Project: Eclectic Bar
Moody Eclectic Bar
Like most, 2020 had me looking at the spaces in my home with a more critical eye. I was watching a video from Architectural Digest that was touring the home of actor Jensen Ackles and was inspired by how he had converted his formal dining room into a bar. At this point, the eat-in area off of our kitchen was no more than a veritable catch-all for Amazon boxes and things that didn’t quite make it to the garage. I recall sitting at the table there once. For the most part, we ate in the dining space shared with our living room instead. So, I set out to create a space that was a better reflection of our lifestyle.
Converting this space came with a set of unique challenges. First, due to the shut-down, access to materials was limited. I chose to work with Ikea cabinets since I was familiar with the product, and the price-point was affordable. Pick-up times were highly coveted and required me to stalk the website frequently to snag one. Of course, because I was among a mass of people wanting to renovate with nothing better to do, availability of products was another issue all together. This resulted in several trips to Tampa, and one desperate trip to Miami to complete my order.
The next major obstacle was the space itself. Our home was built in 1956 as a spec home for our neighborhood and so it features a few details unique to our home. One of which is the fact that there are very few right-angled walls. The kitchen, in fact, is actually a rhombus. Configuring cabinets in such a space required math and geometry that I swore in high school that I would never use again. There was a lot of blue tape on the floor and drawing on the walls involved as graph paper was hardly sufficient enough to visualize.
Project: Lake House Bathroom
Lake House Bathroom Renovation
Bathroom Mood Board
The most critical step in any renovation is planning how to best utilize the space you’re given. This bathroom started as a small, dark space and is set to serve as the main bathroom in this house. Before demo even started, I walked through the space with the client to discuss what about the current layout of the bathroom was functional and what could work better. We opted not to change much about the overall layout in order to be more budget conscious, so here’s what I did to maximize this small space:
Make the vanity slightly smaller with drawers on either side instead of cabinets.
The existing vanity when from wall to wall and looked massive in this small bathroom. With the toilet where it was, you were not able to completely open the cabinet doors on the left side making that storage almost useless. By downsizing the vanity, the drawers now become accessible without having to move the toilet and it also allows room for a towel bar on the wall without covering the switches.
Remove the tub and create a walk-in shower with a ledge for toiletries.
By removing the tub, it helped open up the space and allowed for a larger shower. The tiles were kept light and bright and the visual interest comes from the unique layout. Instead of installing a niche, I added a marble shelf that is the length of the whole shower.
Enclose the linen storage and create pull-out cabinets for better accessibility.
Originally, the homeowner wanted to eliminate the narrow storage behind the shower to make the shower larger. I convinced her that it wasn’t worth the cost of moving the plumbing. My solution was to build custom cabinets that pulled out for better access. I eliminated some of the depth because the space was narrow and deep and as it was, you couldn’t even reach the back of the existing shelving.