When Lynn Epstein and Craig Otto set out to renovate the kitchen in their Bellevue home, they wanted a different look for the tile backsplash behind the stove.

They began by checking out the usual suspects big-box home-improvement stores, as well as boutiques that sold ceramic tile without finding what they wanted.

We saw a lot of gorgeous tiles, but you end up seeing the same things everywhere, Epstein says.

It wasn't until they attended a gallery show of Stevo (Steve) Sadvary's mosaic art that inspiration struck.

He was experimenting with a different look and we thought, Hmmmm, that would transfer nicely,' Epstein says.

They commissioned Sadvary to create a one-of-a-kind piece tailored to their space and taste.

The idea of commissioning art sounds like an activity for wealthy people or international corporations. It conjures up images of ancestral oil paintings hung over the fireplace or a serious sculpture that's the focal point of a large garden.

Artists are happy to do that.

But they also can be commissioned for smaller or more commonplace projects, such as designing an ornate stair rail, a garden bench or the ceramic tile surround for a shower stall.

A surprising number of local artists at a variety of price levels are happy to take on commissions, says Joy Borelli-Edwards, owner of Borelli-Edwards Gallery in Lawrenceville

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Many Pittsburgh-area artists take budget-minded commisions to enable creative dreams

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Roxanne Fleszar and Michel Appellis like to "keep a piece of history" around in their guest houses and in the various properties they own. Even the new house they built at 1414 Newton St. retains bits and pieces of its past.

"Our address plate is the transom from Newton Street Station, the men's guesthouse we bought in 2000 and used five years as an annex to our Travelers Palm Inn," Fleszar said of the stained glass window embedded with white numbers hanging next to the front door.

Eventually, all four Travelers Palm locations merged on Catherine Street, and in 2007 the Newton Street property was granted a change of use from commercial guesthouse to the couple's single-family residence.

"Architect Tom Kelly designed the new house around the old front section, which we think was originally built as one of Flagler's railroad community shacks," said Appellis. "It's the only part of the house that's wood."

Everything else behind the formal front porch, foyer and guest bedroom suite--almost 3,000 square feet--is poured concrete covered with stucco exterior.

A second front entry, which is set back 13 feet from the original porch, is the entrance to Fleszar's and Appellis' office suite. A courtyard between the two front doors offers another piece of house history: Its brick walkway is inlaid with a blue-and-gold tile that says "Newton Street Station."

"During the demolition of all the guesthouse add-ons, the contractor said there was no way we'd be able to save that tile, but there it is," said Appellis, who served many years on the board of the Old Island Restoration Foundation.

Salvaging the old tile was just one element of the exquisite attention to tile work throughout the couple's Caribbean contemporary house. For instance, a multitiled compass rose inset on the foyer's Travertine-tile floor makes as much of a detailed statement upon entry as the diagonal tiles laid on the living room's staircase landing make when going up or down.

Each of the house's four bathrooms and two half-baths boast equally precise craftsmanship: Pearlescent Italian-glass tiles in the office suite; in the owner's bedroom suite on the second floor the shower walls feature white tiles randomly inset with smaller squares cut from the same rust-flecked Italian glass flooring.

A sitting room upstairs doubles as Appellis art studio, where "I really wanted a utility sink in the bathroom" to casually wash up paint brushes and sculptural materials. But, he said, "my wife thought differently," and a classy vessel sink was installed atop a blue-granite vanity that is, today, no worse for the wear of cleanup from varying finishes Appellis has made and applied to pedestals he designs.

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Getting what you want

Summary: The Microsoft Band is a data collection machine and with the ability to select your tile interface, it can do as much or as little as you want it to.

Daily activity tracker, multi-platform smartwatch, GPS sport watch, heart rate monitor, and fitness coach. The Microsoft Band can be whatever you want and that is the real power of the Band.

I've now spent nearly two weeks with the Microsoft Band read my first impressionsand it has secured a place on my wrist for the foreseeable future.

As a guy who covers the mobile space, I use smartphones running every mobile operating system; the Microsoft Band is currently the only wearable to work across Windows Phone, iOS, and Android. Come to think of it, I will have to test it with my BlackBerry Passport and the Android Microsoft Health app since my Pebble works through this approach.

One specification that concerns me is the dust and splash resistance. I sweat a lot when I work out and I regularly run in the rain in Washington State. I hope that the Band doesn't fail during these typical conditions and that it's practically rainproof.

You won't find many wearables with this much tech crammed into it and I just hope that long-term usage doesn't end up causing failures like I have seen a number of times on advanced wristbands like the Jawbone UP.

I provided a detailed walkthrough of the hardware in my first impressions article so I won't repeat that here. I will say that I continue to find the Microsoft Band very comfortable on my left wrist, so much so that I don't even notice it is strapped on most of the time. However, it is not comfortable on my right wrist where my outside upper wrist bone seems to be a bit more prominent.

As I stated in my last article, I highly recommend you put a screen protector on the Microsoft Band before you even start using it. I scratched up the plastic to the right of the display in the first two days. The screen protector actually covered up those minor scratches and the display looks fantastic with the protector in place.

I wear the Microsoft Band with the display face down under my wrist 95 percent of the time since it's much easier to view and interact with the Band in this position even more reason to have the screen protector installed.

There have not been any issues with the hardware over the past two weeks. Heart rate monitoring has been spot on when I compared it to the Mio Link dedicated heart rate monitor while out running and in various daily activities.

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Microsoft Band review: Unlike any other wearable and uniquely yours

Plaza work could provide a look at development under citys new general plan

The former Kmart site has been completely empty since January 2014. The owner and city have been working closely to transform the faade for a number of new tenants. Photo: Jim Shilander

By Jim Shilander

While there is still a ways to go in the process, theres now a light at the end of the tunnel for new tenants and major improvements for the former Kmart Plaza on Camino de Estrella. And city staff says the citys new general plan potentially provides a greater backbone for similar developments in the future.

Work on the development could essentially transform the plaza into a bright new city gateway that exemplifies the citys signature architectural style.

The proposal, the initial phase of which was approved by the Planning Commission last month, would see the current facility, which was vacated by Kmart in January, be reworked into three separate stores, sharing variations of Spanish architectural style, with red-tile roofs and white stucco finishes. The three new tenants in the facility include Sports Authority, which will be housed in the section nearest Interstate 5, Stein Mart and grocer Sprouts, which will be located on the seaward portion of the building. The Sports Authority site will also include a copper dome, similar to the final project at Ralphs on El Camino Real. Sprouts will include a red tile roof tower that is reminiscent of the towers at the Miramar Theater.

The second phase of the project is scheduled to go before the planning commission at its next meeting, Nov. 12. The second phase tentatively includes work on all remaining buildings in the shopping center with the exception of Citibank. This includes the space formerly occupied by Big Lots, but also the buildings currently occupied by a number of businesses on the west side of the development. While the Big Lots facility will get a new tenant, the remainder of the buildings will all receivea white stucco facelift. Operating businesses should be able to remain open during the facade work.

The proposed look of the former Kmart plaza on Camino de Estrella incorporates familiar Spanish style features from other San Clemente buildings. Photo: Courtesy.

Changing Initial Plans

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A New Gateway

Newcomer to Bismarck, Charles Van Zee, has merged his education experience and passion for glass art into an opportunity for local North Dakotans.

Originally from Seattle, Van Zee has been creating glass art since 2007 after taking two weekend seminars at the Pratt School of Design.

Van Zee was exposed to a similar art from an early age by his mother, who owned a ceramics studio.

He uses the same method of using a kiln to make glass art that his mother used for her art.

Ive always wanted to work with glass, and I grew up around kilns, so it was natural to me, Van Zee said.

After spending the early years experimenting with different artistic styles, Van Zee developed his own.

His work replicates nature with geometric patterns and various texturizing techniques.

Most of his nature-inspired works come from the landscape of Washington, but, since moving to North Dakota, he has fashioned one piece that replicates the rolling plains and another piece that resembles tangled underbrush.

Its 50 percent artistic and its 50 percent technical, Van Zee said. Depending on how you program your kiln, the glass can have different texturizing.

His traditional pieces include sun catchers and bowls, which are on display at Impact Gallery on Broadway Avenue.

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Newcomer adds glass works to local art scene

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OLEAN Steve Freer filed out of the Dal-Tile plant the same as his co-workers on what was a sad day in the citys history: Dec. 12, 2012.

That day, the tile plant on East State Street shut down for good. The closure left 174 without jobs and ended a century of mosaic tile production in Olean. Mohawk Industries, Dal-Tiles parent company, transferred the Olean sites operations to a sister facility in Gettysburg, Pa.

But unlike the majority of his colleagues many of whom left the plant with no real job prospects or guarantees for the future Mr. Freer returned for work the next day. He would oversee the plants mothballing, a job that would take about 18 months to complete. Hed also keep an eye on the facility until it came under new ownership.

Now, nearly two years later, Mr. Freer is the last Dal-Tile employee to work at the plant. His final day there was Friday.

"If you told me that I'd be the last guy standing here five years ago, I'd have laughed at you," Mr. Freer said, his voice echoing through the cavernous, empty expanse that once buzzed with the production of mosaic tile. Id never have thought that Id be the last man standing.

Mr. Freer began working at 1414 E. State St. in 1987.

Before I worked here, I was a motorcycle mechanic for the Blumenthals at their motorcycle shop, Mr. Freer told the Times Herald. I worked there for many years. My wife was a receptionist at Dal-Tile for years and she knew the personnel guy and was able to help me get in here.

His first assignment was working in the stock room during the plants second shift. He eventually worked his way up to stock room manager on the first shift, a job he held for the better part of two decades. That job is likely what made him a candidate to serve as the plants final caretaker.

As part of being the stock room manager, I was a buyer for the company, so I knew the computer system and all the stock we had, so this job kind of fell to me, he said. I was recommended for the job because my boss knew I was close to retirement.

When Mr. Freer reported for work on Dec. 13, 2012, he joined about 45 other former Dal-Tile employees who were kept on temporarily to clear out the plant.

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Final Dal-Tile employee leave post as plants caretaker

The cheer: Cheers to Sean Aul at Tile Inc. for donating tiles to be used for Care's Coasters, which I make in memory of my sister Caroline for the Pilgrim Gift Shop. Sean's kindness and generosity are very appreciated by my family!

- Laura Harsant Reeves, Fayetteville

About Reeves: Reeves makes the coasters in memory of her twin sister, Caroline Harsant Whitley, who died in 2011 at age 29 of a brain tumor. Proceeds from the sale of the tiles go toward charities that Caroline supported, including the Care Clinic.

The other side of the cheer: Aul is owner of Tile Inc. on Winslow Street. He said he is happy to help Reeves with her work.

"I grew up with her family, and I knew Laura and Caroline before she passed away."

- Rodger Mullen

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Cheer: Tiles donated for use in project that raises money for charities, in memory of woman's sister

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