Photography by Jay Pigeon, Integrated Media Systems

Many from the Washington, DC, design community, including architects, builders, and interior designers, who gathered last Friday night for a luxurious party at Charles Luck Stone Center in Chantilly, VA, were wowed by the sophisticated showroom that greeted them. Unlike most stone warehouses that have huge slabs of raw stone with few refinements, this one is in a league of its own. This is the second bash Charles Luck, Integrated Media Systems (IMS), and Washington Spaces has hosted within two-and-a-half weeks to highlight their products and services.

Nancy Colbert of Design Partners LLC and Marilyn Burroughs of New Leaf Collaborative Architecture & Design PLC both commented that the clean-lined space, which looks as if it evolved over many years from one small red stone building that could have originally been an old factory, would be a wonderful resource to work with a client.

“I’ve seen some stones here that I’ve never seen before and I thought I’d seen everything,” Colbert says. “When you take a client to a granite yard, it’s overwhelming, really mind-boggling. To come here and see the same stone with different finishes – well polished stone or a honed stone or a stone that’s been flamed – is great.”

Laura Lim, sales and marketing manager of Morton’s The Steakhouse – Tysons Corner, gets the scoop on semi-precious gemstones held together with epoxy resin from William Shifflett of Charles Luck Stone. Great minds think alike, the same cool Bendant lamp by MIO Culture that is featured in the showroom graces the What’s New page in the current issue of Washington Spaces.

“People like to touch stone, it’s a very emotional buy,” says William Shifflett, director of operations of Charles Luck Stone, adding that the center can custom make just about whatever a client desires. “Someone can say, ‘I grew up in a house with a huge limestone fireplace,’ and we can replicate that,” he says, mentioning that people bring in paint chips and fabric swatches, and plan their projects in the showroom.

“It’s exciting to be here,” says Michael Roberson of Michael Roberson Interior Design, who has brought clients to Charles Luck Stone in the past. She and her husband, Rob Roberson, enjoyed the wine tasting provided by The Vintage Vintner, among other amenities.

Michael and Rob Roberson relax in a conference room with stone planking that looks like a hardwood floor.

A custom made limestone fireplace and intricate mosaic hearth are integrated into the Charles Luck Stone Center showroom.

Lynn and Mark Fernandes - he’s president of Charles Luck Stone Centers - exchanged ideas with Daniel Steinkoler, owner of Superior Home Services Inc., who says he had a “blast” that evening.

Left to right: Washington Spaces Senior Account Executive Emilia Philip, Associate Publisher Heather Heider, Greg Powell, sales manager and hardscape developer of Lewis Aquatech, Don Gwiz, vice president of Lewis Aquatech, and Beth Powell, enjoy the evening.

Susan Utley of Design Studio of Bethesda chats with Randy Gore of Charles Luck Stone.

Randy Gore of Charles Luck Stone escorted interior designer Susan Utley of Design Studio around the showroom, while her friend, Lisa Tureson of Faux Creations Inc., a decorative art firm, explored and looked for particular stones. John Kiernan of Blue Line Studios, which also specializes in glorious decorative finishes and murals, enjoyed the many luxurious elements of the evening, including the Lamborghini, Maserati, and GranTurismo from Ferrari Maserati of Washington that were parked just outside the building. IMS provided six Sharp LCDs placed around the showroom that played a continuous loop about luxury providers Charles Luck, Ferrari, Maserati, and IMS.

Lisa Tureson of Faux Creations Inc. examined the beautiful selection of stone.

Maureen Morris, co-owner of Morris Stone Inc., Tom Wells, president of Integrated Media Systems, and Heather Heider, associate publisher of Washington Spaces, shared a few laughs.

Many raved about the delicious jumbo shrimp and delectable crab cakes that Laura Lim and her crew from Morton’s The Steakhouse Tysons Corner served. Heather Heider of Washington Spaces ate one irresistible bite-sized cheesecake by Fresh Confections and said she thought she’d died and gone to heaven.

Lee Odess, director of marketing and sales for IMS, takes a tasty break with his fiancée, Jen Ingberg, owner of Fresh Confections.

Left to right: Front row, Jim Colbert and his wife Nancy Colbert of Design Partners LLC, Rebecca Hubler of Designed Interiors and her husband David, and back row, Paul Parker and his wife Jennifer Parker of Patera Home LLC enjoyed the festivities of the evening.

The intriguing architecture of the building, designed by Andrew Moore of Glavé and Holmes Associates, impressed Architect John Burroughs of New Leaf Collaborative Architecture & Design, the most. “You would really want to bring clients here,” Burroughs says.

John and Marilyn Burroughs admired the architecture of the Charles Luck Stone Center, which he says reminds him of an old mill.

Mark Fernandes had the last word as he pointed out that the red stone at the core of the building was hand-tooled Chinese sandstone from the same province where Confucius was born. Now that’s impressive.

I started out writing a post about a fabulous new tile collection I first spotted on the Trendir blog, called Rako 2008 by a company in the Czech Republic called Lasselberger.

The Botanica collection in particular caught my eye. It’s along the lines of some gorgeous new Ann Sacks tile introduced this year as well, which I wrote about in May.

But as I started looking through the dozens of product shots they include with each of the new Rako lines (some of which are a little too racy for a family blog!), I just started laughing. The Europeans definitely have a different approach to marketing than the Americans.

As our kids giddily race toward their last days of school and we make all our plans for summer, don’t forget to take time for a good old-fashioned nature walk. Sticks and stones from the forest, and shells and sea glass from the beach, make glorious decorative elements. Here’s how some retailers have elevated nature walk finds into an art form.

Bliss Studio, located under California’s sunshine in Costa Mesa, just introduced these beach bottles, which instantly take you toward visions of sand and surf.

You can order them locally through Theodores in Washington or Ella Scott Design in Bethesda.

For more “found” objects, keep reading.

No WAY. That is NOT tile. Has to be wallpaper, right?  Wrong! At Ann Sacks anything is possible.