Monday, November 21, 2011

My Master Bath (almost finished…)

In my last post on half canopies, I mentioned my master bath and that I would post more to come later. Well, what the heck.. let's call it later.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

Really, I wanted to call this post "putting furniture in bathrooms" because that was my inspiration for this master bath. We built our house 6 years ago, and I had just enough time before building began, to tweak a spec house plan and re-draw several spaces. This was one of the most fun to design. The original plan was nothing like this. I took the upstairs laundry room and made it our closet. (I'm a downstairs laundry person.)

It was Bunny Williams who said, "Bathrooms can either be spa like, with tile or marble walls, or they can feel more like dressing rooms with painted or wallpapered walls". (from her book, Point of View) I went with the dressing room point of view.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

My goal was to look into the bathroom, and see an extension of the bedroom. No sinks, no toilet, no shower or tub. I wanted a framed view that would be inviting and calming. The view out the back of our house was the reason we built here. It's a dandy, with forest and field.

I used a pocket door to avoid a door swing on either side. It also created more of a cased opening to the space. I needed the wall space in both the bedroom and bathroom, knowing I wanted to place my grandmother's sofa and chair in a sitting area, and use the wall space in the bathroom too.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

My husband and I knew we didn't want any kind of tub, including a soaking or jet tub. We had one at our previous home and it was the indoor swimming pool for the kids. In this home, we re-claimed our bathroom- and the kids were older, growing out of tub playtime. My builder was very leery about the no tub idea, but he came around in the end.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

Above is where I wanted to place furniture. This is the dressing room extension of the bedroom. While it's not a small bathroom, it's not a particularly large bathroom either. Not having a tub certainly gave us more real estate to play with.

The door on the left is to the closet. In the original house plans, this was the laundry room- accessible in the hall that had a straight shot view from the foyer.. ok, that's no good. Who wants to greet their guests and look up the stairs to the laundry room? I also added the toilet room on the other side.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

Above- looking out from the chair into the bedroom, and the pocket door from the other side. And, if you look even closer.. yes, that bird print is tacked up on the wall with painters tape (needs to be framed). There are many more of these prints I'll be putting up on my Etsy Shop in the next few weeks. They are fabulous!!

I may have to change out those dresser lamps at some point. Just haven't found the right ones yet.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

This is the double shower we opted for over the tub. I don't miss anything about having a tub. Either you're a tub person and have to have one - or you never use it and it collects dust.

While I have a simple white, fabric shower curtain at the moment, I'll be pulling in fabric from the half canopy and use as a curtain on the outside.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

The urn and bird candle sconces - a clearance purchase from Wisteria many years back.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

The double sink is tucked back on the other side of the double window and behind the shower. If ever a future home owner wants a tub, this would be the spot. A double sink would fit nicely where the dresser is. Just a matter of tearing up the kitchen ceiling below to install plumbing!

While I just love the look of a lower, open shelf double sink cabinet, I opted for lots of closed storage instead for the sink cabinet. The dressing mirror works great not only for dressing, but also reflects the view out back and brings in that much more natural light.

Tablescaping....

Below is a ready-made frame from Michaels. It's a bit hard to make out the picture, but I took a book apart and framed the photography.. of Italy. The book was a clearance item at Barnes and Noble. Made a wonderfully, soothing picture to wake up to. The tray was found at Old Lucketts in Leesburg, Va. and the little sugar bowl was a vintage find on one of my hunts.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

On the dresser are my kids... they are now all teenagers, but in this space, I like my collection of "when they were little...".

And, another photograph, torn out of the book and framed. Both of the larger framed Italy photographs lean against larger mirrors. It's nice to break up all that mirror a bit.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

And, my sister bear. This is a vintage, white, leather polar bear my sister sent to me a few months back. She has one just like it. When I was out , I saw her bear and remembered it growing up when we shared a bedroom. I hadn't thought of that little leather, polar bear in sooo long. It was such a fun surprise to have one too, it makes me smile every morning I see it.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

So, that's about it for the tour. Still some projects here and there. I'll be sure to post pictures with the bedroom half canopy and other finishing details.

Happy Monday!

Master Bedroom - half canopy thoughts

I mentioned my master bedroom/bathroom re-do a while back, I think it was last spring. Most of the bedroom is finished, it's the long bed wall that I had been wavering on.

I keep coming back to the idea of a half canopy.

So far, this picture is my all time favorite. I love the double lamps; tiny lamps for reading in bed and large lamps for overall lighting.

(Southern Living)

Below is my current state of affairs on the long bed wall in my master bedroom. You don't normally see a half canopy on a shorter 4 poster bed. My husband and I have had this bed for almost 20 years. I still love it as much as I did the day we found it down at Greenfront Furniture. So, it's staying. I love the wood headboard in the Southern Living picture above. I'll add a bedskirt too.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

I had played around with a series of prints closely hung above the bed. But, really want to hang pictures behind the tall lamps I found at the Design House at Old Lucketts a few months back. Plus, as you tour around my master bedroom pictures, I already have enough framed pieces.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

Yes, a ceiling fan. When we had the house built, I was hands down no ceiling fan. I love the lantern in the first inspiration picture, thought I would do something like the lantern. But.. for those of you who just love a fan year around... gotta have it. We had it installed after we moved in. So much for the lantern.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

Yes, it's time for a half canopy, it will balance out the window treatments and give the bed more weight on the long wall.

Another inspiration room with similar balance:

(photo credit: eclecticrevisited.wordpress.com)

Just so lovely, cozy, and relaxing...

(photo credit: Elle Decor)

The sitting area still needs some attention too. I'll need to cover the 2 pillows on my grandmother's sofa. Floor lamp needs up dating as well. You can see through to my master bathroom, to the master bath. I had designed the bathroom before the house was built. My goal was to have a pocket door to the bathroom, that when looking through the master bedroom, it would look just like another room. More on the bathroom to come... still finishing up those final details.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

So, now onto additional fabrics to pull in. I bought this bird and vine fabric by Kravat (don't have the name of it) when I started the bedroom design. Maybe a plaid on the inside and birds on the outside of the half canopy.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc)

More fabric sampling, pillows to cover, bedding to figure out, and bits here and there. Soon to be a finished space, hopefully sooner rather than later....

A few more half canopies:

(photo credit: Elle Decor)

(photo credit: Shannon Berrey.com)

(photo credit: Southern Accents)

(photo credit: Interior Design Home)

(photo credit: Kelley Proximire)

(photo credit: eclecticrevisited.wordpress.com)

If you're interested in trying your DIY skills, here's a link to a tutorial on how to make this half canopy here.

Deep ocean blue

Deep Ocean Blues

on my mind...

(photo credit: Decorpad)

Having just returned from a week at the Outer Banks in North Carolina, I definitely have ocean blues on my design mind.

We rented a house on the Pamlico Sound side. Being right on the water, we kayaked, we crabbed (caught just one) and celebrated sunsets. The waters seemed a deeper blue on the sound side.

(photo credit: Natural Curiosities .com)

I kept thinking of this amazing piece, Lord Bodner in blue by Natural Curiosities. I first saw it while at High Point Market in the Spring at the Natural Curiosities showroom.

I'm sure large sea creatures were not lurking in these waters off our dock as I took pictures of my boys. But these blues captured my attention; the blue kayak, the play of light off blue water as the sun was setting over the sound.

(photo credit: Muraca Design, Inc.)

Deep indigo and navy work not just for coastal homes. I love the look of this deep blue (almost black?) fern art over the ink blue cabinet.

(photo credit: Kate Spade via The Selby)

(photo credit: Decorpad)

This handsome cabinet sits well against the feminine floral wallpaper (or maybe a mural).

The silk curtain panels help pull the masculine and feminine pieces together.

When there isn't much wall, using a strong, bold color can really add architecture to a room.

(photo credit: Decorpad)

(photo credit: Domino)

(photo credit: Elle Decor)

(photo credit: Decorpad)

The walls in this room appear to be taller than the dark blue paint color.

The paint line stops below the window trim and at the curtain hardware line.

These walls may be upholstered rather than painted, a way to achieve such rich color depth that paint cannot do.