Before we design your bath on a budget we need to consider some words that may help trigger our inner designer.
1) Style: You want to feel happy, awake, and refreshed in the morning as you get ready to attack the day, and when you return from your busy day you want a quiet relaxing evening in the tub.
2) Functionality: Do you find yourself griping when getting ready in your bath looking for the hairdryer, make up items and perhaps a place to set down your coffee?
3) Size: How big do you want to go? Is it just the vanity that is bothering you? Is it the grout in the tile of your shower? Is your tub area just making you yawn with boredom?
If you write these down, you will begin to see the design actually take place in your brain, while it’s fresh in your mind, just start sketching and jotting down those ideas.
I suggest you start in the vanity area. First inspect you cabinet bottom under the plumbing. Is it durable or can your finger poke thru it? If so you can tear out that bottom, rebuild it or you may have to buy new cabinets.
When searching for countertop remnants for a long vanity, It might be difficult to find a granite remnant that long. If you decide on a Seamless Surface or Formica material, you might need to buy a whole sheet. One tip is to either make one cabinet higher or lower rather than one level. Its looks stylish, but more importantly it’s so easy to find smaller remnants.
Even if you buy just two cabinets space them apart, and build a lower countertop bridge of another color which can be used as a make-up desk as well. If you do not like the uneven cabinet height design, then buy a couple of small granite sections in a lighter color, and two strips of darker color, and have them seamed up to meet your measurements. This way we celebrate the seam and it will look more like a design than a remnant top.
Its easier to find three small scraps than one long slab, Panache Vue is always here to help.
Gene McDonald, aka “The Counter Top Rock Star” is the President of Refresh Interiors Design.com. To schedule an appointment or Visit his showroom, visit www.ReFreshInteriorsDesign.com or Call 727.527.0206.
Generally the biggest challenge in planning your gathering space is allowing for AV equipment. You may want it out of sight when not in use, therefore a cabinet that closes or components that raise and lower would be your best option. You definitely don’t want your equipment in a traffic area and your seating should allow for easy viewing, plus conversation! Easy viewing means comfortable height as well as proper distance. Allowing for conversation dictates that some of your seating be capable of swiveling or moving easily from one focal point to another. If you are remodeling, buying or building, layout your floor plan before you commit, locating your media outlets and seating accordingly.
But most important is not the space but the lesson. The lesson? Organization and caring for your personal belongings is easy! Toy bins are key, but labels are an absolute necessity plus they provide opportunities! “ B” for books or the word “books” is the perfect vehicle to encourage reading or phonetic skills. Add to that the organizational habits you can encourage and you have scored one for the home team! Those keepsakes we mentioned can be displayed on wall to wall shelving installed a couple of feet below ceiling level, And while on the subject of neatness, please keep the closet storage at a height that is accessible so they can hang up their clothing and store their shoes. Really Mom, you know that if your own closet is over packed or your shelves are out of reach, you become less than tidy yourself!
Drape your tables with cloths, use placemats or runners. Cut yardage from your fabric store can create table coverings, allowing for unfinished edges by tying ends up at the legs. You can also swirl cloth in the center, even covering makeshift risers, rather than using typical runners. Placemats can be customized laminations of photos or fall foliage. Dining chairs can be festooned with fabric or ribbons, adding whimsical touches of floral to the chair backs.
Shutters are extremely functional since they can direct the view, provide light control, close for total privacy or open completely. If you live in an environment with tons of humidity like Florida, you might consider the polywood shutter products as an alternative to wood. They are hard to distinguish from one another, so you are not sacrificing appearance over function and you may experience a savings as well. Probably the only drawback to shutters is the dusting chore, but at least you avoid the dry cleaning associated with fabrics.
If there is a woman in the house, she wants, needs and deserves a comfortable spot to sit to apply her makeup, creams, and lotions. Hey, no one has ever said that being a woman isn’t complicated! And what about the guys? They need a place to clip the toenails (a major yuck factor that should be confined to the bathroom). So think seating, including built ins in your shower. It makes shaving your legs and scrubbing your footsies so much easier!
That mindset seems to be serving Carloftis well, since everything’s coming up roses for him this year. His list of projects includes: a re-design of the Jim Beam Distillery; an array of lush landscapes at an 800-acre horse farm in Lexington; an all-native space at the Curtis Institute of Music’s LEED-certified building in Philadelphia; and a rooftop garden at the Google Building in Manhattan. So what’s his objective for each venture? To create a comfortable and natural place where people want to visit.
