URBAN FARMHOUSE: The Powder Room

OK guys - I'm almost done showing you bathroom concept boards. Are you tired of them yet?

So far you've seen the Urban Farmhouse kitchen, master bath, kids' bath, and guest bath. Now on to the powder room. This is a more public room used by both the residents and guests, so I figured we could go for more impact and something funky in here.

Option 1 injects a dose of fun with a whimsical but moody wallpaper, contrasted by a chevron floor tile, pedestal sink. and barn lighting

Option 2 is more modern. I used the shiplap board paneling in here again and used a stone vessel sink with brass wall-mounted plumbing.  The faceted pendant plays off the hex floor tile and a more feminine mirror contrasts all the hard lines.

The final option that my clients chose, Option 3, once again is a hybrid of the first two. They finally said yes to the paneling (hurrah!) and the stone vessel sink, but they loved the chevron floor from Option 2.  We had to switch out the mirror to a more clean lined one (like the concept image) because the feminine one was too tall for the space with the wall mounted fixtures.

What do you think of the Urban Farmhouse so far?  I can't wait to show you the softgoods and decor schemes as we move forward!

URBAN FARMHOUSE: The Guest Bath

Happy Holidays Everyone! I hope you had a nice Christmas and have something fun (and not too anti-climactic) planned for new years.

I've now shown you the kitchen, master bath and kids' bath for the Urban Farmhouse project. Now on to the guest bath.  We didn't want to spend a ton in here but we wanted to keep that modern rustic feel and also fit as much as we could into the small space.

Option 1 utilizes the barn board on the walls again (when I presented this I hadn't had the discussion with my clients about using it in more key focal spots), a cool retro light, oil rubbed bronze hardware and a rustic vanity. I also love the black penny rounds. Their traditional but the black gives them a modern edge.

Option 2 is definitely more traditional with its chrome edged mirror, black beadboard wainscot, hex floor tile and grey vanity.

The final option that we ended up going with is sort of a hybrid. It's mostly Option 1 sans wall paneling and with the cool red light fixture from Option 2. We also opted to use the same vanity style as Option 1 but instead of doing a store bought vanity, create something similar but custom so that we can maximize counter space and do an undermount sink.

Next up is the powder room which is one of my favorite spaces thus far. Can't wait to share it with you!

URBAN FARMHOUSE: The Kid's Bath

Hi Everyone.  Happy Christmas Eve Eve. I hope you have all reached your final holiday destinations and are enjoying a little relaxation before the mayhem begins. Over the past couple of weeks I've shown you some concepts for the Urban Farmhouse project I'm working on in LA, first the kitchen, and then the master bath.  Next up is the kids' bathroom. My clients have a wee one currently (about Lucy's age) but in anticipation of at least one more child, the kids' bath has to be a fun space that makes sense for bathing, washing ittle dirty hands, potty training and the like.  Here are the two initial concepts that I presented to them.

Option 1 definitely has the fun factor with the utility sink and barn lights, but storage space was a bit of an issue here:

Option 2 has a fun green painted vanity with ample storage.  I kept a bit of that farmhouse character with horizontal plank paneling and a vessel trough sink:

 Option 3 is the final option that my clients decided on. It's similar to Option 2 but we eliminated the paneling (love it but figured it was best to use it in a more impactful area) and opted for two undermount sinks so that we could maximize counter space.

I can't wait to see this project get built. What sorts of big projects do you have slated for 2015?

Bathroom Renovation

So, the last round of major renovations that we went through was over the spring when we added the downstairs wall to create our separate guestroom and family room and then Scott and I built the family room shelves.  That allowed us to move the guestroom downstairs and get to work on decorating Bryan's Room.  Well, now we are on to the upstairs bath.  Today is demo. I can't wait to see what it looks like when I get home from work.  This is what it looks like right now.

 You can get an idea of the size of the new mirror and faucet locations based on my blue painter's tape.

This is the inspiration for the final product.

We'll be installing a custom black vanity with a ton more storage [1] and a carrara marble counter top [5] a little like the one above.  It's a double vanity so we will put a very large black and silver framed mirror above the two sinks (hence the blue painter's tape). That should make the space feel ten times larger.  On either side of the mirror will be these Jonathan Browning Americain Sconces [2].  I love the clean lines of the Kohler Memoirs faucet [3] and Archer undermount sink [4]. I'll be using my hardware [6] on the vanity of course.  The tub surround will be a white subway tile [8] and floor will be hex tile [9] with grey grout - clean, classic and in keeping with our house. And of course, gotta do a little styling of the end product for that final bathroom vanity vignette [7].

Happy Labor Day

This weekend was full of DIY and home improvement. When we had the guest room wall built a couple months ago, we had our contractor replace the wavy glass shower enclosure with a more traditional L-shaped rod (better for bathing future baby and more in keeping with the style of our house).  We got clear shower curtain liners but hadn't really gone beyond that.  I found this great Tokyo Garden Shower Curtain at World Market. It has a high end linen look that reminds me of Schumacher's Chiang Mai Dragon Fabric for a fraction of the price.  And it really livens up our bath without having to paint or do anything else.  Before = blah.

After = aha!

Yes - our bathroom still needs a face lift, but consider this the drugstore version for now.

Waterworks New Introductions

shhhhh...... this hasn't even hit Waterworks' website yet.  The eponymous bathware line is launching a new line of plumbing products called Henry.  I love the rubbed brass, the little finger indents and the refined yet industrial sense.  They also have a new line of tiles (featured on the backsplash below) called Grove Brickworks that promises to give Heath Ceramics a run for their money.