Bathroom Design

One of the hardest parts of this project has been to design the bathrooms.

For some reason, the kitchen was easy; manuevering thru all the kitchen choices was a piece of cake. But the bathrooms......I was stumped. Maybe it was because there were 3 bathrooms to design as opposed to 1 kitchen. Maybe it was because I was overwhelmed by all the tile choices. At any rate, I decided to hire an interior designer to get me thru my mental block.

It sorta worked and it sorta didn't.

It worked because even though I didn't apply his ideas verbatim, our back and forth dialogue helped give me enough confidence to make a choice and be satisfied with it. It didn't work because it was so darn expensive for what I got. I estimate only 30% of the total design cost went to actual face time with the designer. The rest, 70%, covered shopping trips and administrative fees. In my book, that's not a good enough payback.

So what I've come to realize is, interior design is really about what you like, not necessarily what you think others will like. Design for yourself, not for others. Pick stuff that will put a smile on your face every time you see it!

I know what I like. Unfortunately, I like a lot of different styles :-). So, for example, how do I decide between all these fantastic, beautiful tile designs (drool, drool)? Being the analytical engineer, I just apply a couple of criteria: cost; functionality/practicality; and yes, aesthetics does play into the equation so it must fit into our Modern Farmhouse theme. That helps to narrow my choices. Then once I've got 2-4 options, my new strategy is to ask friends! We have several friends who've remodeled and I admire their design sensibilities. They are perfect for bouncing ideas off of, which is all I really need. So, a big thank you to all my design savvy friends!

Guest Bath elements