AbbeyK — On Interior Design

Bathrooms, tiling to the ceiling

There are a lot of homes out there with small bathrooms. In this situation, I am a big fan of tiling to the ceiling. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but tiling to the ceiling actually makes the room look bigger. It does not make you feel fenced in, which is the typical fear.

When you have a line of tile going around the room, your eye follows the zig zag of the line. Typically in a bathroom, you see a lot of tiling of the shower to the ceiling, and out side the shower to chair rail height.

One thing I never like is showers tiled and the rest of the walls paint. This looks like you ran out of money.

Here are a few bathrooms that I tiled to the ceiling. One bathroom was only 4' x 5'!!!

This Old House Progress

We are still hard at work on the lighting. The challenges so far have been what to do in the entry. Maddy really wants a chandelier there. But it's tough dimension wise. We are now thinking about sconces to clean up the entry. That was Treff LaFleche, the architect's, idea.

Looks like we might be using Grag Studios lighting in the hallway. I am excited about that. Love their sconces.

It's a great line and the hand-made quality is divine. I like things that look touched by a human.

The challenge on this project is bridging the old with the new. Maddy has some antique lighting she really loves and would like to incorporate. So finishes have to work together, an the coordinating new pieces have to have the right look/feel and they have to shed enough light.

Some antique furniture, she'd like to use as well. Every decision impacts another, so for example, the antique chairs she wants to use around the kitchen table need to speak somehow to the counter stools around the island. The challenge there is the dimension for the counter stools.... Maddy wants 4 counter stools so that means the stools can be no more than 18" wide. That dimension is limiting so what that means is that we have to find small scale *and* coordinating with the chairs *and* available in time.... So we are working on that.

Maddy and I have started on decor, now that we have a good idea of tile/cabinets for the kitchen and bath rooms. We have a lot to do: master bedroom, family room, window treatments in most of the house, built-in seat cushions in a many rooms. Paul's "man cave" billiard room on the third floor. And it all has to go together and flow.

We had a really good meeting last week where we looked at everything together: fabric, tile, cabinets, hardware finishes and I think it started to come together for her. That's good. I can only imagine how overwhelming it is to make all the decisions.

Wellesley bath renovation window treatments

Here's the window treatment finished. Bathroom is divine. Client is happy. What more could you want?
Good-bye to pink. (Yes it's the same bathroom.) I don't do balloon valances very often, but they seemed to add a nice roundness (echoing the medicine cabinet arch) to the otherwise straight lines of the room and tile.