5 Best Home Improvements to Increase Resale Value
Learn how to increase your home resale value with these top improvement ideas.
How Would A Designer Remodel Their Primary Bathroom?
Whenever we work with homeowners to redesign their kitchen or primary bathroom, it’s almost inevitable that at some point during the process they’ll ask, “what would you do?” While they are asking for our expertise based on what we know about their specific needs and desires, and not what we as designers would choose personally, we know that most of our clients are curious about our personal choices when it comes to our own homes.
Have you ever been curious about what a general contractor and a kitchen and bath designer would choose for their own house? Now’s your chance to find out! Last spring, we (Brad and Chelsea – yes we’re married!) bought a new house with the intent to pursue an immediate primary bathroom remodel, with plans to complete the rest of the downstairs, including the kitchen, in a second phase at a later date.
What Was Wrong with the Primary Suite?
When you buy a house that wasn’t custom-built for you, there are bound to be functional adjustments that need to be made for the way you live. The original primary bedroom had brown carpeting and a door to the back porch that we knew we would never use, which threw off the symmetry of the back wall and limited furniture placement in the room.
The primary bathroom was dark, and felt much smaller than its true size, as a large walk-in shower took up most of the floor space. The transom windows in the shower faced opposite the vanity mirrors, so without window treatments, the neighbors across the street could look out their second-story window and see into the primary bathroom.
The original space was also missing a hand-held showerhead – a nightmare for trying to clean anything – and instead featured four body sprays, which use an enormous amount of water. The vanity only had three drawers (which isn’t ideal if you want to limit the arguments in the bathroom when sharing space with a spouse), and there was no place for storing extra toilet paper in the water closet.
But the biggest problem behind the design of this primary bathroom? No bathtub. While many people never use a bathtub and much prefer a larger shower, we determined we wanted to have both. Since going upstairs to the tiny tub/shower combo in the kids’ bathroom was a deal-breaker, we decided that either the bathroom would get remodeled immediately to make space for our dream soaking tub, or we weren’t moving – it was that important.
Luckily, a 66” freestanding tub would fit and still allow ample space for a decent-sized shower, but it would require removing and replacing all three windows, patching the siding and completely repainting that side of the house, and securing HOA approval. No big deal!
Working with the Existing Layout
Due to the placement of the walk-in closet, laundry room, and stairs, the overall layout had to stay the same, but the shower was drastically reduced in size to make space for the freestanding tub. We set back the shower curb a few inches from the closet door casing to make more space in front of the vanity, with the frameless glass shower enclosure making the space feel more open and spacious.
New frameless cabinets in Annapolis Green by Benjamin Moore feature full height door sink cabinets with roll-out shelves inside for easy access. Frameless cabinet construction provides more storage space than framed cabinetry, which is always welcome in a small space. A shallow, matching wall cabinet was placed over the toilet in the water closet to house extra supplies.
Primary Bathroom Materials
Our inspiration started with the turquoise vanity and brushed brass hardware pulls — the rest of this primary bathroom remodel took off from there. The counters, shower curb, and foot prop are made of Silestone quartz that has all the beauty of Calacatta marble but none of the maintenance. The subtle gold veins coordinate with the brass metal tones throughout; since the turquoise vanity anchors the room, we made sure the remaining materials and finishes were neutral.
We chose a 12 x 24” porcelain from Dal-tile that looks exactly like a vein-cut limestone. Not all limestones are suitable for wet locations, and we didn’t want to deal with the maintenance of natural stone. Instead, we used a large format 6 x 18” ceramic tile with a white eggshell finish in the shower. The larger size meant fewer grout joints and the eggshell finish does a remarkable job of hiding water spots between cleanings. A 1” hexagon mosaic tile with a slight non-slip texture makes the perfect surface for the shower floor. The finish it off, we installed shower drain cover from Newport Brass with a hexagonal motif that coordinates perfectly with the surrounding tile. Nothing needs to be generic, even shower drains!
Plumbing Fixtures
The plumbing was one of the easiest parts of this remodel – when it’s your own bathroom, you’re able to use your favorite things! In this case, we included the Victoria and Albert Amiata tub, for its clean and graceful profile. The propriety material is heavy, so it feels substantial when you’re inside it and it doesn’t bounce like thinner acrylic models sometimes do.
We chose the Kohler Pinstripe faucet suite for its classic, slightly masculine lines — and if we’re being completely honest the octagon-shaped hand towel rings. Even though chrome is a classic finish that goes with everything, we would have preferred polished nickel fixtures. Unfortunately, the Hansgrohe shower heads (a non-negotiable for Brad due to their raindance technology) were only available in chrome, so chrome it was. An advantage to using a chrome-like finish is that you can mix and match manufacturers to get exactly what you’re looking for. Not all plumbing suites have every configuration, so knowing which ones we could mix and match easily was key to using parts from several manufacturers.
Since the Pinstripe line didn’t have a wall-mounted tub filler, I found one of comparable quality by Brizo that coordinated well. It has a similar escutcheon to the Pinstripe faucet, and lever handles. Since they’re not right next to each other, you’d never notice they weren’t the same faucet suite.
A Bathroom Remodel Without Challenges? Not Even for The Pros
We’d love to say that because we were the “clients”, everything went off without a hitch, but construction doesn’t discriminate — there will always be stress and there will always be delays, no matter how well you plan. Even we had to deal with a missing part and some damaged materials. One side of the house was without siding, exposed to the elements the day before the rains from Hurricane Florence hit! Luckily our team got the siding up just in time so we didn’t have to worry. Our house was a dusty construction zone, and not wanting to have our new custom upholstered bed delivered before or during construction, we slept on a mattress upstairs on the floor for four months while we planned and executed the project. It was not glamorous. Remodeling is uncomfortable, but a few weeks or months of discomfort is worth years of enjoyment later.
6 Bright Ideas for Using Bold Colors at Home
No matter how confident you are, if you’ve ever considered remodeling or redesigning your home it’s inevitable that you’ve considered a bold color palette asked yourself, will I still like what I choose today, ten years from now? The truth is, trends will continue to change as product lines and designers continue to innovate. Sure, the classics will continue to repeat themselves as they are reinvented in some shape or form indefinitely (think white kitchens and black and white bathrooms), but overall, styles evolve, and yours likely will too.
Bold Color Palette: Paradox of Choice
We live in a society of instant gratification and constant comparison. The paradox of choice is a very real phenomenon – we sometimes see it with our clients as they’re going through the design phase after months of Pinterest addiction. Quite simply there are too many options, and the fear of finding something better paralyzes them into indecision. But here’s the thing – there will ALWAYS be something better. When we make a suggestion for a material or product it’s because we know it will get you the result you’re looking for, even if you can’t see how it relates to the big picture. If you’re one of those people that’s drawn to a bold color palette or designs — as designers, we can totally relate —choose one thing and truly make it your own. Everything else will fall into place.
Consider Your Long-Term Plans
If you’re still worried about committing to a bold design, it’s important to consider which phase of life you’re in and how much longer your family intends to stay in your current home. If you know you’ll be moving in the next 3-5 years, erring on the more conservative side would be wise. You don’t want to deter a potential buyer by choosing something highly trendy that’s difficult or incredibly costly to replace. Nothing is truly permanent, but purple kitchen cabinets are going to be much more difficult to change than kitchen faucets or decorative lighting.
Sticking around for ten years or more? Do what makes you happy. Ten years is a long time to live with something you don’t absolutely love. You can tone it down when it’s time to put your house on the market after years of enjoyment.
Bring On All the Colors
As a design-build remodeling company, our design team loves any opportunity to flex our creative muscles to create something you’ll love. At the annual Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS), colors were huge for 2019. We’ve been seeing a resurgence of bold color slowly creeping back into the market for a couple of years now. As consumers get exposed to new trends, and let go of the fear of avocado green trauma from the 1970’s, we’ll be seeing more and more color introduced into the home.
Whether you’re a classicist, or a trend-setter, we thought you’d like to see some of our favorite new products from KBIS and how you could work them into your kitchen or bathroom remodel.
Don’t Underestimate the Power of Your Kitchen Faucet
You know we love mixing metals, so it may come as no surprise that we are absolutely smitten with the new ombré finish on Kohler’s Sensate Touchless kitchen faucet. Your kitchen faucet is the most used fixture in your house, so choosing one that’s made of high-quality materials is always worth the cost. In addition to the innovative two-tone finish that transitions from rose gold to polished nickel (or titanium to rose gold) we also love the touchless technology. The last thing you want to do when you have raw chicken juice all over your hands is touch anything. Touchless technologies ensure you can wash your hands without spreading grease or bacteria, saving you clean-up time and creating peace of mind for you and your family.
Add Some Personality to Your Kids’ Bath
It’s not uncommon to want to choose more cost-effective materials for your kids’ bathroom in order to splurge on your master suite. But cost-effective doesn’t have to be boring. Why not introduce a colorful stripe pattern in the shower using the new Color Wheel Collection from Daltile?
Classic stripes are synonymous with laughter-filled summer afternoons by the pool – who doesn’t want that feeling year-round? If navy is the new black, then emerald is the new navy. We’d love to see an emerald and white stripe paired with a black painted vanity, white quartz counter for easy maintenance, and brushed brass plumbing fixtures. Anyone ready to remodel their kids’ bathroom?
Add Some Flair to Your Front Entry
Not ready to commit to bringing a bold color palette indoors? How about setting your house apart from the neighbors with some colorful exterior door hardware. While we are huge proponents of a colorful front door, this is an either-or situation. Turquoise hardware on a red door is probably not going to give you the look you were after, but turquoise hardware on a black, mid-century, modern style door may be just the thing to make you say, Welcome home, at the end of a long day. While we don’t expect anyone to rush right out and buy this hardware, we thought it was a clever way to introduce a bold color in an unexpected place. This could easily be repeated around the front door by adding matching, colorful planters.
Whether you’re on board with the bold color trend or you think that neutral is always the way to go, don’t be afraid to stretch your limits — especially if you’re planning on staying in your home for a long time. Unsure of where to start? Our design team would love to help guide you through the home remodel of your dreams. Give us a call today to start a conversation.
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