Last updated on March 15th, 2024 at 05:47 pm
A lot of people ask “Hey Jeff… Do you have cool home bar designs and vanity tops in your Kitchen and Bathroom’s?”
It’s a fair question: Do we eat our own dog food???
Answer: Yes I do. And over the past decade these designs have proven to be not just beautiful, but practical and durable as well.
Kitchen: Light gray 2” thick Concrete Countertops with a 1.5” thick Textured Glass Countertop high bar.
Bath #1: Floating Textured Glass Top with Integral Sink.
Bath #2: White Glass Countertops over Floating Vanity cabinet.
Outdoor Bar Top: Glass Whale tail illuminated.
My signature design elements are installed, and are being used daily in my home.
They make my condo a “home”, in the truest sense of the word. They along with a minimalist white palette, create a sense of a MUCH LARGER SPACE than is stated on the floor layout. Its an impressive compliment to receive from a neighbor (living in the exact same sized condo) when they ask if I have removed walls to make it a larger space.
It’s nice to have friends over that enjoy the amenities as I do and that’s a gift that is not usually considered when looking solely at the purchase price. True, these are expensive design elements, but to have a home that is NOT interesting is costly to one’s soul when deprived of that daily satisfaction. I wanted a fun place to live in (same as anybody) made all the more important because I remember living in places that I didn’t always appreciate. And that is tough over a long time period.
My space is at once modern, looks like it was thoughtfully designed, inviting and warm. I have always felt that modern design too often delivers everything except warmth. Austere whites and silvery bling tend to be very, very cold.
The warmth flows seamlessly from room to room, and interconnects the individual spaces… from the kitchen to the bathrooms to the outside bar table. We interact with top-shelf clientele that want a concerted design thesis for their home, not a Tower of Babel with helter-skelter themes throughout. Our designs tie their vision together. Often we are invited to bid on a kitchen, and end up doing the kitchen, bath and outdoor bar tops.
During a visit to our Glass Design Center, clients breathe easier. They finally see a physical manifestation of their vision in 3-D. It’s a cool thing to be able to be the guy that they put their trust in and invest their money with our firm.
The process is simple: Listen…explain various options…create quick sketches…template…execute.
Most of our clients wish us well when executing their project with one very simple standing order: “Make it Beautiful Please”. That in turn is the mantra we use in our fabrication process. Nobody at Downing Designs is ever tasked with “Make it fast” or “Make it cheap”. My name is on every piece that goes out the door, and that means everything to me in terms of quality.
We empower our clients to be as immersed in the project as they wish, as they are invited to participate in creating the hand-carved designs in our kiln over a bottle of wine. This subtle “birthright” is priceless, since these artful pieces will outlast their creators.
Often our clients are very clever and have terrific suggestions for us to invent and engineer pieces of the design. So far, we have only failed at “Make it float without wires and visible supports”. I keep looking for the Anti-Gravs from Star Trek on Amazon, but so far no good.
Still though, it is a worthy design goal and is reflected in our world-class cantilevering supports which only require 2 supports for 126” long bar tops, which also conceal the LED wiring.
Desiring to be the World’s most innovative maker of Illuminated Custom Glass Countertops requires being serious about overcoming Engineering limitations and the unlimited Artistic possibilities with equal enthusiasm.
Following through by taking the initiative to FLAP (Finish Like A Pro) yields predictably happy results for our clients as seen in our impressive 5-Star customer satisfaction ratings.
Sometimes you have to eat your own dog food…and that’s OK by me.
Jeff Downing
(813) 784 5211
Jeff@DowningDesigns.com