Conversations with Cambria: Behind the Installs
Design and interiors pros often source inspiration from trade shows and events—think Milan Design Week—but most have been cancelled this year. To fill that void, many are turning to Cambria’s virtual conversation series for a fresh perspective. We partner with experts and tastemakers to present new ways to brighten your spaces and help you enjoy the time you spend there.
Topics so far have ranged from how to style open kitchen shelves with advice from House of Hipsters founder Kyla Herbes, a home tour of O, the Oprah Magazine creative director Adam Glassman’s weekend home, and tips on creating a moodboard with Domino magazine editor-in-chief Jessica Romm Perez.
Here, we take you behind the scenes of a few of our favorite “Conversations with Cambria” to share an even more in-depth look at how each project came to life.
American-Made Brands: Home Tour of The Woodland House
Industry expert Jamie Van Dixhorn and her husband Dave wanted to escape downtown Chicago and build the country home of their dreams. The Van Dixhorns offer a look inside their stunning house where they translated urban modernist design to rural Kohler, Wisconsin, and featured elements like Kohler’s luxury line as well as Cambria Whitehall, Carrick, Ella, and more.
In the master bathroom, the couple chose Cambria Ella for the vanities and backsplash and also installed a cantilevered Ella bench in the shower to complement the Ella wall covering. “We wanted to do wall-mount faucets but often there’s a lot of water splash that happens with that type of application,” said Van Dixhorn. “Having Cambria roll up the back was important to us to help with the cleanliness of the space. Cambria is super clean and durable and will also hold up against our steam shower.”
The couple chose durable Cambria Ella countertops for the master bathroom vanity.
The duo again chose Cambria for the bathrooms of their three young children. In the boys’ spaces, they added a Carrick vanity and wall covering in the shower. “We tried to eliminate as much grout as possible to make cleaning easier,” said Van Dixhorn. “Durability is extremely important to us.”
They used Weybourne in their daughter’s bathroom and also wrapped the design around her tub.
In the living space, they created a focal point with the oversize Carrick fireplace. “One of the things we were struggling with most was the fireplace,” explained Van Dixhorn. “The folks at Cambria recommended an interesting application of wrapping it in a solid surface. We went through quite a bit of engineering to suspend it from the ceiling. It gets a lot of attention and is really beautiful whether on or off.”
A standout fireplace wrapped in Cambria Carrick.
In the kitchen, Van Dixhorn and her husband took advantage of Cambria’s food-safe, nonporous and nonabsorbent quartz with a Whitehall waterfall island. “The idea here was durability,” she said. “We love the white and how easy these countertops are to clean with just soap and water. We have never had any problems.” Van Dixhorn continued the bright white palette to her covered patio featuring a Brittanicca backsplash and countertop featured at the beginning of this post.
Cambria Whitehall countertops complement this modern kitchen design.
Watch the entire “Conversations with Cambria” here.
American-Made Brands: Behind the Scenes with Room & Board
Room & Board outside sales manager Elise Nipcon pulled back the curtain on the brand’s beautiful corporate campus, giving us an inside look at where the magic happens. During this tour we learned more about this storied brand’s history and the welcoming spaces that inspire its employees daily to create modern American-made furniture and home décor collections.
Cambria recently partnered with Room & Board to debut the Pren collection, winner of a #MetropolisLikes NYCxDESIGN 2020 award, which combines the best of what each brand does into one breathtaking collection, featuring Room & Board wood craftsmanship and Cambria natural quartz surfaces.
Our commitment to timeless design and innovation translates to the versatile series of dining and conference tables, desks, coffee tables, console tables, and storage and bar cabinets within the Pren collection, all of which are made by Room & Board and finished with Cambria quartz surfaces.
Brittanicca Gold Warm dining table from the Pren collection.
“The soft organic lines and craftsmanship that go into each piece is what makes this collection really special,” said Nipcon. “Pren is a beautiful representation of what each of our brands does best.”
Each intricately detailed piece is available with a solid Midwestern walnut or Appalachian white oak wood base, sustainably sourced within the U.S. where selective harvesting allows surrounding trees to flourish, and with one-centimeter Cambria natural quartz tops finished with modern rounded corners to mirror the form of each design. Hardware options include stainless steel, brushed gold, and graphite.
Pren coffee table. Featured design: Brittanicca
Blending form and function, as with all Cambria products, the surfaces are nonabsorbent, scratch and stain resistant, and maintenance free. Pren is available now in all Room & Board stores nationwide and at roomandboard.com/cambria. Material samples are available in-store and online as well.
Watch the entire “Conversations with Cambria” here.
Lake Forest Showhouse 2020 Tour
Since 1985, the Lake Forest Auxiliary Chapter of the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago has hosted a nationally recognized designer Showhouse and Gardens to benefit the Angel Harvey Family Health Center of the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago, which provides healthcare to Chicago’s medically underserved. Since its inception, the Lake Forest Showhouse has raised in excess of $4 million for the deserving cause.
This year, more than 30 interior and landscape designers, including honorary chair Paloma Contreras, transformed the 23-room, 11,000-square-foot east Lake Forest Pullman property into a showstopping tribute to the latest in design and décor.
EVP of product design and development Summer Kath hosted a tour of the Showhouse, impressively featuring Cambria installations in seven rooms. Summer gave us an inside look into the design process as well as the finished product.
Guests enter through the foyer and are greeted by a cloak room and powder room designed by Sarah Vaile Interior Design. She created the powder bathroom jewel box with a color palette—Sherwin-Williams Framboise—inspired by the burgundy Rolls Royce driven by Princess Margaret in The Crown. In fact, Princess Margaret served as the muse for the entire space.
Sherwin-Williams Framboise paint pops against the black-and-white-tiled floor and the de Gournay wall covering in this powder room.
A de Gournay Rousseau wall covering, custom inverted chevron tile pattern floor in Cambria’s Mersey and Smithfield designs, mirrored wall, and cheeky prints and tassels drive home the whimsical nature of the space.
“We sought to create a design that felt both original to the home and simultaneously modern,” says Vaile. “A black-and-white stone mosaic felt like a natural go-to, which is what brought us to Cambria. We loved that their latest collection offered a quartz with all the veining and visual elements of marble but yet suitable for modern living with its durable nature. We had used this fun and young geometric mosaic on a master bath project and sought to have Cambria custom create the design for the Showhouse.”
A close-up look at the black-and-white Cambria natural quartz flooring.
In the kitchen, The ABL Group played with an existing marble and travertine checkerboard floor and wood beams original to the home, adding a reclaimed barnwood butcher block by Lake County Barnwood to the island with an antique sewing base, Amish-made cabinetry by Dovetails Cabinetry, and a food-safe quartz countertop by Cambria on the island and area countertops in a custom edge option. Edges often elevate the aesthetic of a space, and Cambria offers 19 edge profile options.
Custom edged Colton on the show house kitchen island and area countertops.
Colton custom edge detail.
“From the beginning, we knew we had to have a high-quality, maintenance-free countertop option with the natural look and feel of classic marble,” says The ABL Group’s George Markoutsas. “We settled on Cambria’s Colton design for its timeless elegance and its warm and creamy tones, which paired nicely with the existing floor.”
Hidden within the traditional styling are modern upgrades, like a smart home automation system and a vacuum by Häfele built into the cabinetry.
The Colton countertop is food-safe, nonabsorbent, and maintenance free.
“Cambria is a state-of-the-art solid surface that offers the look and feel of a natural stone with the high-tech performance of quartz, which pairs extremely well with this ‘well disguised’ theme in our kitchen,” says Markoutsas.
Off the kitchen is a breakfast room by DP Home Design featuring Cambria’s Clovelly design on the coffee bar, which pops against high gloss blue cabinetry by Dovetails Cabinetry, along with a standout butler’s pantry by Lori Lennon & Associates.
The breakfast room by DP Home Design with Clovelly countertops with a high gloss finish.
Typically, a butler’s pantry is next to the dining room for ease of service. Here, the butler’s pantry is located adjacent to the kitchen and entrance hall, so Lennon reimagined the small space as a morning espresso and evening wine bar. She related the room’s colors to those in the kitchen and entrance with shades of deep pearlescent blue on the walls and upper cabinetry. To contrast, Lennon chose white Ella quartz countertops.
This Ella countertop and backsplash is resistant to stains from any food or drink spills.
“I was really impressed with all the design choices that Cambria had to offer,” says Lennon. “Besides having a lovely countertop, the backsplash had to be a specially-fabricated design. I submitted my design of a recess panel application in Ella. The fabricators responded immediately and took up the challenge. It turned out so fantastic. But what impressed me most is that Cambria trains fabricators to work with their product and to be certain it will not only be beautiful stone but also excellent fabrication. It is perfect!”
A standout Ella backsplash in this wine and espresso bar by Lori Lennon & Associates.
The architectural Cambria details lend elegance to the ancillary space. The formal dining room by Paloma Contreras Interior Design featured another unique Cambria application on the fireplace with a Cambria Blackpool Matte surround.
The dining room by Paloma Contreras features a Cambria Blackpool Matte fireplace surround.
Cambria Blackpool Matte is also prominently displayed in the master closet by Ilene Chase Design, who was inspired in the design by her travels to Paris for Deco Off 2020.
The master bedroom closet by Ilene Chase Design features a countertop with a contrasting Blackpool Matte that will resist scratches from jewelry or an errant hanger.
Watch the entire “Conversations with Cambria” here.
The Lynhall
In this “Conversation with Cambria,” The Lynhall founder Anne Spaeth takes us on a virtual tour of her market-inspired European restaurant, bakery, event space, and kitchen studio in Minneapolis featuring Cambria Ella with our revolutionary Cambria Matte™ finish on the countertops and bistro tables.
Throughout the space, you will see Cambria Ella Matte on the custom tables and bars. Spaeth just opened a second location of The Lynhall in Edina, Minnesota, and again used Cambria Ella Matte in the space, this time with our Colton design for the vanities in the space.
Spaeth chose Cambria’s Ella Matte design for its functionality and beauty.
Custom Ella Matte tables can be found throughout the space.
“I was initially going to use marble when The Lynhall Minneapolis first opened but as soon as I learned about Cambria, I knew it’d be much more functional and beautiful,” said Spaeth. “It has now been open three years and looks just as beautiful today as it did then. It is so durable and timeless. People comment on how much they appreciate how beautiful the space still looks. I love Ella Matte because it is a feminine design that looks so gorgeous next to the other design elements in the space. It’s delicate and such a great fit for The Lynhall brand.”
An expansive Ella Matte bar welcomes guests at The Lynhall in Edina.
Ella Matte was also used as the worktop on a mobile island and tables.
After the tour, Chef Nettie prepared live The Lynhall’s signature rotisserie chicken with onion and mushroom demi and basmati rice.
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