Stoney Lake Cottage: Bathroom #1 Progress

Here's a sneak peek  of one of several bathrooms in the Stonely Lake cottage project that are undergoing a light renovation.  The objective was to work with the existing elements as much as possible but give the entire bathroom a fresh new cottage style.   Its actually one of my favorite things to do - to explore the potential of existing space without completely gutting it and starting from scratch.  It is possible to transform an interior by implementing some straightforward changes.

Before - Existing Bathroom

The modifications for this bathroom involved replacing the ceramic tile floor with a wide plank knotty pine.  The existing solid pine vanity was great quality and in excellent condition but we replaced the synthetic countertop with new quartz counter, new hardware, added a new sink and faucet, and new lighting.  In addition to the new chrome fixtures the wall tile was removed and replaced with beadboard wainscotting with built-in mirror.  On the opposite wall to the sink I replaced the shiny brass towel bars with a row of chrome towel hooks.  A navy blue wall paint above the crisp white beadboard creates a classic cottage scheme.  To complete the bathroom we'll add colourful striped towels, a graphic area rug, and polished chrome and ribbed glass vanity accessories.

After - Bathroom in progress


This is just one of 4 bathroom remodels that are nearing completion in the cottage and getting ready for their first summer season.  I'm looking forwarding to sharing some after photos of the other spaces here in the coming months.

NYC Reno: Progress & Boy's Bath

The past couple of months construction on the NYC family reno project has been moving along at a rapid pace.  I've painstakingly overseen the precise placement of plumbing and electrical rough-ins, in some cases we were scrutinizing 1/4 inches.   More recently, over the past two weeks I've overseen the stone tiles being sorted thru, picked-out and installed.  The paint samples are about to go up,,,,kitchen cabinetry is being installed and very quickly, very suddenly it all seems like the entire home is coming together all at once.  Its visible, tangible progress for the clients when all the 'beauty' starts appearing, a major turning point in this long process.

There are 3 bathrooms in this "3 apartments into 1" conversion, however, the tiny footprint of each of the original bathrooms had to remain as is.  These compact size bathrooms consumed an unimaginable amount of time in planning out the details to the precise inch.  On top of that, sourcing vanity/console options that are no larger than 18" and trying to maximize storage when recessing niches or cabinets into the wall space was limited - it was a challenge!

The most challenging of them all for me was the Boy's bathroom.  It's original layout had a tub/shower unit which we would replace with a walkin shower.  What you can't really see clearly in these concept sketches is that the room has quite a few jogs, including a dropped bulkhead in the shower not depicted in here at all.  The clients desire was to do this bathroom in all ceramics or porcelain tile. Not usually my preference especially when the cost of the ceramics or porcelains can be equal to the cost of a marble.  I recommended we do a marble mosaic floor tile paired with a simple ceramic on the walls.  Just that bit of marble would add a luxe edge along with texture and pattern.  I'm not a fan of decorative tile borders and inlays or using a multitude of various tiles in a bathroom for the sake of adding some 'wow'.....an approach I find just too decorative and trendy.  I think the tile should provide the basic bones to the space, evoke the vibe you are going for and add a sense of long lasting quality.  If using a ceramic, I go for timeless white or colour block an entire wall in an accent colour. If you use a natural stone, the statement is simply in the stone itself, no enhancing needed, leave the decorating to the towels, accessories and artwork.  A common exception I make is the use of a contrasting band or pencil liner.

The sketches shown in this post were really really preliminary and done at the concept stage waaay back in August of 2011.  (For this post I've stripped them of dimensions and notes.)  The intent of these was to illustrate to the client how we could use a basic and classic ceramic tile shape but still add some detail.  We considered doing a combination of a dark blue vintage style (handformed, crackle finish) 2" x 8" floor to ceiling wall tile behind the sink and toilet, then tiling the shower walls in white field tile with frame borders in the same blue tile.  Even though they had told me they didn't want 'subway' tiles, they really loved this. (variation of this above and below)

There is a jog in the wall where the shower glass screen is so this provides a natural transition spot to change to a different wall tile inside the shower. A small carrara marble mosaic floor tile is continued thru to the shower floor, the shower sill would be carrara slab, on the wall not visible is a recessed soap niche also made of carrara slab and outside the shower is a full height small storage closet. Completing the space is contemporary plumbing fixtures and vintage style lighting.

One of the most common apprehensions clients have is floor to ceiling wall tile.  I personally don't understand the resistance, especially in a bathroom -  and true to that these homeowners were uncertain about taking the tile all the way to ceiling behind the sink so the final decision was half height.  

Months later when all the final specs and detailed design drawing were completed I can tell you the final design is not like ANY of these concepts!!!  ; )  You'll have to visit again to see sneak peaks of the installation.  You'll see we ended up with a modified version of this last sketch above, except we're going with a different type of sink all together and we're using Select White Thassos marble on the walls. ( The sink and toilet will also be in the reverse location.)

This young boy's bathroom will exude the fresh classic crispness of navy and white. Whatever walls are not clad in white tile, will be coated in a deep navy paint. All the polished chrome will sparkle against it and the white will look extra fresh.  What I love most about this foundation is that navy is such a 'neutral' you can chose from a myriad of accent colours for your accessories be it yellow, purple, green or red.

Check out the full back story and before photo  here.

See the before and after floor plans 

and my concept for the architectural details here.

All Drawings by:  Carol Reed Design

70's Bungalow: Progress 2

The tile work is almost finished and the hardwood has just started to be installed.  The finish carpenter is on site prepping doors and getting ready to install the base mouldings and door casings.  And the custom kitchen cabinetry arrives this week for installation,,,,,,I'm sooooo excited to see it!!!   I stopped by the job site earlier today to drop some more paint samples off for the Master Bedroom and was thrilled with the progress since I was there earlier in the week and since my last progress post.   The travertine tile has gone up on the Living Room fireplace wall and I LOOOOOVE it (above photo).

The guest bathroom tile is just about ready to be grouted, they have to just finish off adding a Caesarstone jamb around the inside of the window, you can see a small piece of it on the window sill now that the tiler was using as a spacer.  The grid line effect will disappear once the grout is applied.

  

You can just see a glimpse of the honed travertine floor tile.

Honed calacatta floor tiles in the master ensuite and paint draw downs on the wall.  Wall tile goes up on Monday (where you see the black backer board).  You can check out the design sketches and finish boards for the bathrooms here.

The powder room has polished calacatta floor tiles and I can tell you the wall paint, is NOT going to be the bottom sample : ).

The natural walnut floors were installed in the kitchen and family room yesterday, here's a look at the range wall which is ready for the cabinets and appliances.  I love how the space is flooded with daylight.  For over six months now I've had a clear vision of what this kitchen will look like when its complete but if you want a 'sneak peek' you can check out the kitchen design plans here.

A view into the kitchen from the family room.  If you look close you can see a couple of paint draw downs on the left wall inside the kitchen,,,and I'm happy to say the perfect shade of white has been selected (we'll be painting all the main living areas and hallways white).  Although I have to say, the primer the painter used on this job is the nicest colour of white primer I've ever seen, I would be perfectly happy with that as the wall colour it was really that good - I'll definitely be getting the name of it.

Another view into the kitchen from the family room at the back of the house, I love how you can see the Living room's travertine fireplace in background.

Details make the difference.

My favorite thing on the entire project,,,,are these walnut veneer doors.  They arrived earlier this week and the wood veneer is simply stunning!!!!  Even now in their unfinished state you can see the sheer beauty of the walnut grain, its like a work of art.   This character and depth of colour will be accentuated even more when the clear top coats are applied.  What you're seeing here is only the top half of the door, there's four doors altogether, bookmatched, and they'll be hung in pairs on the two closets in the front hall.

Stay tuned for lots more progress updates in the days and weeks ahead.

All Photos:   Carol Reed