Home Remodeling: Bring High Drama To Your Home in Small Ways
Not everyone has the desire or wherewithal to bring a dramatic look to their home. One way we help clients who want the strong colors and accents but are worried about living with that impact on a daily basis is to include them in small doses. Half bath and laundry room remodeling provides the perfect opportunity to add drama to a home without overwhelming the inhabitants.
A recent client of ours is one of those rare homeowners who is happy with a bold look. During a whole house remodel, we brought a strong black and white theme to each space, including a half bath and the laundry room.
Half Bath Remodeling
The black and white theme of the interior design scheme began with the gorgeous carpet our client chose for the staircase in her entrance hall. New rich flooring complemented the dramatic look. A half bath off this entryway could not be left boring and plain! The existing base cabinetry was very pretty and suited the updated look so we kept it. To continue the color scheme from the hallway, we replaced the floor with black and white tile and added a black granite countertop. The existing mirror and light fixtures stayed, but we brought in new hardware and faucet. The piece-de-la-resistance is the wall covering—a rich blue-green with a metallic floral pattern, an element that in a large room could feel like “too much”. However, in this half bath, it offers the high drama and strong tones our client was looking for.
Laundry Room Remodeling
Laundry Room Before Photo
If you have been following our blog for a while, you know we love to create pretty laundry rooms. Our philosophy is that if you have to do laundry, you might as well do it in an enjoyable space! Right off the garage, the laundry room is the first space the homeowner sees when she enters her home. So, it was important that we bring her personality and taste to this rather ho hum space. We continued the black and white theme from the rest of the house in the flooring, but added a greyish beige color as well. The porcelain tile came in two sizes—12” x 12” or 18” x 18”. Our goal was impact, so to figure out which size would add the most we created scale drawings in relation to the rest of the space. Without examining the effect of each size in this way, the options could prove too busy or too big. We found the larger tile to be the best option for our intended goal.
The layout of the laundry room provided the functionality our client needed, so we painted the existing cabinetry dark grey and added a light quartz countertop. The final look brought the high contrast and strong colors our client was looking for to this small space without being overwhelming.
There is no need to be afraid of bold design choices! We are here to help you express every aspect of your personality in your home. Send us an email or give us a call at 317- 253-8986.
Project Highlight: Big Design With a Small Budget
Whole house remodels take a lot of time, effort and money. As interior designers, it is our job to help our clients allocate their budget wisely to achieve their vision. Due to complexity and size, some rooms naturally require more of an investment, such as kitchens and master baths. However, leaving less for another room does not mean you have to sacrifice style.
Our clients have remodeled their whole house over the years, yet wanted to give their now teenage children bedrooms that reflected their personalities. They decided to surprise their daughter by creating a newly designed bedroom while she was at camp for a few weeks over the summer. Fortunately, the daughter had created an Ideabook on Houzz with her dreams for her bedroom that we could work from. We did not want to give her a design her mom loved but she despised! We only had a few weeks to pull off the project, but with careful planning and ordering, we were able to bring everything together.
We allocated the budget first for functionality and second for style. The room needed storage, so we worked with Zionsville Custom Cabinets to design a wall of open shelving and cabinetry that also served as nightstands for the bed. While this design element took up most of the budget, it was needed to make the space more functional and is a long-term investment that will stay with the home.
To create the style the daughter was looking for, we studied her Ideabook for common themes. Fortunately, she also commented on the photos so we knew what she liked about the pictures. We noted that she liked bright colors, cool lighting, and crazy combinations of patterns—a bit edgy but still appropriate for a 14-year-old girl.
We found the perfect fabrics and wall coverings for the design, but they were quite pricey. To manage the budget, we used these elements carefully, ensuring the greatest impact for the investment. We placed the wall coverings behind the shelving rather than on every wall. The other three we painted an understated color to allow the wall paper to pop. The expensive fabric was allocated sparingly as well; we used it on a flat cornice window treatment and on one side of an accent bed pillow. By placing these elements is such a way as to create the largest impact, we were able to fill in the rest of the design with less expensive yet still perfect items.
For example, our client found a nice white quilt and bed skirt from a mail order catalog. Also, the footstools were purchased at a big box store and reupholstered with an inexpensive fabric. We filled the shelves with personal items and memorabilia and then found the fill-in accessories at a discount home store. The lighting came from a mail-order catalog rather than a custom lighting distributor.
This design was one of the most fun projects we have ever been involved in! We had total creative license to craft the room of a young woman’s dreams, filled with bright colors, wild shapes, and funky elements. We also proved that good design can happen on any budget. We did not have to sacrifice quality or style by using pricey elements in limited amounts with maximum impact.
Looking to refresh your own home with an updated style? We’d love to help. Send us an email, or give us a call at 317-253-8986.
Our Interior Design Inspiration: Using Expensive Touches Wisely
As interior designers, we help our clients balance their desire for a particular look and functionality with the budget they would like to stick to. Often a client falls in love with a pricey element such as a fabric or wallpaper and is disappointed to hear the impact it will have on their total investment. It is in these types of situations that having a talented interior designer on your side can help! For example, our client wanted to bring big impact to her teenage daughter’s bedroom without investing to the level of a more public space. We found a vibrant graphic wallpaper and embroidered fabric that fit the aesthetic perfectly, but not the budget. Fortunately, we had a solution. We placed a bit of the wallpaper behind the shelving of the built-in cabinetry. Then we covered a flat cornice and the front of a throw pillow with the fabric. By using those two expensive elements for their greatest impact, we were able to give our clients the look she wanted while staying within her intended investment.
