A kitchen can be filled with beautiful cabinets, countertops and decorative accoutrements, but if the layout and space don't work well, it's not an effective design. In kitchens, more than any other room, a good space plan is critical. The most efficiently designed kitchens are focused around a “work triangle”.

Long gone are the days of throwing a basic brick pattern tile job or 4×4 backsplash up. Tile manufacturers continue to up their game in providing the consumer with increasingly artistic ways to design their spaces. From subtle and traditional to bold and bright. You’re going to be glad you have a design team to help you wade through the countless options. Choosing which tiles to use is the hard part, loving the look after install is a given.     An old favorite that is anything but tired is the subway tile. Look for debossed, textured, glossy, extra wide or extra narrow versions of this classic look. And although the traditional brick pattern layout is still a rock solid choice, you may choose to shake that up a bit with a chevron install or by having some tiles running perpendicular around the border. There are many different install possibilities to play with.     Ceramic tiles are no longer your grandma’s ceramic. Laser cut ceramics will dazzle your eye with their patterns and design. Quilted ceramics are a way to go if you’re looking for more understated beauty than dazzle.     Laser cut glass and stone also offer […]

Nothing breathes life into a room with the impact that the right lighting does. Choosing your lighting is part science and part style. Having your Karr Bick designer by your side will make lighting selection fun and ensure that your room shines. Let’s cover the science part first and then move on to the fun stuff. Color temperature is measured in kelvins. The higher the kelvins, the cooler the lighting effect. Lumens and lux measure the output of the light fixture and how that light hits at a certain point on a surface. Why do you care? One visit to a clothing store dressing room with bad lighting and you know why you want the right color temperature and intensity in the space you live and breathe in every day.     When you position a fixture, the light spreads out like a cone. Cabinets, countertops and people can get in the way and cast shadows. This is why it is so important to have several kinds of lighting (ceiling, wall, under cabinet, etc.) combined in your space. There, now that you are practically an optics expert, let’s move on to that fun stuff I promised…     Using pendants […]

A kitchen can be filled with beautiful cabinets, countertops and decorative accoutrements, but if the layout and space don't work well, it's not an effective design. In kitchens, more than any other room, a good space plan is critical. The most efficiently designed kitchens are focused around a “work triangle”.

Water.  She’s a sneaky beast.  Most of us think of her as someone we want to vacation with, relax next to or drink to hydrate.  We don’t think about water as an enemy.  We don’t comprehend her immense and widespread power which can crush cities and destroy lives.   When I was just two weeks home from the hospital after giving birth to child number 1, Hurricane Ike landed on the coast of Texas and aggressively wreaked havoc through the Midwest, causing devastation as far north as Pennsylvania.  I will never forget that early Sunday morning in September 2008, when the rain fell in St. Louis as a waterfall might from the sky.  It never stopped. After five straight hours, we had enough rain to raise our river levels to a disastrous flooding stage, and it brought with it a shitload of trouble to my door.   At the time, my brother-in-law worked for the St. Louis County P.D;  Luckily, he was in charge of shutting down and diverting traffic around one of the main arteries in our city.  He happened to be working four blocks away from our company front door.  Realizing the area was beginning to flood with […]

Recently, I’ve been up late at night. Thinking. About you, the consumer. What can a small business like mine do to set themselves apart? How do we tell you, show you, that we are unique or different? How do we communicate to you that we are #nothingordinary? I can honestly say that some days it feels like an almost impossible feat. Right now, in fact, I can imagine it to be a little like hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) barefoot with no supplies, all 2,650 miles of it. Everyone is competing for your attention. Companies like Google and Facebook have entire armies of people dedicated to the acquisition of your attention. Entrepreneurs like me, well, we have ourselves. So here I sit, on a Tuesday night, kids tucked into bed, a full day of work complete and my job (well my second job) is to figure out what I can do for you. What can I do to be relevant and helpful? What can I do to get you to keep coming back? If I think about why you seek us out, what you need from us, the answer is easy…information. Lots and lots of information. We have to […]

Famously Sought-After Design By Grounded Professionals  In a world more and more focused on personal divides, sometimes it’s something as domestic as home design to remind us that we all have more in common than we think. Sometimes the very idea that we are each unique, and want that uniqueness reflected in our spaces, is the common thread that binds us together. So it’s not really surprising then, that the resource you and I use for design inspiration and professionals would be the same tool used by famous Hollywood actor, Jenna Fischer. When St. Louis native, Fischer, wanted to surprise her sister with a complete living space renovation, she turned to Houzz.com and local expert, Jenny Rausch, Designer/Owner of Karr Bick Kitchens and Bath, to make her unique renovation dreams come true. Fischer’s sister, Emily, and her family live in a St. Louis home that originally belonged to their grandparents. Chock full of wonderful family memories, the home was a diamond in the rough with its cramped, closed-off floorplan and outdated kitchen. Once Jenna brought Jenny from Karr Bick on board, the two were able to communicate design ideas and vision cross country using the tools on Houzz.com. Jenna wanted […]

Demo day is a distant memory, big items are in place and construction on your space is almost complete.  Don’t trip before you cross the finish line.  Final touches are the details that will take your project to the next level. By now you know that the knobs and pulls are the jewelry of your space, but what about the towel bars, hooks and toilet paper holder?  These items can add that extra heft, glamour or whimsy. Your windows can be the killer view when you contrast light casing with a darker grid. It will actually draw your eye to the outside instead of stopping you at the mullions.     Another unlikely scene-stealer….your plumbing.  Dress up an open base sink vanity or a free-standing bathtub with sparkling chrome pipes made to be seen.  Not to be outdone, a crystal adorned drain stopper becomes its own water cooler conversation piece in your wet bar. Narrow countertops in smaller areas can be maximized by anchoring the faucets to the wall rather than the tops.  A space-saving move that solves a problem while adding interest.  Continue to function in style by choosing a shelving niche above your kitchen sink to house display […]

You may have noticed, there’s a new girl in town….Brass.  She’s Gold’s younger, hipper cousin and she’s not going out of style anytime soon. If you’re thinking about trying a trend, mixing brass into your design gives you high impact with the stability of a look that’s here to stay a while.     mixing brass into your kitchen design just as with other metal finishes, with brass you’ll have options from shiny to brushed and even treatments like French Brass that marry the golden hues of brass with a touch of black similar to oil rubbed bronze.  And you don’t have to go all out to enjoy this look.  Brass compliments all of your other metals nicely.  Mix it with satin nickel, bronze and even chrome. Knobs and pulls can be the obvious place to start pulling brass into your space, but that needn’t be the first or only place.  Many appliance manufacturers, such as Wolf, offer brass accent packages adding a custom look to one of your room’s signature pieces.  A copper pot filler acts as a sculpture amidst the stone of your countertops and backsplash.  A copper faucet quenches your thirst for a pop that will stun […]

It has long been said that kitchens and baths are what sell a home. And, of course, it is true that we tend to want our kitchens and bathrooms to be stylish retreats that look great and function well with our daily routines. But in today’s busy world, it’s the “anywhere spaces” that will set your soul at ease and bring peace to often chaotic days. The closet: An obvious choice for an anywhere space. Not just a place to keep our things, our closets have turned into an oasis in and of themselves. Create extreme function and maximum beauty by bringing well-placed cabinetry and a luxurious island into your closet. A place for everything and everything in its place really does do wonders for the soul. The mudroom/laundry room: Perhaps a more fitting name for this room would be the “backpack” room or the “shoe” room. Without proper design, layout and storage, this room can be one of the most stress-inducing rooms in your home. Especially at around 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon, when backpacks overflowing with paperwork and shoes strewn hastily, can destroy this space faster than they can say “I need a snack, I’m STARVING!” Tucking […]