A Visit to Kohler, WI

I heard about Kohler, WI for the first time when I was in interior design school. For designers it is a destination that is on everyone's "to do" list at some time in their career. I was determined that this summer was going to be the time to finally go and look at all the cool toilets, sinks and tubs and find out how they are made.

John and I also have another reason to visit Kohler. We have a very good friend, Terri, who has lived in Kohler and was going to meet us there for a visit and to show us "her village". The village of Kohler was created as a planned community in the early 1900's by the Kohler family to house their factory workers. The Olmsted brothers, who had designed Central Park in York City , were hired to do the initial design. The village is very quaint. The architectural styles of the homes are worth the drive. We loved seeing Kohler through the eyes of someone who has lived there.

The Kohler Company offers three hour walking tours of the factories where the porcelain sinks and toilets are made and the foundry where the cast iron tubs and sinks are manufactured. Very interesting. There is also a Design Center where vignettes of bathrooms and kitchens inspire the imagination. And it's all free.

Trivia: Many people in Wisconsin refer to drinking fountains as "bubblers", because the first Kohler drinking fountain was known as "The Bubbler".

There is a lot of trim!

There is quite a bit of trim in the condo. All the baseboards are almost a foot high and all the doors have pediments over them. We're going to repaint the woodwork white. Many of the doors have been stained with hand prints over the years that any amount of scrubbing is just not getting out. I hate painting trim! We started in the larger bedroom to paint the baseboards, ceiling trim and doors but soon grew very bored. To make it more exciting we are going to paint all the walls and then move back to the trim. We wanted to see results.

The Big Bedroom

The condo has three bedrooms, though the third bedroom is a little small and just off the kitchen. We suspect it was the maid quarters back in the day. In the main part of the house there is a larger bedroom and a smaller bedroom and they are connected with an interior door. I'm not sure why the original architects wanted connecting rooms.

When we moved into the house the larger bedroom was painted a beautiful red and it really made a statement. I loved the color but it was showing it's age and I wanted a calmer feeling in that room.

This bedroom is a perfect size for a king size bed and we found a good deal on a bed frame and a mattress and had it delivered this past week. In preparation for the delivery we took a day to paint the room. Once the bed went in place we didn't want to have to move it and risk scratching the hardwood floors.

I love how the room has turned out so far. We would still like to add some color to the bed with a blanket and pillow shams and art work to the walls but we are keeping the furniture to a minimum.

The love seat in the corner of the room is one my mom bought at Ethan Allen in 1973. I had it reupholstered about 15 years ago and the fabric looks great with the wall color.

Seeing how well the big bedroom is turning out has inspired us to keep on painting. I can't wait to see how the other rooms transform.

The Color Pallette

Gray is a very "in" neutral right now and I love it. I wanted a warm gray in this condo with more of a brown feel to the gray. I also love how orange plays with gray and want to bring that color into the condo through accent pieces.

I like having all the walls a single color throughout a space. I think it helps to visually guide you from room to room. Those of you who know my primary residence might question why I didn't do it in that house. Light plays a big influence on color and how the color looks in a certain light will win out over personal preference. In my primary house the darker shadowing of the entryway needed light color and the brightness of the living room with the floor to ceiling south facing windows needed more color. The Anjou Pear in the family room was "just because it was fun"!

The palette is from Benjamin Moore's Infinity colors. I really like that all 144 colors will work with each other. No guessing if they "go" or not...they just do. The Pashmina with be in the living room, parlor and down the hallway. The Weimeraner will be painted in the two bedrooms. I was looking for a deeper color for a more restful feel and to add drama to the bedrooms. The Mascarpone is for the wood trim and the Buttered Yam is for the accent colors that will be found in art work, pillows and accessories throughout the space.

The bathroom, dining room and kitchen are still "works in progress" in my head. I have yet to come up with defined ideas yet for those spaces.

A Little History

Our condo is one of six located in a building that was built in 1903. The building was originally called The Olympia Apartments and had a stained glass window in the front entry that named the building. Unfortunately this window is long gone.

There is still evidence in some of the apartments of what life was like 100 years ago. Some apartments still have the buttons that were pushed to call the servant. Our unit has a hole in the dining room floor where the button was located to call the servant with a press of your foot. There are two back doors; one for the family and the second in the kitchen where the deliveries were made. The present day refrigerators are set in an alcove where the ice boxes use to be located and where access could be made for the blocks of ice.

The building was turned into condos in the 1970's and was one of the first condominiums in St Paul.