Studio Showroom Blog

Who knew? Brizo is bringing back this classic style that seemed to go out with the 80's! This time it is different though, the Charlotte was designed to be two tone. Unlike in the past where we just slapped on one finish on a handle and another finish on the spout or whatever. This was designed with using two finishes from the start. So needless to say it comes out gorgeous!

This is the wall mount version of the Charlotte. Which by the way really does seem like a Charlotte or atleast the Charlotte on Sex and the City! Demure, pretty, classic; yet irreverent and fun! It also comes without the two tone, which shows that the faucet isn't just a gimmick, but instead stands in its own right as beautiful. Oh and a tub shower, just for good measure to show that they brought the design throughout the collection.

I can't tell you how exciting it is to do a new showroom! I also can't tell you how challenging!

It is a great time to have a fresh start and relook at lines that you have been doing business with for years and realizing that you missed a diamond in the rough of their line. Sometimes seeing product that you have been selling for years and say, I don't think that works anymore. So we edit. That is the thing that I think sets The Studio at Central Arizona Supply apart. Our editing skills. Not one of our sales associates want you to have a product in your house that is less than fabulous. That is why this new showroom has been so fun to do, items that we (and I do mean we, it takes a village to put this showroom together) are being told to put in by a manufacturer as a 'best seller' we are saying no to because a client deserves something better. 

That is the point, at every price point there is something better than what is being offered on the internet or at a big box store, but it takes a skilled stylist to show you the difference so you can be in love with what you have in your house. It is not to say that a customer doesn't know what is good for them, it is to say that when I go to a nursery for new plants I have an idea of what I want and a person who actually knows something about plants beyond my opinion tells me what will work best for my idea and for my needs. 

Point of the story, when someone tells me that this is one of their best sellers, I tend to walk the other way because it is the simple choice. I want to find the beauty for myself. Don't get me wrong, sometimes the best seller is the best choice and everyone picks it because it truly is great. But a selling point is never that it is a best seller. The selling point is that it is priced right, feels right and looks right for what you need and desire. That is what makes a product truly fabulous.

We are about to have a bouncing, bubbly and gorgeous new...showroom! The Studio is expanding and we are so excited to say hello to the city of Phoenix! The Studio has finally listened to many of our clients who have asked us to be more centrally located to downtown, the Biltmore, Arcadia and Paradise Valley. Therefore, we are working on an entirely new concept to cater to this area and clientele. I can't tell you everything, nor do I know everything, but it will definetely bring the best elements of all of our showrooms and maybe add a little extra twist that we like to do! 

We will be posting on facebook and twitter our updates and designs and thoughts and progress as we go along. So we would love if you would join us for the journey!

As always thank you for supporting a local family owned business! Take care!

I love when I realize I am not nearly as important as I think I am!!! A fabulous trade show in Bologna, Italy called Cersaie happened last week which is essentially a bathroom extravaganza of new product. Well my invitation and complimentary plane tickets were lost in the mail, so I missed it, but there have been some product leaking out and I want to bring it to you!

Cersaie isn't the biggest plumbing trade show, but I would say it is the European tastemaker for the bathroom. Essentially if you make a contemporary product for the bathroom and want the people who decide what is fabulous to take notice you bring it here. Then those people bring them to The Studio and we put it in our showroom! Anyhow, here are a couple pieces that I saw from Graff which is quickly becoming one of our favorite contemporary companies....introducing AMITAS.

I know this is a strange way to describe a faucet, but I think it is sexy!!! It looks like a single hole faucet with gorgeous curves and a joystick handle on the other side of the spout. Amazing! Remember, who knows when this will be available, so don't ask. Just appreciate that it is coming and that we will have it!

OK, they are killing me with this one. This is from the same collection from Graff and the design is unlike anything I have seen before. Essentially it is an exposed shower tower, with a gorgeous halo for a shower head that creates either a rainfall or waterfall effect. Not everyone deserves to be underneath a HALO, but we could make an exception for you! Oh and if you look really close you will see little dots on the side, those are the body sprays! Seriously cool. Once again, not available yet, but you will be the first to know!

The Studio at Central Arizona Supply has brought on an incredible line out of Canada that has been pushing contemporary design and setting the style agenda in freestanding baths. We will have our display in our Scottsdale showroom up shortly and you can see why we are so excited to be carrying this line. 

Wet Style is a manufacturer and designer of both bathroom furniture as well as gorgeous bathtubs and lavs that are made of their proprietary material called WETMAR which is an eco-friendly composite material that uses natural stone. Here are a few of their amazing products. One reason we brought on this line though is because of their integrated drain within the tub so it can be as minimalistic as possible. You know we love HOT lines here at The Studio and this one really is hotter than a leather coat in Arizona in August.

To me one of the biggest advantages that designers bring to any project is their ability to give you the finishing touch. So often we have an idea of a couch we like or a carpet color we hate, but it is all in the details that take a home from being a nice house to an extraordinary home. These finishing touches exist in decorative waterware as well. The difference between a design studio helping you and not.

Take this picture for example. This is a display we have in our Scottsdale Studio Showroom. I have singled out the sink though to show that this is a great Hastings contemporary sink and a super cool Graff geometric faucet, but to me the items that set this sink and tap apart are the Mountain accessories. The square p-trap and the square hot and cold lines. This is just one of those things that says, yes, I thought of that. 

And that my friends is the difference a designer and what we think The Studio at Central can make. 

So many of us have homes with that guest bathroom that our builder put in some cheap home-depot special that cost them nothing and looks like it. Or there is an old fashioned (in the bad way) pedestal lavatory that doesn't hold towels or other things that you would have for guests or simply need storage space. The Studio carries a great line called Strasser Woodenworks, which is a line that manufacturers every kind of cabinet configuration to change out your current ped or cheap import cabinet with minimal to no other remodeling work. This way you can put in a new finish, new counter top, add a mirror cabinet or side cabinet. One of my favorite things to do is change out a double sink in the guest bathroom and have a large single sink; with a side cabinet. 

Below are a couple of there many options! Wait I forgot the best part, Strasser is all made in AMERICA!!! On top of that, they are very competitively priced! That combination rarely exists! Support a local showroom and an American made cabinet line!

Yes, I did get the memo and times are tough. I also got the memo and I, like others are pulling back from any tacky displays of excess or luxury, either because we have absolutely no option to be excessive or we don't want others to think we don't know what they are going through. The only problem though is that for years we all loved our big, bawdy, bling!

So now that we have sold our gold at the Pawn shop for some outrageous price we need to bring our love of all things shiny into the home! I know that there was a time that the bigger was better in terms of jewelry, but I think that small subtle sparkly cabinet pulls to brighten a chest of drawers or a boring bathroom are just what we need to brighten our day! By adding some sparkle in our home, it will remind us of the good ole days and excite us about what will come again!

And let's be serious, this is some subtle sparkle compared to your absolutely fabulous Great Aunt Helen! But only Aunt Helen can get away with some of that stuff, for the rest of us, we just want the essence of her! TO SUBTLE SPARKLE!!

Today's tip! Saw this in the Arizona Republic on Sunday and thought it was a great idea! We have so many couple's that come in our showroom and one partner is VERY tall and their spouse is itty bitty. So we have done a number of his and hers showers so that body sprays hit in the right spots for each person and we have had houses with tubs in different sizes so that the smaller spouse isn't swimming in a giant whirlpool of some sort and has a better fitted tub. 

Anyhow, the Republic featured a bathroom in this beautiful home that had an above counter stainless steel sink for the husband and an undermount stainless for the wife. Therefore, the husband doesn't have to bend way down to wash his face and the wife doesn't have to get out a ladder to wash hers. The thing is though that the style is still there and it is functional. Which is so often not the case, so many designs may be gorgeous, but are not functional, which is a design FAIL. This was definetely a success!

How awesome is this faucet? How simple and ingenius of an idea. All they did was add a little twist. Some would say a kink, but no it is definetely a twist. You know how in fashion it seems that everyone is trying to outdo each other in wearing strange and bizarre attire, the lady gagazation of clothing. When instead of having to take it to such extremes, all that is really needed to be different and fresh is just a little twist. So this faucet goes out to all those who feel that all that is needed to make a classis is just a twist on the tried and true. So thank you Brizo for bringing us the Virage faucet (should be named the twist, for obvious reasons, or if you need reread my post) !!!

    Brizo Virage 8" lav faucet - Oil Rubbed Bronze                Brizo Virage Wall mount - chrome