Design Plan for a Bath Remodel

I'm working on several bathroom remodels currently, two have started construction just this past week.. I thought I'd share a peek at one of the designs.

CAD drawing above, we do those so that revisions are really fast and easy.  Well, I don't do them, my intern does them.  I don't know how and have no desire to learn.  I'm just glad these young designers know their way around this software!

Before

At first, the homeowner just wanted to paint the existing cabinets, build a higher one on the left, change out counter and backsplash and do something special with the mirror.  Well, you know how projects have a way of growing! I encouraged them to take out the furr down and do a larger mirror to go up to their 10 ft. ceilings.   As you can see, the mirror reflects a lot of light into the bathroom..  They wanted to keep a large mirror too, so if you're going to go big, you should really go oversized!

The homeowner was really tired of painted cabinets and decided to go with stained wood.  While I love a painted cabinet, I do think the contrast will be very rich in this bathroom.  We will pick up the color of the wood floors in the master bedroom to use on the cabinets.

Master bathrooms should always blend well with the adjacent master bedroom.  The homeowner has dark wood furniture in the bedroom and a beautiful yellow/gold color on the walls in there that they love.  That was the jumping off point for the finish selections for the bathroom.

We selected new bedding for their dark framed wood bed.  That colorful floral linen is from Kravet and will cover three 24" sq. down pillows on the bed.  They'll be piped with that dark purple velvet from Brentano.   We'll also do a small acent pillow in the velvet.  The gold matelasse will be the plain base on the duvet cover. 

This seagrass rug will be under the dark wood frame bed.

Bathroom finishes - the flooring is Zin limestone 18 x 18 tiles from MCA Systems in a brushed finish, laid on the diagonal.  It feels fabulous on your bare feet and has such interesting fossils and shells imbedded in it.  We'll do it in the polished finish in slabs for the counters, then add some detail with an onyx and glass mosaic backsplash that will travel all the way around the gold finished mirror frame. That gold finish is just a sample of a technique, the color will be tweaked to fit our scheme on top of a more curvy moulding.

The shower area will be remodeled to take the tile to the ceiling with a rainshower head. 

We're adding crown moulding so we're dropping the ceiling 6" at the shower for the crown to run in front of the wet enclosure.

Before  - Tub

Here's what I'm hoping will happen with the tub.  They were going to keep the tub when we started and change out the surround to tile.  Again, projects have a tendency to grow!  They're thinking about this freestanding option.  I'm kind of liking a big wood framed mirror on this wall to reflect the light and add some of the dark wood element to this side of the bathroom. 

 I love freestanding tubs and I think this one would be beautiful there.

Should be all finished in about 6 to 8 weeks.  Check back to see how it turns out!

Sketches

There has been some discussion lately by designers about the preference of sketching or hand drawing vs. CAD drawing. As a designer, one of the best ways to show a client your ideas is to provide drawings. We are taught in school and many of us use drawings as a way to think through a design and develop concepts. These days, both methods are taught, but the age of the interior designer has a little something to do with their preference. :) We didn't have CAD when I went to school! I enjoy sketching up my projects and will lay color down as well to help a client visualize their space. It's usually part of the schematic design phase of the process. I do have a younger assistant who prefers CAD, which is undeniably the best method for handling revisions. However, in this day and age of all things computer generated, I find my clients really appreciate my hand drawings. Sort of like a hand written thank you note vs. an e-mail sent from your phone, it's just more personal. I thought I'd share some of the drawings that I've done on various, unrelated projects.

Some drawings are done in elevation, some as a floor plan, others are a perspective sketch.

Elevation of a girl's bedroom showing a new window seat and shade.

Perspective sketch of a living room to show architectural features and tile layout.

In this sketch for a kitchen remodel, new finishes and a new pantry door were highlighted.

This elevation sketch shows how the color on the wall, hood, backsplash, and counter will blend together to break up the wall of white cabinets.

The master bath above is being remodeled now. I can't wait to see it finished! The tub is absolutely beautiful!

This furniture layout visually shows how the color is balanced around the room.

A drawing like this shows how all the elements and details work together to make a certain visual statement.

I like to label up my drawings with notes, so that my clients can refer back to them and remember what I tell them at the presentation.

Drawing is one of my favorite things to do as a designer. I prefer it to shopping!