Bedroom and Bathroom Redo

 This master bedroom and bath was for a returning client, whose kitchen I had done a few years prior.  I posted about that remodel HERE.

This client wanted the same neutral palette that we had worked with in the kitchen. They had a very dark, navy color on the walls in both the bathroom and bedroom.  With such a spectacular view, I wanted to lighten the space up and give it a relaxed feel.  Nothing too dramatic to take away from this.....

After

New textural sheer window treatments, upholstery, pillows, lamp, and paint that don't distract from the view.

We reupholstered this chaise. Note the navy wall color beyond. This room was very dark.

bench - before

after

We did new neutral bedding and a storage ottoman to add to her existing furnishings.

Fireplace Before

Fireplace After

While most of the finishes are light, I wanted to keep some contrast in the room and add some richness.  My client loves a traditional look, so emphasizing the fireplace in a dark, contrasting finish added some drama.

The adjacent master bath had the same look.

before

The dated bathroom had navy vinyl wallpaper, navy tile counters, and dated fixtures.  That little tub below was squeezed in between the two vanities.  It looked almost child-sized.

before

By turning the tub perpendicular to the window, we gave it some space and breathing room.  It makes for a more luxurious look.

After

My client wanted a more traditional feel in this bathroom. The footed tub, paneled vanities, and shaded light fixtures helped bring about that look.

After

I loved how the shower turned out and especially that chandelier from Hudson Valley Lighting.

After

After images by Miro Dvorscak

Linking to:

Simply Klassic Sundays on Simply Klassic Home

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Beautify It Monday at Bringing Beauty

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Universal Design and Special Accommodations

I've been at my mother's this past week as she's come home from the hospital after a fall.  With a fractured femur, she spent a little over 2 weeks there and was sooooo glad to get home to her own bed. 

She had knee replacement about a year and a half ago and planning for that, we did some simple things to insure her ease and safety when she returned home.  We installed grab bars in the shower and toilet and widened the door to her bathroom so that she could get a walker in through there without having to turn it sideways.  The fall was unexpected of course, and we were so glad that we had those items in place when she got home this time. 

It really hit home again to me how important it is to plan for your needs on down the road. I took my CAPS training over 2 years ago after I had a client who was a wheelchair user and needed some special accommodation in the bathroom.  I posted this project HERE.  I really think making any space beautiful and functional is important and it could not be more so than in a bathroom.  





I contributed to an article in Houston House and Home magazine this past December where we discussed universal design and identified some great new products out there to use for safety in bathrooms. (pg. 66)

I want to thank Universal Design Style website for recently posting about my project.  How timely!   After seeing my mom cope with her injury first hand, it just confirms the importance of getting these things in place early on. If you're thinking of remodeling or designing a new bathroom, consider planning for your future needs.

Master Bath Remodel - No Tub!

Clients are getting more adventurous these days I find.  If they are going to spend money on their remodels, they want them to fit their desires and personalities to a tee.  Not only that, they want good resale.

No tub!

I worked on this master bath remodel where the client did not use their tub and did not intend to ever do so. I totally understand this, I'm the same way and I'm finding many people have that preference too. With limited space available, we needed to expand the shower and make better use of the adjacent closet storage, yet not disturb the window that brought lots of light into the space and kept the exterior elevation intact.

Before

Before

Sliding doors went bye-bye.  We could use some of that wall space for storage in the adjacent closet.

Before

There was an odd open area above the closet, for accessories or fake plants I presume.  They could use that upper space for closet storage rather than decorative items catching dust.

Before - small linen closet and shower beyond

Storage built out of sheetrock walls takes up more space than storage built out of 3/4" plywood.  We eliminated the linen closet and built it in the bathroom in some cabinetry.  The small shower that was like a deep hole when you walked into the bathroom was made larger and opened up to the 10' ceiling.

My sketch of the floor plan and how we would modify it.

Most everything was kept light and neutral to open up the space, but the coral/terra cotta color was pulled from the homeowner's existing bedding and window treatments.  Don't you love that Schumacher fabric?

My sketch of the elevations with a small window seat in the corner under the window.  Since we couldn't change the size or shape of the window, it still needed to remain purposeful and not look as if the tub was MIA. The window seat was the solution, also a nice place to introduce some color with fabric.

I do love a curved backsplash!

After

Tile to the ceiling in a bigger shower

Making a small space seem large and luxurious, without a tub that would just catch dust!

After photos by Miro Dvorscak

Linking to:

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style
Open House Party at No Minimalist Here
Simply Klassic Sundays at Simply Klassic Home
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

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Bathroom Vanities and Some Apartment Therapy

Pulling the cabinetry away from the side walls in a bathroom yields a unique look in a bathroom.  I love doing this in powder rooms especially.  The cabinet seems more like a piece of furniture and it makes for a nice transition of materials.  Here are some great examples.

Traditional Home

Better Homes and Gardens

Sally Markham - House Beautiful

Better Homes and Gardens

This one above was not a piece of furniture, just designed to look like one.

House Beautiful

source not known

Leah Simon - Elle Decor website

House Beautiful via Visual Comfort blog
 

This is one of my remodels. I pulled the cabinet away from both sides.  Above, the left side could have butted into a partial wall at the shower. It would've made maximum use of storage, but a partial wall would not be so cleanly detailed. Below, it is pulled away from the other side wall (behind the robe). It gives the piece a more prominent look in the bathroom and has a lighter, roomier effect.

 

apartmenttherapy.com

featured my Showhouse room this past week! Check it out HERE. 

Thanks for featuring my work!

Checking on Jobs

I've been making site visits and doing final touches on a few of my projects. 

I'm so excited to see how the modern bathroom is progressing.  I posted about the plan for this bathroom HERE.

It's all about the tile on this job and after much tedious work laying everything out just the way I wanted, the tile installer is on his way, getting a smooth, beautiful installation. 

(This was an installer I haven't worked with before and he didn't like me much at first!  I'm a LITTLE picky.)

We're moving along now and things are looking great. This is a great example of how design sometimes has to be worked out in the field.  The back wall here had settled and was tilting out from the floor to the ceiling (exterior wall). Since the tile must wrap around the corner the way it does, the angle in the wall would've shown as angled cuts in the tile.  That whole wall had to be floated to get straight cuts. 

The concept here is to make this space seem as big as possible, hence the horizontal banding with tile wrapping around the room continuously. I had planned for the tile to be run with a grout joint centered on the sink at the vanity.  Once we laid it out, we discovered that it looked better in the corner of the shower with a  1/2  tile at the end to appear as if it wraps around the corner.  Then I shifted the center line of the tile to the vanity center and liked that layout much better. I know, boring......but these little things are sooooo important!  Those shampoo niches HAD to be exactly centered in the tile band, same with the wall sconces at the vanity.  An inch off would just kill it for me!

Before windows - single pane traditional

Not for this modern bathroom!

After windows - double pane rain glass

A sheer pleated shade will cover these for some softness and more horizontal lines.

Corner fireplace in the master bedroom on this job.

Before

That little tiny piece of painted wood on the left is a mini door to put your hand into the wall to turn on the gas. !!!   We fixed that.

You can't see it under the propped up tile, but there's a proper escutcheon and key for the gas valve installed now.  I love this slate, Thorntree's Emerald Green. It looks great just butted together with no grout.  The variation in thickness of the tile gives it a real natural stone appearance.  Outside edges are all bullnosed for a clean installation.

Another bathroom remodel site visit, this one is traditional.

Still work to be done on the cabinetry, caulking at the sinks, mirror frame finish to be applied, etc.  The tile work here is impeccable.  Love the tone on tone glass and onyx mosaic.  It looks like it was made for the Zin limestone counters.

Finishing touches on another project.

Some Tableaux grilles were installed in the vacant looking windows below.  We didn't need window treatments way up there, just some kind of delineation and interest. The Tableaux worked well with the railing and front door ironwork.  Accessorizing will happen later on down the road.

You can see how vacant these windows looked before the Tableaux grilles were installed.

I really love going to job sites, seeing it all fall into place.  It's just the best part of design.

I'm so excited about being named a Design award winner from Houzz.com!

The Best of Remodeling, Houston award is based on the number of times my work's professional images have been saved into personal ideabooks.  (They even sent me a press release!)
Thank you, Houzz.com!



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Vintage Charm in a Kitchen

This adorable 100 year old home in a historic part of Houston was remodeled after fire and water damage.  I was happy to work with the homeowners on the kitchen, bathroom, paint colors, moulding details, and the exterior. It's such a different style than the remodels of newer homes I usually do, it was fun to get to something a little different. 

I posted about the exterior of this home HERE. 

before

We started off keeping the existing pine floors using a rich, dark stained finish. We couldn't change the footprint of the kitchen, but we relocated the frig to the opposite wall to open up the space in front of the island a bit more. 

The end wall where the frig was before really cut off the kitchen from the rest of the room. 

I really love the cool color scheme and the new taller window that scales better for that space.  The dark color on the lower cabinets and the white on the uppers kept the small space light and bright and open feeling. The schoolhouse light fixtures from Hudson Valley Lighting have a nice vintage appeal.

As with any remodel, sometimes you have to compromise.  I wanted to take those cabinet to the ceiling, but a major drain was routed just under those joists at the ceiling above the cabinetry.  We did a small furr down to enclose it, going as close to the ceiling as possible for maximum height and storage. 

The new Sharp undercounter microwave saves space. A little handmade glass tile inset adds some detail to the backsplash.  Outlets are placed horizontally just below the inset so they don't interrupt the linear quality.

A little kitchen vintage charm!

After photos by Miro Dvorscak

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