Here Comes The Decorator

My next door neighbors came over to Haven last Saturday in a panic as they had gotten started on bathroom renovations with a contractor and they felt like they had gotten in over their heads. I was only too happy to do a walk through and give them some advice and have now been hired to see the project through. These neighbors moved to the Fan about a year ahead of Harry and me, purchased a house that had been subdivided into two apartments, and have since brought it back to a single family home. The wife is a very talented watercolor artist, potter and gardener so therefore, has an eye for color and scale, but just has trouble verbalizing what she is seeking in the transformation of her space. Add to that a streak of sentimentality that has caused her to carry around her grandmother's claw foot tub for years looking for a permanent home.
Above is a magazine page (sorry, don't know from where) of inspiration for the Powder Room. The contractor was given this photograph to go off of and he got it mostly right but there were some issues. For one, the top piece of molding was supposed to be a shelf so that the wife could put some of her pottery around. So, they placed a 2 x 4 all around the room, notching out when they came to both sets of radiator pipes. That just had to go. They also had made the executive decision not to put in a vent fan and to put a down light right over the sink. Ugh. Not the right kind of lighting for a vanity. So, we made an appointment for me to meet the contractor on Monday morning so that we could go over the changes.

I got the feeling they weren't happy to see me. Their faces gave that away. I know they weren't happy to have to pull out work that they felt was finished. Sometimes I think contractors think that decorators don't know what they're doing - that we're just fluff.

So, forging ahead, I asked them to change the top piece of trim - or to rip it and rout it. I had convinced the wife to not clutter up the space with things on a shelf. Then I asked them to drywall over the ceiling can opening, make two openings for sconces over the sink and put in a vent fan. Then I asked them to drywall over the built in shelf that was on the opposite wall from the door. Silence. The husband told them that I was now the contact person. I thanked them all for being so flexible and understanding and asked them to call me when the first piece of trim had been changed. To make a long story short, they did what I asked, it looks great and when I went back over there late in the day the carpenter was singing. Phew.
Here is a shot I took with my iphone yesterday while the painters were taking their turn in the Powder Room. The tub is getting a new paint job and will get placed today. The walls are Benjamin Moore Silver Lake and the trim is Benjamin Moore Decorator White.

The ceiling is getting this little gem of a chandelier and the sconces, pictured below, are off being electrified and will be placed on either side of the Pottery Barn Mirror, in the brushed finish, shown (polished below the sconces.

It is fun having a project right next door - I can pop over several times a day to check progress or answer questions. This week a jacuzzi tub is being installed in the master bath - help is needed in deciding how to do the decking around the tub as well as the apron. More on that tomorrow.

Happy Martin Luther King Day.