Recent work: Dramatic before and after

Reading and writing blog posts everyday I can sometimes forget to mention I'm more than a blogger: I also work in the design industry!  I thought I would share the design process with you on a recent project, a renovated master suite (above is a finished teaser of the bath).

Lets get the ugly stuff out of the way first. My friend had a vintage 1920s house in the lovely Cleveland Park neighborhood of DC (you may remember a built-in I completed for him in the family room HERE). Old houses are great, I think we can all agree there, but old bathrooms are NOT so great - just look at it above!

Above the partial floorplan shows the original layout of the area I worked on which had great potential but didn't work for the client. A small, worn hall bath serviced the master bedroom as well as a small bedroom which my friend used as a dressing room as closet space was inadequate. The front half of the plan not shown on the left had the formerly renovated master suite which had been turned into another hall bathroom, separate laundry room, and a large bedroom facing the street.

Previously one came up the staircase and was confronted with the L shaped hallway seen here (remember, this is the BEFORE!).

Lots of square footage was wasted on the hallway in the tight plan and I had to come up with a way to best utilize the space.

The criteria was for a gracious master bedroom suite complete with en-suite bathroom, separate generous dressing room with loads of storage, and a separate sitting room.

The bones were all there but how best to reconfigure the space while respecting the vintage charm of the house?  Another piece of the puzzle was leaving the exterior of the house untouched as it lies within a historic district where exterior changes are hard to get approved.

I decided to claim the 2nd hall closet and a fair amount of the hallway itself to enlarge the bathroom and provide all of the amenities one expects today in a house of this caliber.  Above you see the 'demo' plan and how I was going to accomplish this.

The plan worked out nicely. Instead of coming up into a vast L shaped hallway, a more compact hall was created with a flush wall great for art at the head of the stairway. The master suite is now entered through a private vestibule which separates the bedroom from a dressing room.  The opening between the dressing room and sunny sitting room was filled in to allow for more storage in the closet and a built-in bookcase in the sitting room.

The bathroom walls were completely removed to both insulate the exterior walls as well as reclaim any space we could find which previously housed ductwork and pipes which could easily be moved out of the way. Our contractor was a great help here!  I decided to panel the walls with wide beadboard which added a vintage charm to the bath of the 1920s time period while also providing a 'warm' environment.

A separate soaking tub and large shower were added as well as an additional sink thanks to the space gained from the hallway.  Now lets see how it turned out!

The hallway is still a generous size and makes sense for the house. Two bedrooms are left on this floor with a 3rd on the floor above. In the photo above you are looking into the new vestibule (painted the same purple as the bedroom) lit by an antique sconce found at my favorite lighting source just down the street in Cleveland Park, Artisan lighting.

Another antique frosted glass ceiling fixture was found at Artisan Lamp for the bedroom, on  a dimmer switch for ambiance of course! You can see through the former closet door into the newly enlarged master bathroom.

Looking the other direction one can see into the sunroom sitting area.  The natural linen curtains lining the wall hide an off-center window as well as provide a focal point for the bed.

The small bedroom became a proper dressing room with ample storage. Double hanging rods fill one entire wall while a large dresser sits opposite.  The antique lamp on the dresser is also from Artisan - you can tell I love to shop there! The closet of this former bedroom was lined with cedar to become storage for sweaters and other off-season items.

The sitting room received a fresh coat of sage green paint as well as a major clean-up. An odd closet was ripped out of the corner as well as an unnecessary non-working but extremely HEAVY radiator.

However the piece de resistance is surely the newly created master bathroom. Wide 6" painted wood paneling was installed rather than drywall or tile as it created a warm, vintage feeling environment.  Foam insulation was blown into all of the walls for sound isolation as well as temperature control.  The window received a cafe height plantation shutter for privacy and a new marble sill perfect for additional storage. Antique neoclassical sconces were found at Artisan which really become the jewelry of the space.

As the brass and black enameled sconces are really focal points I didn't feel the other finishes needed to match and they were all spec'd in a polished nickel finish sourced from the Waterworks studio line ( a wonderful lower priced line which still has the great quality and heft of other Waterworks fixtures). The tile also came from Waterworks. I used a large format dark stone-like porcelain tile for the floor and the coordinating 2x2 tile for the shower floor. The shower walls were lined with a miniature subway tile and a long niche was created for soaps and shampoo. I love the industrial exposed surface-mounted shower fixtures from Waterworks! In-floor radiant heating was installed which can be controlled with the thermostat by the door for warm feet in the cold winter.

The same Italian Crema marble from the Restoration Hardware Gramercy vanity was used for the window sill, shower curb & surround, as well as to line the shower niche. I know you're wondering why I selected an open vanity as opposed to one with storage but I was worried the bathroom would feel tight when it lost that visual space below the sinks. Large medicine cabinets provide tons of storage. The freestanding bathtub from Victoria & Albert was clean lined while still having the appearance of an old Victorian soaker tub (seen best in my drawing earlier in this post).   I'm very pleased with the entire renovation and more importantly so was my friend!  What do you think?
Special thanks to my fantastic photographer friend Bill Bramble who provided the before and after pictures!

A recent project

I recently finished helping design and install a custom built-in for a friend's family room and thought I would share it with all of you. My friend Bob has a beautiful house with an oddly shaped, small family room. The goal here was to help house an extensive book collection and a tv with all of the media equipment and make some sense of the awkward space.

After carefully measuring the room and wall in question, I hit the paper (well, my computer) and started to play with what this might look like.  As the room is tight I wanted to minimize the floorspace taken up by the piece but still house the deep 20" sound equipment (dvd player, cable box, sound system, etc.).

Luckily I was able to disguise the existing niche (formerly an unused opening into the dining room) and run  speaker wire and electrical cords through it with a false beadboard front that matches details found elsewhere in the room. The bracket for the tv was then mounted to this front.  The lower 4 shelves on the right hand side were able to be deep enough to house the equipment while the rest of the built-in appears to be a standard 11" bookshelf. I think the drawing above helps explain what I came up with. I didn't put any doors on the lower half so that these shelves could be their full depth.  Plus one could use remotes on the equipment without having to constantly open and close doors to access them.

Finding a good contractor to build the piece was the next step. After pricing the drawing through a few talented finish carpenters, I went with Jozsa Woodworks out of Woodbridge, VA who I know through my work. They were a joy to deal with!

The day of installation was exciting. The crew of 3 plus an electrician showed up right on time (impressive and something you don't always find in this line of work) and began to make sure the pre-built pieces fit exactly and prep the wall for installation.  They spent hours making sure that the piece fit in perfectly and their attention to detail was astounding. I could go on and on, can you tell I was impressed?!

After installation the piece looked great but they would be back in a few days to finish off the last little pieces, fill and paint dents, etc.  The large black square is the tv mounting bracket.  I would have preferred a contrasting back to the shelves but as Bob's house is currently on the market I decided to leave the accent color to any possible buyer. The entire piece was painted the same white as the trim found throughout the room.

Once everything was in place (with the exception of the tv on the bracket which just is left on the shelf for now) you would never know the hidden niche exists but I used it to our best advantage; It looks like a typical built-in bookshelf. The piece really makes the room feel much bigger and is a beautiful focal point for the tv and all of Bob's books and objects. Who knew such a small thing could make such a difference to the feeling of a room!
Please excuse the bad photos from my iphone!

Highpoint Fall 2012: Hooker Furniture

Once back from Highpoint the question everyone has is "Whats new this season?". I find this hard to answer for 2 reasons. 1: nothing is ever really 'new' and 2: there is SO much to see and it's all over the map!

That said, one finds certain general trends and my sponsor, Hooker Furniture, was right on point. 

One of the biggest trends was nailhead trim on everything: upholstery, casegoods, and even on walls as seen at Hickory Chair by Alexa Hampton (follow the link to a post by Habitually Chic on that space). The new Alicante collection at Hooker incorporates nailhead trim with a Spanish flair, as seen in the pictures above. 

Most uphostered pieces featured the trim also as evidenced by the stylish Beckley swivel chair. Loved the lines of this chair and the fabric too.

And the attention-grabbing Red Croc Console from the Melange collection was also studded! It really reminded me of the 'costumes' on the cartoon characters from Mary Poppins -remember that?

As has been said all over, the color of the year is blue and it was seen everywhere at Highpoint both in fabrics,

And even in painted wood furniture.

I loved this chaise lounge with blue fabric and nailhead trim.

And this blue leather couch had classic lines but a fun color.

This updated mid-century influenced wingchair had a fun bright blue fabric as well.

Blue cased goods were also to be had such as this turquoise chest.

 
Smaller scaled furniture was another trend as the market shifts towards moderate scale again (thankfully).  I loved the B-Y settee.

And these small Lyric sidechairs in a graphic patterned fabric were great.

Smaller scaled furniture was also shown in the new Chic Coterie collection based on Pinterest.

Designers at Hooker studied "what women really want" based on their Pinterest profiles and likes. Do you follow me on Pinterest?

I loved seeing this mood board put together by their team for the Chic Coterie collection.

The look is vintage, charming, eclectic and casual.

Metallics were also big and fashion forward. The silver/gold finish on this estate nightstand was really fun.

I loved the clover shaped accent table from the Melange line.

This metallic finish is just one of many available for the bombe chest.

I loved the chinoiserie detailing on the Rhapsody bombe chest.

And what better metallic is there than mirror. This Sanctuary bed was such a huge hit last market an entire mirrored collection was based on it.

How about this mirrored nightstand?

Or the Sanctuary fretwork chest.

I loved the detailing on these pieces.

The estate bed is also convertible in that the posts are removeable.

Desk chairs have had a makeover too.  The lines on this chair would not be out of place in an open home office or even a kitchen breakfast table.

Of course, I was shopping for myself too.  I'm in the market for a sofa for my new place. I loved the Eaton sofa -either as a sectional

or just a sofa.  It sits so comfortably.

But I really loved the similar Davlin sofa, particularly with this mixed leather and velvet upholstery.  What do you think, should I get this?

And did you see the Rhapsody Urn Console as one of the 'picks' in the November 2012 House Beautiful magazine?  I noticed it at Market too! Congratulations are in order for Hooker furniture!