"Be faithful to your own taste, because nothing you really like is ever out of style."
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The biggest change to the bathroom was the enlarged shower.
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There's More to the Job
| Most of the projects we tackle include more than one area of remodel, and our steampunk bar featured at right was no exception. In fact, the bar was only half of the overall Irons Brothers Construction, Inc. project, with the other half being a remodel of one of the home's bathrooms.
Before:
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| | The homeowners wanted to keep the existing vanity, medicine cabinet, and toilet. |
After:
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| | A new countertop and new flooring, plus a little refinishing, gave them the update they were looking for. |
While the bathroom doesn't have the wow factor of the new party bar, we're still pleased with the results. We kept the existing vanity, vintage medicine cabinet, light fixtures, and toilet, but updated the space with new heated tile floors and a new quartz vanity countertop.
However, the biggest transformation was to the shower, which started as a tiny, claustrophobic box of a space, and ended up bright, open, and roomy.
Before:
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This dark, cramped little box of a shower, hidden behind the bathroom door, was not exactly conducive to relaxing showering.
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The mildewy interior measured just 32 by 32 inches.
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After:
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Now the shower is light, bright, and much more open.
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To achieve the amazing shower transformation, we stole space from an adjacent bedroom closet, which allowed us to bump the shower width up to 42 inches. Frameless glass across the front, plus a minimal curb, makes it feel even more open and spacious.
The final touch was to replace the bathroom's entry door with a pocket door, so it no longer swings in front of the shower. The result is a much more inviting and relaxing shower experience.
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Hexagon tiles in the shampoo niche and on the floor complement the subtle patterns of the subway tiles.
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The homeowners refinished the vanity cabinet and medicine cabinet for a low-cost update.
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Design Matters
March 2021
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We always encourage our clients to embrace their unique design styles. Lately, it seems that they're really taking us at our word.
Our featured project this month is just one of many recent examples of highly personalized designs: It's a party-ready bar area with a style inspired by a mix of steampunk and mad scientist, tucked into a corner of a mid-century modern lakefront home. It's definitely not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill entertaining space!
In fact, many of our clients have been making these kind of unique design choices lately -- a trend we noticed even before COVID forced everyone to spend more time at home contemplating their surroundings. For more on that, check out our latest blog, "Is Pinterest Changing Home Design?" on the Albee interior Design website. |
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One design request on this bar project was to leave space for a tall citrus press.
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The bar includes a mix of metals, including a copper sink and custom copper countertop on the island, stainless steel shelving, and backsplash tiles in stainless and copper.
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This Steampunk Speakeasy is Party-Ready
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The COVID pandemic may have temporarily brought a halt to large gatherings, but when things open up again, this home bar will be ready to party!
When Irons Brothers Construction, Inc. initially brought us on as designers of this fun project, the virus had yet to strike, and our clients were eager to amp up the entertainment factor in their Lake Ballinger waterfront home. They had an expansive daylight-basement family room with a bar area and exterior access, but they wanted something with a bit more pizzazz: a cocktail bar that would make a memorable impression on their guests.
Their design request was "steampunk speakeasy, but with a nod to the atomic '60s," with a goal of creating an eye-catching entertainment space that wouldn't be too out-of-line with the mid-century modern design of the rest of the house. The result is this fun bar with a mix of metals and patterns, some mad-scientist inspired light fixtures, and a truly unique riveted-metal ceiling.
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What exactly is "steampunk"? It's a retrofuturistic design style that combines influences of Victorian industrial steam-powered machinery with anachronistic science-fiction technology. Our interpretation includes traditional-styled black cabinets, brass cabinet pulls, and a vintage-looking bridge faucet in oil-rubbed bronze.
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We were able to re-use some existing elements, including a set of stainless-steel shelves that fit with our mixed-metal design. We had also hoped to re-use the existing free-standing island, just replacing or recovering its countertop, but ultimately decided on a custom island to match the rest of the new cabinets, with a riveted flame-hammered copper top.
Before:
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| | The existing mishmash of shelving and countertops didn't provide adequate storage for a fully stocked bar. |
After:
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Now there's much more storage, space for a microwave, and even a small panel-front dishwasher. The clients loved the existing abstract flower artwork, but the bright red and gold clashed with the new darker design, so they repainted it to match.
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We also created a better connection to the exterior, extending the new quartz countertop under the window for easy indoor/outdoor service. The homeowners were able to find a stainless steel table that's the perfect height to place just outside the window, saving the expense of adding an exterior countertop and new pass-through window.
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Before:
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| | By extending the quartz countertop under the window and adding floating shelves, we created a connection to the exterior patio for easy indoor/outdoor entertaining. |
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After:
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The biggest challenge we encountered was the ceiling. The clients knew they wanted something to set the bar apart from the adjacent family room space, and were initially thinking of a modernized version of a Victorian tin ceiling. Then we started exploring other materials, including wood panels in a striking chevron design, but the products we liked weren't recommended for ceiling use.
The clients then decided they wanted a riveted metal design, to mimic the look of a 1940s airplane wing. We were able to find a company that would create custom riveted panels -- but at a cost of $35,000! The Irons Brothers crew, under project manager Mark Jensen, ultimately came up with the solution, sourcing galvanized sheet metal that they textured with an orbital sander for a soft, reflective glow. We provided the size of each panel to fit our exact layout, and the metal fabricator drilled the holes and finished the edges. The "rivets" are actually nickel furniture nails, burnished with steel wool.
And the cost? Just $650! (Of course, that doesn't include the hours of labor required to install the panels over plywood and hammer in 580 nails!)
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As a finishing touch to the design, the creative homeowner bought balsa-wood gears and painted them herself in a metallic finish. Magnets hold them in place, here on the ceiling as well as on the bar's other metallic surfaces.
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For the ceiling design, we had to determine not only the exact size of each panel to be cut, but also the order of installation for the overlap that we wanted to show.
We think the end result was worth the effort, as the finished ceiling is truly one-of-a-kind.
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One of our primary goals at Albee Interior Design has always been to help our clients realize their personal design styles, and we seem to be doing more and more bold and unique projects.
It may be COVID-related, with people spending more time at home and wanting to create more individualized spaces. Or it could be the ever-increasing influence of design shows, websites, and apps like HGTV and Pinterest, as we explore in our latest blog.
But whatever the reason, we love to tackle these creative and distinctive projects, pulling together our clients' wild ideas into fun and functional designs. If you're ready to create a space that's uniquely yours, give us a call!
Wendy Albee and Cathy Briskorn
Albee Interior Design, LLC
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