Host 1: You know what looks great?

Host 2: Oh, me?  Thanks!

Host 1: Yeah, speaking of vanity, how about a vanity in the master bathroom?

Yes, Lee had a chance to check out some really interesting designs to add character and style to a bathroom.  Check out what one home owner did with an ordinary bathroom to make a personal statement.

Tillis: A favorite remodeling project for homeowners is the bathroom.  And the focal point of the bathroom is generally the vanity.  Now, choosing a vanity can involve several things.  Should I hire an interior decorator?  Or a designer?  And is it going to cost a bundle?  Well, not according to my next guest, Rob Tremel from Magick Woods.  Magick Woods has a huge selection of vanities to choose from.  Hey, Rob!  Welcome!

Tremel: Thanks for having me on the show!

Tillis: My pleasure!  So, when we’re deciding that it’s time to get a new vanity, where should we start?

Tremel: Well, the first thing we need to take into consideration is our available space.  The vanity sets the entire tone and feel of the whole room, so it’s definitely a key choice.  From there we’re going to think about any special requirements that you have, such as wheelchair accessibility or height.  And then you need to consider any special plumbing requirements, as well as what do you want on the wall.  Do you want just a mirror, or do you want something with a little more storage?

Tillis: And I guess the lighting also would be critical.

Tremel: For sure.  You want to know lighting, as far as what you’re going to put on the walls as far as do you want any extra storage on the walls, do you just want a mirror, are you looking for primary lighting or is there primary lighting already?

Tillis: There’s a lot of things to consider!  Now, what are some of the trends we are seeing in the vanities?

Tremel: We’re seeing a lot of contemporary designs with smooth, sleek lines.  A variety of different counter surfaces are being used—granite, glass, solid surface.  And then people are either putting an under-mount sink, an integral sink, or a vessel sink.

Tillis: Now I hear that a lot—vessel sinks.  What is a vessel sink?

Tremel: A vessel sink is a bowl that sits on top of the vanity.  They come in granite, glass, porcelain, a variety of different shapes, styles, colors…

Tillis:And one way to go about getting a new vanity is to actually have it made from scratch.  But that’s got to be the most expensive way!

Tremel: But it’s definitely not necessary.  You can go to any of your local home centers.  We offer our products through Lowes, Expo, as well as a variety of independent retailers.  Purchase a product right off the shelf, bring it home and install it, and you have that complete custom look.

Tillis:And what types of categories of styles does Magick Woods offer?

Tremel: Well, we have our contemporary collections, we have our traditional and then we have our signature series as well.

Tillis (Designing Spaces): And what can we do to make them more of our own?  Is there a way to customize them?

Tremel: Absolutely.  Magick Woods offers a design for everyone with distinct details and a variety of finishes.  You can personalize your vanity by choosing different sizes, door styles, colors and stains, and hardware to accent and complete an image of elegance and quality.  You can also choose from auxiliary cabinets, medicine cabinets, linen towers, mirrors, and light valences.  Magick Woods also provides solutions for unique applications—wheelchair accessibility, corners, and space saving designs.

Designing Spaces: Wow!  That’s great!  So all I have to do is go to the store, pick out the vanity of my choice, it’s already assembled, and I can pick any details like finishing or colors to make it my own?

Tremel: Exactly. And then it comes fully assembled the way you want it, ready to install when delivered.

Designing Spaces: That’s great! Now, I saw the homeowner’s choice for this vanity and it’s beautiful!  Is it going to be long lasting?

Tremel: It sure will, because at Magick Woods we take great care in building our product.  The climate control spray booth ensures that no dust or excess moisture taints the satiny smooth finish.  During manufacturing, the cabinets’ drying process allows an even application, avoiding dripping or rough finishes associated with air-dry lacquers.  The 8-stage Magick Guard finish is applied in a layered format, producing a hard-wearing and easy to clean surface.  Magick Woods bath furniture is tested under stringent lab standards.  We build our furniture to last and support our confidence with a limited lifetime manufacturer’s warranty.

Designing Spaces: And are your prices comparable with a custom built vanity?

Tremel: Our prices are very competitive.  In fact, you’ll probably spend much less on a Magick Woods vanity.

Designing Spaces: That’s great!  Well, I’m really excited to see the finished product, so I’m going to go talk to the homeowner and I’m going to let you and your crew get to work on the bathroom!

Tremel: Sounds great, Andi!

Designing Spaces: So the guys have gotten started on the bathroom, you must be so excited!

Robin: I truly am! I can’t wait to see it!

Designing Spaces: So, what didn’t you like about your old bathroom?

Robin: Actually, it was the vanity.  The vanity was old fashioned.  It’s the one that came with the house when I bought it, and it was time for an update!

Designing Spaces: So how did you go about selecting your new vanity?

Robin: There were a lot of choices to choose from.  And this one actually fit in the space perfectly!

Designing Spaces: Really?  Now did you get any accessories with it?

Robin: I chose sconces, and a mirror, and a great faucet!  I can’t wait to see it in!

Designing Spaces: You want to see how far they’ve gotten?

Robin: Can we?

Designing Spaces: Let’s go! Ok, Robin, what do you think?

Robin: Oh, my gosh!  This is gorgeous!  Look at this!  This is better than I expected!

About Designing Spaces on Lifetime Television

The show on Lifetime is a half-hour informative series that inspires viewers to make every space count.  “Designing Spaces” instructs them on the smartest ways to make their homes more beautiful and functional.  To view episodes online, just go to http://www.designingspaces.tv. If you have a great idea for a story, or want to be a part of our show, please contact LysaLiemer at lysa@designingspaces.tv. If you have a great idea for a story, or want to be a part of the show please contact LysaLiemer at lysa@designingspaces.tv. You can also find us on Twitter at @DSpacesTV or on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/DSpacesTV!

Making your product a success is Incredible Discoveries’ top priority. Incredible Discoveries boasts a team of over 100 producers, scriptwriters, directors and various on-air talents, all working out of the firm’s top-notch 43,000+ square foot facility. By utilizing an award-winning staff of employees whose expertise spans a variety of genres, Incredible Discoveries is uniquely positioned to make your marketing campaign a success. After the set has cleared, Incredible Discoveries can tweak your ad using their modern postproduction facilities. The firm goes above and beyond traditional sets by offering a full kitchen, perfect for showcasing your revolutionary kitchen gadget or food product.

Incredible Discoveries Reveals New Search for Kitchen Products and Household Items

A Division of O2 Media, Inc., Incredible Discoveries is one of the top producers of infomercials and direct response television marketing in the US. They recently announced their search for the next best kitchen product or household item. By offering unique market strategies and lucrative partnership opportunities, Incredible Discoveries is able to catapult the products highlighted on the show to success. For the upcoming television season, Incredible Discoveries is hoping to showcase their marketing strategies and present numerous new products to their viewers.

Incredible Discoveries offers manufacturers affordable and professional direct response television, consumer direct digital communication, and Internet marketing. Additionally, utilizing television programs such as QVC and the Home Shopping Network, Incredible Discoveries can capture a large share of ready, willing and able to purchase consumers.

As a division of O2 Media Inc., Incredible Discoveries is again uniquely positioned to offer only the best and most professional production staff in the industry. O2 Media, the parent firm of Incredible Discoveries, produces television shows for lifetime including The Balancing Act and Designing Spaces. Both shows are geared toward Middle America, a group that is increasingly apt to spend money. Incredible Discoveries can utilize either show as a value added service to their clients to help brand and increase public awareness of the product.

Incredible Discoveries Senior Director of Direct Response Marketing, Lee Kaplan, says of their 2012 initiative, “With our (Incredible Discoveries) past successes in the kitchen and household products category, we are excited to conduct this search for products.” Incredible Discoveries is looking for products that are easy to demonstrate and have real value to the public. Kaplan points out that one of Incredible Discoveries’ biggest successes was the Infrawave Speed Over by Black & Decker.

Incredible Discoveries is continually looking for the next big idea. If you believe that you have a phenomenal product that consumers want to purchase but don’t know how to get it in front of them, and would like to find out if you qualify according to Incredible Discoveries’ criteria, contact Lee through email Lee@IncredibleDiscoveries.com or via phone 954.935.3162, ext. 230.

ABOUT INCREDIBLE DISCOVERIES
Incredible Discoveries is a marketing firm focusing on direct response infomercial production and online presence development. Incredible Discoveries is a division of O2 Media, Inc., and produces The Balancing Act, one of O2’s most successful shows, airing daily on Lifetime. In addition to Incredible Discoveries’ 43,000 sq.ft. production facility, the firm offers full post production capabilities to tweak and refine their high quality television marketing campaigns. Incredible Discoveries offers a unique and fresh approach to the industry and through its 20 years of experience has created partnerships with some of the world’s leading manufacturers.

O2 Media, The Balancing Act: Grilling season is upon us, and for many of us that means red meat. Specifically, hamburgers are a popular choice when it comes to grilling. Nowadays, though, many of us are looking for ways to cut back on our red-meat consumption. Here to help us still satisfy that craving for the hot-of-the-grill taste and feel without the red-meat guilt is O2 Media’s very own chef, Jeremy Hanlon.

Hanlon: There is something very special about the summertime that gets everyone all fired up about the gill. I have a creative alternative that is going to turn you around.

O2 Media, The Balancing Act: What do you have for us?

Hanlon: I have Grillers Original. It is from Morningstar Farms, and can be found in all grocery stores. The great part about it is you go to the store, pick them up, pick up your produce, and whatever else you’re getting for that backyard barbecue or even an evening with the family. Then you’re at home—and it’s ready to go on the grill.

O2 Media, The Balancing Act: I really want to trust you, but I have to trust my taste buds on this one.

Hanlon: So let’s get into the recipe here. Grab some olive oil and a little bit of minced garlic and then drizzle it over zucchini, the yellow and red peppers, and fresh eggplant. Then add a little bit of sea salt on top with some cracked pepper to add a little but more flavor to our fresh veggies.

The great part about this is that the whole meal is going right on the grill.

O2 Media, The Balancing Act: That is so easy and quick to make.

Hanlon: Yes, and there’s no running in and out of the kitchen or anything or any mess on the stove.

O2 Media, The Balancing Act: They smell great. I’m ready to try.

Hanlon: Okay, well, let’s grab the plate there and one of the most important parts about the burger is that you have to toast the bun. We’re going to bring the griller right on top and if you follow me over to the table, what I did was took the vegetables, let them cool, chopped them up, then put them all together. And to finish it off, just a hint of balsamic glaze. It pulls it all together. In addition to great taste, there grillers originals are 58% less fat than a comparable beef patty and cholesterol-free. So, everybody’s a winner with this one.

O2 Media, The Balancing Act: Where can we buy these tasty burgers?

Hanlon: You could pick these up at the grocery store, again, when you’re shopping for everything else—one-stop shop. Come home, impress your friends, and in your case, some of the toughest critics around.

About O2 Media

Located in Pompano Beach, Florida, O2 Media is a pioneer in the field of Branded Entertainment. O2 Media offers an unmatched portfolio of services including powerful television appearances, social media and engaging web sites that seamlessly tie client brands into consumer lives. O2 Media clients enjoy a high ROI while relaying their message with dignity and professionalism.

Since its inception O2 Media has engaged, entertained and educated viewers with such reputable shows as Designing Spaces and The Balancing Act, both airing on Lifetime Television. Check out www.o2mediainc.com for service information and client testimonials.

By Philip P. Stoner

The sun dispersed through the falling leaves like exhaled powder, the dogs romping ahead of me along the creek. It was one of those Man, if I could only capture this in a bottle kind of early fall days. The gnarly mass poked up from the mud bank. My first thought was to pass it by, but something about its stark severity made me pause. We were out in the common area behind our house, scouting for downed, aged wood to put on the lathe. I’d recently started woodturning, and was discovering the joys of uncovering hidden treasure from spinning blanks.

Bernie and Bella—a black and yellow lab, respectively—pounced in along side, excited by the prospect of seeing me in their watery domain. I could see in their hopeful eyes and playful bouncing they anticipated some exotic new game in the creek. I chucked a large stick for them towards the small pool in the creek bend, and bent over the ugly log.

It appeared to have been chain-sawn out of a medium size trunk, and an inexperienced pyrotechnic had tried to burn it while green. One side was charred with wet, ridged charcoal, but the other still looked solid, with the upper third above the water line boasting rows of whitish fan-shaped fungi. No doubt disappointed with its performance in the fire pit, its owner had dumped it into the creek under cover of darkness. There it sat for who knows how long, undisturbed except for the rising and falling of the water, the occasional animal, and the fungi family, pronouncing their conquest with rows of cartilage flags.

It sucked and slurped as I lifted it from its mucky berth.  I thought how nuts I was for taking my time on this thing; that I should let it sink back into its oblivion and find a more promising prospect. But its thin, tough bark, still surprisingly intact under the water line seemed to say “See man, I’m really not so bad; I’ve still got something to offer.”

Bella came swaggering back with the stick, having stolen it as usual from her brother. Her tail determinedly sloshed trails of brackish water side-to-side like a hairy wiper gone askew. She soaked my pants as she circled me, looking up with perky ears, her jowls billowing around the stick with each pant. Totally irresistible. I smiled, and threw it again, this time further into the pool. I had to laugh, marveling at the explosion of competitive energy unleashed on whatever stood in the way of their canine ecstasy.

After hauling the beast up the steep incline of my back yard, I perched it on the deck steps and sprayed it down with the hose. That only served to reveal the true desperateness of its condition. I have to admit I was embarrassed by the thought of someone seeing it there–as if somehow I would be weighed on the scales of neighborly good sense and found severely wanting. “No, I didn’t try to burn it.” “You see, it’s an artsy kind of thing, you’d have to be a woodworker to understand.” “Yes, I know it’s got those mushroom things growing on it. I’m not going to eat them; I’m going to cut them off….”

Call it crazy, call it faith, I don’t care. I’d come this far and I was going to see what that thing looked like on the inside. It’ll either look like crap or something very interesting—nothing in between.

The beastie sat perched vertically on the wooden step for a few days, competing for attention with the respectable logs lined along the fence. After working up my courage by turning a few other respectable bowls, I was finally ready to take on the ugly log.

I don’t know if the bandsaw maker anticipated its capacity for charcoal and fungi, but soon I had clouds of black dust billowing around and chalky chips bouncing about the table as I trimmed off the outside of the log. The blade pulled black streaks down the face of the freshly exposed wood, still masking its identity.

Deeper cuts lifted the black veil, titillating with shades of coloration and lines running through its spalted fibers. I bridled my enthusiasm and mounted the bowl blank on the lathe. The wet wood turned smoothly and soon revealed its intended form — a small bowl with simple, classic lines. Turning the outside of a bowl is usually when a turner determines its essential shape, forming the pattern for its interior. There is no real science to this. You slowly cut away the waste, watching the emerging form on the horizon of the spinning wood until it seems right.

It helps to have a sense for curves and proportions, of course, but mostly it’s subjective, as is all art. No doubt one man’s art is another man’s firewood, and that’s one of the things I like about turning. Its personal. All fine woodworking is, and I enjoy it all, well, except for sanding. But who does? OK, I suppose there could be a nerdly sanding hermit tucked away somewhere, perched on a stool surrounded by cubby holes neatly stacked with every possible grit of sandpaper, happily lost in a fog of sawdust. For most of us, though, sanding sucks, but I digress.

I think it’s this process of personal expression that catches the turner’s imagination. The variables of movement, moisture, grain, color, texture, form, speed, and the dynamic of tool on wood, combine to create an addictive mystique. Traditional woodworking offers its own world of wonder and satisfaction, but it is much more linear, mathematical, and left brain. Turning is more conceptual, and while a specific object is usually in mind, the true possibilities emerge when the tool is on the wood, rather than from a set of drawings. Design happens before furniture construction (at least it usually works better that way – ask me how I know this!), while many times the creative process of turning itself reveals design. (There are certainly turnings that result from plans, but production turning is not what I usually do.)

Mounting the other half of the log, I worked its outer shape, this time watching a more unique shape emerge. It was tightly convex, rounded out from lip to bottom and then curving back out at the base. This piece seemed to be even more striking in tone and texture. After reversing the bowl and chucking the tenon, I carved out the inside, carefully paralleling the external curve, undercutting the rim. When that was complete, I turned the bowl again with the interior against a vacuum chuck and finished the bottom by cutting a cove in the tenon’s side which blended with the opposite curve of the bottom of the bowl. And there it was: an intriguing upside down mushroom cap perched on a flared foot.

After a few days of drying into a slightly oval form, the mushroom bowl pronounced its final shape: a one-of-a-kind, slightly funky, profoundly caricatured piece, yet attractive in a quirky way.  And the closer you look, the more intense its variegation in color and grain. On top of that it has a sort of magnetic resonance about it, but maybe that’s just me. I suppose that’s the nature of the creative process, a DNA interchange between the creator and the created. A soulish melding between the substance and its shaper, the result of which would not otherwise exist. A process of removing everything except what is essential to its true form, arriving at something more wonderful and inherently “right” than could ever be seen in its prior state.

What was ugly, abused, scarred, and discarded, now appears in authentic beauty, secure in its revealed identity and purpose. And while its form appeals, for those who know what it once was, it offers far deeper meaning: wonder, hope, and purpose. Something about the process moves me, synching with my own sense of “shapedness.” A primal sense of purposeful movement toward destiny; stirring a hope for beauty and meaning. A sometimes wavering, yet growing security in the purposes of my Maker. With practiced hands and skilled eyes He applies unyielding truth to my spinning life, removing everything that is not essential in order to reveal His own image in my authentic form.

I think of Jesus, who was a woodworker by trade. I wonder what it was like for Him to handle and shape into utilitarian objects the substance He Himself had created and that one day would lift him up towards a darkened sky.  He taught profound truths from everyday objects. Perhaps one day by the shore of Galilee he might have begun: “The kingdom of heaven is like…an ugly log.”

Phil Stoner’s love for nature, travel, good food, music, art, and craftsmanship were inspired by his years growing up abroad in other cultures. After leaving an executive position in publishing, he completed a Master’s Program in woodworking at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking. To view his work, visit www.mightyoakstudio.com. The Ugly Log © 2006 Phillip Stoner. All rights reserved.