traceystephens.com, and please use the link below to forward this newsletter to your whole wide world!

Tracey Stephens,
Tracey Stephens Interior Design Inc