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recently began design work on a master bathroom renovation. The clients have a casual, rustic country style and are not afraid of color. The previous owners of the home had a Scandinavian & somewhat contemporary style with hardly any color on the walls. Although, the present owners have updated much of the home, they needed some assistance in order to create a bath that better reflects their tastes.

Upon first inspection the bathroom had a large bank of white vanity cabinets with a gray double bowl sink counter top. There was a huge wall to wall (and ceiling to vanity) builders grade mirror glued above the sinks.




A white rectangular field tile covered the bottom portion of the walls with white “tulip” patterned and maroon “rope” patterned accent tiles, while the upper portion of the walls were painted “off white”. 
There is a one piece shower surround, one window and only recessed can lights for illumination.





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he list of “must haves” from the client was fairly short; they wanted to keep the tulip and maroon accent tiles if possible, they wanted to tile the shower stall and they wanted a frame less shower door. The biggest challenge ahead was piecing together the existing elements with new ones, all while trying to create the rustic style that the clients prefer. We knew that better lighting would be a priority, adding a punch of color was important, and that something had to be done to break up that mirror wall.


I offered them ideas about framing the mirror and hanging pendant lights but the mirror restricted our lighting options and ultimately we all agreed that it needed to go. A professional from a local glass company was hired to remove the mirror. Hiring a professional (what ever line of work) is something we highly recommend doing when needed. Sure we could have taped and smashed the mirror to get it unstuck but we knew if we did that, we’d be picking up shards of glass for years to come! The professionals had it down and out of the house in 15 minutes!





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aving the mirror out of the way really allowed us to move forward with the design.  Since then we decided; we are able to keep the existing tile, vanities and counter top. We’ll add new vanity lights, remove the recessed lights above the sinks and update the remaining can lights. We’ll also add individual mirrors above each sink with a tall wall cabinet in between, similar to the one pictured here: 




We still have a lot more decisions to make and I will continue posting updates as we go. The point I’m trying to make is that I am committed to creating design that’s all about you. It would’ve been much easier & faster to demo the whole room, start from scratch and tell them what (colors/textures/styles) to use but that’s not what the client wants. They want a room that speaks to them, one that is characteristic of their likes; not what’s easier or faster. Besides, that’s the part of “Design” that I love; finding & pulling together all of the different elements! It’s like bringing together all the pieces of a puzzle; only with pattern and furniture and art instead of puzzle pieces!