Inspiration comes from all sorts of places, and sometimes the jumping off point of a design comes from one idea. I’d seen a wall color that spoke to me. A luscious shade of pale silvery green that originated from Restoration Hardware, and Benjamin Moore is remarkable at matching shades from any source. I ordered a sample and painted a foam core board as the beginning of what would become our Master Suite.
I showed this to our bathroom designer and she found a stunning cabinet style in a shade called Rain – another perfectly delicious pale silvery green. Finding tile to complement this proved a challenge. After much search I ended up using Garden State Tile (weird how this is a NJ firm that I’d actually done some advertising work for, about 25 years ago, when they were brand new. Now they have showrooms all over the east coast and a beautiful one in Savannah!). We are using a lot of white. I like the spa like feel to a white-ish bathroom. The silvery green helps it not look antiseptic. We chose a quartz counter top. I had considered Carrara marble which was initially part our designer’s ideas, but I’m just feeling it’s over used right now. And I wanted something more durable and more modern. My tile representative found a watery glass accent tile for the sink backsplash and inside a framed niche in the shower. And we chose a sensational river stone flooring for the shower.
(Isn't this hilarious!? A big pink jetted tub with gold fixtures and flowered tile. )
While the bathroom space was good, the layout needed tweaking. I removed (and eliminated) the jetted tub. I never used it in any of my houses and could care less about “resale.” I don’t want it. We created a “water closet” (i.e.: toilet with a door) and opened up the walk in shower to be truly “walk in”. The house was built with a small “office” in the front of the house on the master bedroom and bath side of the house. It had oak cabinetry and heavy wallpaper. A real masculine den. I’m reusing all the cabinetry in Doug’s office. Once the wall paper was stripped and the cabinets gone the room was perfect – for my dressing room.
Walls going back up. Tile going down on the floors.
Visiting showrooms and getting educated has helped the design process. With as many decisions that I’ve had to make, I’ve come rely on good solid resources that have come highly recommended and I ask a lot of questions. At some point one has to “pull the trigger” and make decisions. As I’ve done that I’ve prepared story boards for each. They are full of my choices, as well as my inspirations. Doug and I shopped the Restoration Store in NJ and their warehouse and I found bedding that was divine and that became the launch point for the Master Bedroom, bath and our dressing rooms. Because we have been married nearly 40 years we own a lot of “stuff”. Some of it I sold before we even began to pack up, and some I’m attached to. Because it’s sentimental, practical or I just love it. And so that was often a jumping off point. I wanted the hallways, Great room, kitchen and dining room – which all connect – to be in a cool shade of gray-taupe.
Our windows are large and plentiful and the “view” is the color I want to focus on so for the wall colors, I wanted more subdued. The carpet in the Master bedroom takes a cue from the hallway walls with a soft mushroom color called Moonlight. The walls in the bath room, closets and bedroom will be the pale gray green.
It's all part of our new story.
