UPDATE - Powder Rooms!

Powder rooms are one of the best places to express your creativity; go deep and rich in color, add bright fabrics and accessories, have fabulous mood lighting, and add character with an interesting mirror or unique artwork. It's not a room that you spend much time in so you don't need bright lights for make up and dressing. It's easy to make it a room where your personality takes center stage. 

ADD  COLOR
Add a fresh coat of a seasonally or personally inspired paint color. I encouraged  my client to paint the walls a rich eggplant because it was her favorite color and didn't fit in any other space in the house. Even her husband loved the result. If you don't have a vanity but a pedestal or basin on a stand, consider adding a sink skirt in a fabric that you thoroughly enjoy. For Beth, we created our own sink skirt from napkins for a warm country style. Attaching a band of Velcro to the base of the pedestal add to the back of the fabric made it very easy to install. It now covers all of the pipes under the sink and creates a wonderful storage space. A bold pattern and color tile on the walls is exciting and less costly to do than in a full bath.

USE FABULOUS WALL ART
From spectacularly framed mirrors to interesting artwork, this is a space where you can add drama and creativity. Lynda & Richard love architectural elements and we hung some antique saw blades that look dynamite with their newly repainted black vanity. 

USE BOLD LIGHTING
You don't need bright light in the powder room so you can have fabulous mood lighting, deep amber glass or fabric shades, and even colored bulbs. Don't forget candles. With all of the flameless versions with timers and remotes, they're are simple to use and safe in wall candelabras. Their realistic wax makes them appealing and the flickering glow of warm yellow candlelight is pleasing to almost everyone.

MAKE UNIQUE CHOICES
Use colored towels. Add a fabulous ceramic accessory to an over-toilet shelf. Paint your vanity in a color that complements your wall, and  use this as an opportunity for creative distressing, stencil embellishments, and very decorative or ornamental hardware.  If you have room, consider adding a small table. 

ADD DRAMA

A Spectacular floor tile or a unique sink will make the space dramatic and personal. The small scale of a powder room often makes a dynamic update affordable.

Don't forget bargain-hunting. Many of the big box stores, and discount home furnishings shops have fabulous items at reasonable prices. Oops paint is typically available at the big hardware stores. For about five dollars you can get a gallon of paint and experiment with color. Lamps Plus.com has wonderful pricing on light fixtures if you have a bit of time and our creative, you can wire your own fixture from unique findings.

Enjoy!

Tile Keeps Your Kitchen Current

Since the kitchen is considered the heart of the home, it's nice to keep it updated. We eat, entertain, and even do office and school work in our kitchens. When you're ready for a remodel, or even a change in appliances and surfaces, you want what you select to be enduring. Flooring is often wood, vinyl, cork, or tile (porcelain, ceramic and stone are the most popular).  Backsplashes are most frequently tile, although beadboard, stainless steel, and even painted finishes are used. We love tile since it's incredibly versatile, comes in a huge array of materials, patterns, colors and you can find or cut nearly every size and shape. The choice to use tile is a good one for flexibility, design freedom, ease of care and customization. 

Large scale tile makes small spaces seem larger.

Using tile is one of the best ways to customize a kitchen and allow for changes later. You can create patterns, add accent tiles, and then pop some out and replace with a different color or material over time.  In a small kitchen, swapping the dated 12" x 12" straight lie ceramic with a safer, larger, 24" x 12 porcelain tile, was easy, budget conscious, and made the room appear larger.  Consider porcelain instead of stone for busy kitchens. It's to care for, and even if you love the look of stone, you can have it since many manufacturers offer stone-looks that eliminate larger grout lines, filling holes, and regular surface sealing.  With rectified tile, you can create tight patterns and minimal grout joints for a very finished, nearly seamless look.

The Arts & Crafts influence backsplash in this kitchen can be changedby popping out the green accent tile and replacing with another materialor color in years to come.

For backsplashes, there are nearly unlimited options that can be combined. Let's say you opt for a 4" x 4" stone backsplash, and decide you want to update in 10 years. You can change some of the tiles for glass, and create a border, a pattern, and make a change in color. For very traditional kitchens, I love to create a custom pattern over the stove or cooktop.  I consider the options the client loves today, and allow for the possibility of changing out some of the decorative tiles over a long period of time, while leaving the field tile in place.  Ten years ago, I designed a backsplash with granite and porcelain tile.  This year, we're popping out some tile and replacing it with metallic tile.   Glass tile is hugely popular now. Some installations are Mid-Century Modern style and will be enduring, and some are highly colored and patterned and may become dated over time. Changing out tiles, especially mosaics, will be easy over time. Recycled glass tiles are less popular, but with environmentally conscious products being more favorable and available, they will likely be enduring for many years.

Glass backsplashes are gorgeous. This one has recycled
tile and a crisp ceramic accent tile.

How to design your powder room.

Powder rooms are a unique space in the home. While they're a bathroom, they are typically off the main hallway or rooms of a home, so you have an opportunity to be expressive and dramatic.  Despite the small space, using intense colors, themes and lighting is fabulous rather than restrictive, since the room is meant to be used for brief periods and not to get dressed or apply makeup.  Bold, dramatic light fixtures are OK as are going 'over the top' with deep tones and large scale lighting.  

Wall treatments: If you love the glamour of metallics and your home is traditional, don't be afraid to use a striking wall covering. If your living room is too small for a richly textured old world finish, it's OK to do it in the powder room.  Do the ceiling too.

Lighting: Bold, sparkly, over-sized and deeply shaded fixtures. Under counter lighting sets a wonderful tone, and if you use the right material (glass, onyx, acrylics) you can even light the counter.

Cabinetry: Unusual pieces, re-purposed furnishings, exotic materials and woods. I love using re-claimed logs as counters, and even scoop out the center of large pieces of lumber to create the sink.

Tile: For me, this is not a room that needs a backsplash. You're not washing up in that room. GO ahead and tile the whole back wall. Make it a textured, iridescent or unusual material.

Plumbing:  A hands-free faucet is ideal. Go for the bold and artistic. Use a great wall hung toilet, a no-tank model, or a unique color toilet.

 Mirrors: Use one or not.  Bold frames, large scale, interesting glass. All work well.