Thursday, June 25, 2015

It Is Never Just ONE Decision!




When choosing elements for a new home, or a re-do it is never just one single decision that you have to make.

 All of your decisions will be connected in one way, or another. You must stay aware of this in your design making process. There will also be compromises that will have to be made along the way, as well.



Compromises are part of the design process. We all have to make them at one time or another.

They are usually based on, availability, practicality and affordability. What one person will compromise on another would not even think of making that compromise.


First I have to say that when I use the word compromise in referring to any of my design choices, it really is not a complaint at all because, let’s face it, it is unbelievable to me that I get to buy a brand new home at our age.

When I speak of a compromise it is based on what I wished I could have had over what I chose due to the criteria of availability, practicality or affordability. 

Today's post is all about making choices/decisions where compromises were made, and what I based my choices on.
In our newly built home we will have two full baths. One in the guest bedroom area, and one in our master bedroom.

 This is an image of a standard guest bathroom. You can see the color of the  standard countertop. 

I opted for a shower in the guest area because no one in our family takes baths, and if my Mom gets to visit I did not want her to have to get in, and out of a bathtub. 


Of course that was an upgrade, but worth it to me for future safety purposes. That choice was based on practicality.

The standard option for counter tops, and shower walls in both bathrooms was a solid surface product called Piedrafina. It is ground up marble with resin added to it to bind it together.

The builder offered one standard option in a beige tone, which I am referring to as sand, or linen in order to help me see it differently in my brain since I am not much of a beige gal. (it is all in attitude)


piedrafina arena counter top

It is very neutral, and light enough that I am going to make it work in my design pallet.

This is a girl that wanted white, or Carrera marble, neither were offered, without a horribly expensive upgrade, and marble was not even offered. 

I personally could not justify the expense (affordability), so this will be on the counters and on the shower walls. I did upgrade the counters edge to a thicker profile.

This one decision (the slab counter top), dictated the tile flooring choices, and also the carpet that will butt up to the tile in the master bedroom area. Sigh!

They had standard choices that ranged in color from beige, to beiger, to beigest. This is where I had to decide on standard, or upgrade. 

If I had chosen the standard choice in the tile, then I would have had to choose a color of carpet that would not go with anything in my master bedroom, or home.



 Sooooooo I had to do an upgraded tile.

Now you would think since I was upgrading there would be lots of choices, and for some their would have been, but from the non-loving-beige girl I was very, very limited.

This is when I had to quickly put on my designers hat and think rapidly of possible design choices in the future. Luckily my cabinetry was all white so that was my starting point. I had …..

White cabinets

P1150179 (453x800) new house kitchen - Copy

Neutral/Sand Colored counter top
 and shower walls……

piedrafina arena counter top
I can make this work if I keep my master bathroom sand ,and white because my bedroom furniture is linen and creams.

Ribbet collage MASTER BEDROOM

This won’t be so hard after all, until I took other elements into consideration.

Now we have to choose the floor tile. This is where it became a bit harder for me because I had to choose something that would work with the shower walls that would butt right up next to the Piedrafina  in the shower.

I chose a 2X2 matte white tile for the shower flooring since I want to keep the white, and cream color scheme going in both bathrooms.

I kept in mind, light, soft and sand. The only tile that would work that was offered that I remotely liked was a porcelain Travertine tile, but it was CREAM!!

Okay, I can make this work!!! To make it look a bit more up to date, and current I chose a 12 X 24in. tile that will be installed in a brick pattern .


The grout I chose is very close to the overall background color so it will be a soft look. Notice I keep using the same buzz words, light, soft, cream, sand and white?


It does have some colors in there that I am not that fond of, but I am going to try, and neutralize those by keeping the surrounding elements neutral, and soft.

This tile will also be in the laundry room, and the guest bathroom which will butt up to the hardwood flooring in the guest area hallway.

Something else to think about!!  
So now I have to keep in mind not just the carpet in the master bedroom, but the hardwood flooring. 

Remember when choosing elements always, always, keep in mind how they will relate to the elements that they will be in direct contact with, and also how you can make them work into the look, and feel of your home. 

All of these thought processes were going on in my mind at one time, and Oh! one more thing, the grout color also had to blend with the carpet and the tile.

Counter top, tile flooring, grout, carpet, hardwood, all needed to look good with each other. Yikes!!

Next was the carpet, AGAIN, I had to upgrade in order to get a soft sand color that would blend with the travertine, and work with my existing bedroom furniture.

Here are the three elements lined up next to each other. I know everyone’s monitor will read the colors differently, so you will have to trust me that they all work well together.




Ribbet collage New house bed, carpet and tile

I know that most people think it is always a slam dunk for designers, but you can see we have the same struggles as our clients.

We can not get whatever we want, and what we want is not always attainable.

 However, as long as you have an over all plan, and feel for  your home you will be able to adjust accordingly, and come up with a  look, and feel for your home that you will be comfortable with in the end.

The Important Take-Away:

  • Make an overall design plan before ever making any purchases.
  •  
  • Always make sure that  all of your elements marry well together.
  •  
  • Never choose one element without thinking of what other elements in the room it will be next too or seen with.
  •  
Remember these three take-aways whenever you make changes in your home. 

It is all in the details, and you need to think them through before jumping in with both feet, and possibly make an expensive mistake.

I don't have a complete decorating plan as far as accents for my bathrooms, but we will be exploring some ideas together in some of my upcoming post.

Stay tuned for my continued journey!
I plan on continuing to:

"Enjoy the Process!"