Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Home Renovation: Guest Bathroom Progress

 I'm currently redoing the bathroom in my century old home, and I wanted to share a progress update with some photos. This is a total gut and remodel of the bathroom, which is long-awaited and exciting (but also a little bit scary and more than a little stressful, especially with the COVID-related product and construction delays). 

Bathroom renovations need the careful, professional eye of a designer - I would never recommend going it alone, especially one as big as this one. My project needs all new electric, plumbing, insulation, sheetrock, and a window. That's the unsexy stuff my contractor is doing, and I'm obviously selecting the finishes, hardware, tile, and the rest of the elements.

That part isn't always as fun and easy as it sounds, though. You might love a tile in the showroom, but that gorgeous pattern can become overwhelming in a smaller space, or you might need a designer's watchful eye to ensure your contractor installs it the way it was spec'd. 

A lot of clients get tripped up on the finishes, worrying about whether the faucet coordinates with the hardware, etc. This is the biggest value a designer can provide in a bathroom or kitchen project, where there's a lot of "hard" elements like plumbing fixtures, light fixtures, hardware, and tile and not many "soft" ones like furniture or fabric. The "hard" ones are very difficult for most non-designers to decide upon across all elements. 

For example, my bathtub comes in three colors - dune, biscuit, and white. Ask your husband what the difference between those three colors is - he'll probably have no idea. Your contractor will also ask you to spec things like the tub drain finish, something you probably didn't even know to think about. Most non-designers get really stressed out when facing these zillions of decisions, and it can be a costly mistake when you choose dune when you should've chosen biscuit, and now the tub looks off with your paint color.

An interior designer will ensure that your tile, grout color, flooring, plumbing, hardware, vanity color, paint color/wallpaper, lighting, mirror, shower door, etc. choices make sense in a cohesive way throughout the room. 

I'll give you a sneak peek at the in-progess photos so you can see the space before it fully comes together, and share a mood board of my final plan. 

Get in touch at Lavender Fields to design your space