Awash in ideas

The search for the hottest new home materials heats up when remodeling a bath or building a new house.

But it doesn't take long to realize that good design isn't just about the materials. Planning and execution are critical, too.

All these elements come together in the bathrooms and other areas of the FitHouse sponsored by Cooking Light magazine.

The house will be open in Chicago's DePaul neighborhood through Sept. 2.

The four-story home -- built by Brad Schreiber of City View Real Estate Group with attention to environmental concerns -- is for sale for $3.9 million.

Upscale homes can inspire owners of smaller residences to create showplace areas in their houses.

"The unexpected is what we go for -- not the easy or simplest," said Aimee M. Nemeckay, designer with Susan Fredman & Associates of Chicago.

Stone

The white with cream and gray limestone that Ann Sacks calls St. Petersburg wraps the tub in the master bath in a basket weave effect.

The stone tiles are brick shaped, and each has a dramatic and pronounced rounded front.

But there are prominent top edges on each tile. Won't they be hard to keep clean in the bathroom?

"You have to wipe it down," Nemeckay said.

"It's a little more maintenance than a glazed 4-by-4, but look at it!"

Tiles retail for $51.40 per square foot.

Among the many luxe features in the master bath are two digital thermostatic valves from Kohler that let owners program water temperatures, music and lighting for the shower and tub.

Leather

While we're talking tile, the powder room on the first floor achieves a sophisticated look with mahogany wall tile made from recycled leather.

The wall is highlighted with bands of antiqued mirror set on a diagonal. They become less frequent as they wrap around the room.

"We wanted bursts of light and then less," said Jase Frederick, also a designer with Susan Fredman.

In the same powder room, the shallow cast bronze vessel sink called Kamala from Kohler has an Egyptian feel.

It sits on a large dark, floating vanity that looks like a 10-inch thick slab of oak.

Terrell Goeke, whose company bears his name who and crafted most of the cabinets in the house, says this look is achieved with a veneered plywood box.

Design

The kitchen island demonstrates the importance of designers' expertise in achieving a finished look.

Quartzite, a type of stone, was chosen for the countertop because it has orange shades in it -- picking up the color of the striped rug and corduroy sectional sofa in the family room.

And square storage towers at either end of the island mimic the two-table solution used in the living/dining room.

But the stunning feature in this kitchen/family room area is the simple limestone fireplace surround.

The designers not only selected the slab, but they marked it so the most prominent shell fossil would be as close to the center of the fireplace as possible, Nemeckay said.

"It's very soft and subtle," she said. "We picked it out for the combination of movement and restful areas -- especially at the top."

The darker areas that come in from the top corners add balance to the television situated above the fireplace.

Etc.

In the boy's bathroom, the flooring consists of pebbles, which can be grouted to whatever height the homeowner wants so bare feet can feel the stones or an almost-flat floor.

In the second-floor laundry room, the countertop is a nostalgic Marmoleum or linoleum with a stainless steel edge.

The wall tile in the girl's bathroom is light green glass with a band of glass mosaic.

One of the green or environmentally friendly aspects of the house was reusing most of the brick on site and recycling 80 percent of the materials from the commercial building that had been on the lot, Schreiber said.

On the third floor in the Zen Room, the two-level countertop is recycled paper from PaperStone.

"Some people oil it like soapstone," Nemeckay said. "But it doesn't need it, you just wipe with a damp cloth."

The cabinet doors have a rounded, pillow effect and an ebonized finish.

Two patios are green roofs -- more than 50 percent plants and a way to catch rainwater for irrigating the greenery plants.

In the third-floor powder room, Kohler's Tweed sink is a combination of colors in a tweed pattern.

On the lower level, the brown and green leaf-patterned nylon carpet from Bentley Prince Street is 80 percent post-consumer recycled.

If you go

What: Sixth annual FitHouse from Cooking Light magazine.

Where: 1235 W. Belden Ave. near DePaul University in Chicago.

When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday through Sept. 2.

Admission: $10.

Benefits: Catch Your Breath: A women and lung health initiative of the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago.