Before and After: The Master Bathroom

This room might be my most favorite transformation.  We did

the most structural work in this room.  Basically, we gutted it.

I love looking at these pictures.  Look at the picture of their

seven kids in that picture...(and I complain about space!)

This is a typical '70s ranch that you find in Atlanta.  In this picture, you see the closet

the former owners shared.  Now, this is just mama's closet and papa uses

an armoire.  (This prompts a question good for another post...

why do we think we need so much more stuff than we had in the '70s?....)

The first thing we did was get rid of the light box, the wall that separates the vanity

area from the bathroom, and the cabinet and countertop.

You know...I wonder if these will come back in "vogue" one day?  My mom

had one of these vanities with a cute stool and it was nicely carpeted

underfoot.  Did your mom have this, too?  I have so many memories of her

sitting there with tweezers and staring into one of those microscopic mirrors.  Okay,

that memory is a little scary.

We also discarded the mirror and lights (actually, our contractor

owns many rental properies, so he saved as much as possible

to reuse there.  We attempted to be green!)

I found this open cabinet at the Restoration Hardware outlet

north of Atlanta.  You gotta love outlets.  It is sturdy white

painted wood and came with great undermount sinks for a 

song.  Chris and I thought it worked perfectly in this room.

We also got this at RH.  You can't mess with a man and

his toilet paper holder.

Chris is a hardware snob.  I ordered budget-friendly hardware

for the sink, and Chris surprised me with the lovelies...

We found this marble (a remnant) at a stone place

in Atlanta our contractor uses.  One benefit of hiring help....

if you hire someone good they will have relationships 

built with vendors.  If we came off the street to buy this we

would have paid much more.  He got it at his builder's cost which

helped a ton (and also enabled us to get nice counters for the rest

of the house)

We kept the window as-is.  We wanted to bump this out...but it just wasn't

happening.  

We did steal a little of Wyatt's closet to make room for the tub.

But we gave him our old armoire...so we're not entirely cruel.

We also replaced the potty with one that uses

less water.  I hate it, though.  Do you have one of these?

One of my favorite parts of this renovation was

our addition of two french doors and the glass

knobs

I also love our additional of the vertical boards

This adds a lot, in our opinion, and was not a huge cost.

The guys just made the boards flush with the moulding.

I know I have posted about this light a lot, but it is so great

(and a fun find at a local antiques' store...$39!)

We did buy two curtains and three liners for showering purposes.  So

far (and we have been here a year in December), so good.  We

haven't missed a traditional shower.

I painted one of our old stools and it works as a razor and coffee holder.

Well, usually just coffee.

We used penny round tiles here with oyster grout.  It was special

order...but worth the wait.

I am cleaning and packing today to get ready for my 

(solo!) beach trip tomorrow to Rosemary Beach.  I can't believe it.

I don't think I have ever driven to the beach by myself.

Any good pics here are from Crosby Twiss Photography

The not-so-good (and you know which ones those are) are mine

Also, remember Rita Konig of Domino glory?  You can find an

amazing interview with her here at a beautiful and inspiring blog

A Lovely Being  (just scroll a little to find it...I couldn't

link the specific post)

Julie

light on the top and dark on the bottom

I didn't realize how much I loved this....not just black & white mind you (I do love that, too), but particularly when a room is mostly white and then contrasting black or dark brown on the bottom.

I remember reading years ago (I think Gwyneth said it) that she always went darker as she went down in her outfits.  She did so because it gave an elongated look.  I have found myself following this rule (except for nude shoes...especially great nude heels) and it rings true for me.

I didn't realize how much I love this in interiors.  I find it all over my home and throughout my files.

image and design from Tracery Interiors, Rosemary Beach home

I find myself thinking about this kitchen all the time!

I find it so spectacular in its simplicity.  And the stools

make this space.  I really am not a fan of these stools alone

but any other type of seating would take away from this seamless

brown bottom and seamless white top of the room.  The ceilings, albeit

high already, just look crazy high now with the all white (minus the awesome,

singular beam).

another example:

oh, I love the white & black & brown!

Here are more images that speak to me:

Emily Followill Photography

Cottage Living Magazine

MFAMB

how fun is this one?

unknown source

This is the kitchen from Cottage Living's Idea House (2008?)

Again, I love the dark green bottom with dark countertop, contrasting

with the all white wall paint, open shelving and white bowls and serving

dishes.  If the shelves or the bowls were any other color, I don't think

they could pull this off.  Wooden or iron shelving would have

stolen the show from the backsplash.

This image from Country Living really needs no explanation.  Do you 

find it as beautiful as I do?  One of the top 5 all-time images in my files, for sure.

You take away the white uniformity, the brown chairs or the black cloth....and it

wouldn't work for me.   They all need each other to balance.  Even with all

this white, I still find this room playful, timeless and striking.  I know I have said this

before, but truly monochrome collections and backdrops act as canvases for 

the rest of the room.  

I am basing the inspiration for my downstairs office on this image.  I'll take some befores

and hopefully afters this month!!

An inspiration photo for the downstairs bath's

renovation had this theme as well:

myhomeideas.com

I kept coming back to this one. 

 Here is the translation:

Boy, it is tough to shoot a bathroom shot!  I need to get

someone to take a good one of this room.

I find the same light-to-dark in our guest bedroom

(which has already changed since this photo)

I am realizing how much I love black...but I do

love it tempered with white.

in bathrooms...

(myhomeideas)

in hallways...

Elle Decor

And finally, I see this throughout the stylings of Atlanta Bartlett's

spaces....she is sooo good.

I have a fun week planned for y'all!  Some guest

posts later in the week...

I hope Monday is kind to you.  Julie

Remember this one?

Oh, how I loved this artist's home in Austin from 

Cottage Living.  So unique and so much personality.

See those red and white things on the far right of

the picture?  She is where she saved the fortunes out

of cookies and used red thumbtacks.  Art can be anything, can't it?

I wish I had the rest of her home.

If any of you remember this artist's name, please let me know!

Also...my online decorating bunch:  

please email me at

kesler (dot) julie (at) comcast (dot) net

My other email is down.

Have a great weekend....it is finally less than 190 degrees here!

Julie

Seriously...get your coffee. Dare I say the rest of the home is better?

It is like if someone asks you if you would rather have a chocolate cupcake or chocolate cheesecake?

I gotta say, I LOVE the funkiness of the stencils, stripes and poms poms in the rest of the home .

You got your coffee?

You focused?

You love me?

Just checking.

Here it goes....


(Oh, by the way, this is Anisa Darnell's home.  She is a decorator.  She is my friend.  She lives in Georgia.  She might (probably) is trying out for Design Star next season.  She rocks.  Her husband rocks too, for a living...for God  Casey Darnell and his music here )

Yes.  That is stencils.  She did each one.  I forget how many days 

she said it took her.

Yes.  That is nailhead trim.

And how often do you see gallery lighting in the bedroom like this?

A M A Z I N G.  

I wonder if it doubles as reading light?  I need to ask her.

love the antique dresser and mod chair

So gorgeous it deserves another angle.

(by the way, they are redoing this soon.  Bye bye stencil, hello 12" barnwood horizontal

treatment)

And onto the striking hallway...

She even beautifies laundry.

Why not make a chore lovely?

Back downstairs for a sec for the welcoming vignette

And are you ready for sweet Ava's room?

Seriously, my favorite little girl's room ever.

Look closer:  "Baby Doll's"  (yes, official given name) bed

is custom.  That is what future design star's

do to their little girl's little baby's beds!

speechless.

And outside, the gorgeous fest continues:

Again, my favorite word:  contrast!

So remember this face....I tell ya, I have a feeling:

And as talented as she is (and as pretty), this doesn't compare

at all to her spirit.  She is rare!

Don't you love her home?  

Okay, love fest over.

Finish that coffee and enjoy your Friday!

Julie