BedStuy Reno
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November 10, 2007
bathroom divsion: uncover/discover
Fully realizing that we're drawing this bathroom thing out for longer than necessary (but, to be fair, it's taken us this long to come this far on it), here are some shots of taking down the paper after painting the mouldings, and finally revealing the tile floor and wall niches again. The room looks awesome, and we can't wait to get the fixtures hooked up, which is the next step. Now we call the plumbers.
Comments
it's stunning
Posted by: neene at November 12, 2007 10:10 AM
absolutely jealous of the floor tile. Was this all original?
Posted by: guest at November 12, 2007 3:06 PM
It's making me hate my own bathroom. How beautiful.
Posted by: CrownGardener at November 12, 2007 3:06 PM
I love it! Great use of existing detail, I like the black woodwork here - it's perfect. Combined with the amazing tile work, it's been worth the time. You are going to enjoy this job well done everytime you go in there. Congrats!
Posted by: Montrose Morris at November 12, 2007 3:08 PM
I've been following this wonderful room since the beginning and the results are fabulous. It looks like fairly flat black paint on the woodwork--nice touch!
Posted by: guest at November 12, 2007 3:20 PM
What will the wall niche above the sink hook up be?
Posted by: guest at November 12, 2007 3:24 PM
Looks amazing. And what a great use of that tiny room all brownstones have.
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at November 12, 2007 3:40 PM
Very elegant-- I like the lavender/ black/ white scheme. Would look great with some Aubrey Beardsley prints on the wall (IMHO).
Posted by: guest at November 12, 2007 4:55 PM
BEAUTIFUL!
Posted by: guest at November 12, 2007 5:14 PM
Whoa - incredible! Only because I'm jealous, I will say the lavender will have to grow on me! Simply AWESOME!
Posted by: guest at November 12, 2007 6:15 PM
A visual treat... original and cool.
Posted by: bren at November 12, 2007 6:41 PM
So beautiful that it's making me kind of angry.
Posted by: guest at November 12, 2007 7:49 PM
I have complimented your work previously on the progress but am starting to feel you're painting yourself into a corner. Considering all this work, you may get very tired of the snowflake look sooner than you think and it may make your house harder to sell down the road (especially after the whole installation starts to show wear and tear). At a future open house, it may come to one of those "Oh, my God! ...Honey?...I'm in here! You won't believe how 00's this bathroom is! OMG!" just like we exclaim about 70's or 80's bathrooms and kitchens.
At least you avoided the "moderne" tiresomeness going on right now and didn't, alternatively swing into doing some Victoriana or something with $4m Country Floors 1890's-style tiles but seriously, the frou-frou of the snowflakes may not age well. Plus, you should have used a dark grout...that said, at least you should change from the noncommittal overly light lavender to something better.
I'm sorry. I've just looked at the photos again...chalk it up to menopause but it really looks overworked and kind of ugly to me. I hope the two are you are lipsticks because it's the only thing that would explain this aesthetic.
TGL
Posted by: guest at November 12, 2007 8:33 PM
I hate to say it but i agree with TGL to a large extent. It starts to get very strange when you continue a very specific and overly designed pattern throughout a house, especially when it's in something as permanent as tile. The pattern is cool one time but not when you find it repeating everywhere. Somehow it feels like an amatuer attempt to make some sort of unified design, and i bet it will feel extremely tired very shortly if it hasn't already (it has for me). Sorry to be so negative but TGL's comment was johnny on the spot.
Posted by: guest at November 12, 2007 9:24 PM
Or perhaps, they should continue to love and decorate their home to their taste.
Amazing job!
Posted by: guest at November 12, 2007 9:58 PM
Gorgeous job, This is the kind of detail job that people see when they are looking at a house and realize how much work someone has put into their place.
Posted by: funstraw at November 12, 2007 11:59 PM
hahahhahahahhhah if you get bored looking at something that nice, then you might as well hang it up and move to the suburbs.
P and G - totally sweet, guy.
- bobby p.
Posted by: guest at November 13, 2007 7:41 AM
Bobby Peru is back! Where have you been all my life? I guess we're ready to give you back your tile saw now.
- Peter (with no login to call his own)
Posted by: guest at November 13, 2007 9:47 AM
While it is not my own personal taste, it is still absolutely amazing. Nice job. - Sandy
Posted by: guest at November 13, 2007 9:52 AM
Boobby P.,
No one mentioned getting "bored looking at something that nice". I'm not sure how getting bored looking at something will make me want to up and leave for the burbs...Oh, well...shades of an earlier generation's knee-jerk conversation-ender: "Go (back) to Cuba!"
The point is, cher Bobby--and this is addressed to the people doing up this bathroom, the effort is great but the final product may be too personalized and become a liability in the future...basically a "tear-out" on the tear-out list of the next owner, something that is less than sound environmentally...NOT to put the burden on people to design and execute in such a way as to anticipate tastes and needs 10, 15 or 30 years down the road. No matter what, these small vitreous tiles will pop and need maintenance anyway after 15 or 20 years so maybe someone will decide to redo the bathroom at that time if resources are available.
If anything, please rethink the choice of pale lavender. It’s kind of insipid and the scheme starts to look more like a small, cutesy, boutique-y dress shop or bakery offering overwrought cupcakes and frosted cookies.
LaDamedeGrammaire
Posted by: guest at November 13, 2007 10:44 AM
Okay, it is frou frou, but I think it will age well. I'll take their frou frou over pretty much every other bathroom I've seen in a long time. And I'm a design whore. There just aren't any good bathroom ideas out there, certainly none with a personal interpretation.
They used the most oldschool tile (and completely native to the brownstone aesthetic) and just did a teeny modern twist on it. The color scheme is black and white -- the most classic possible.
And the lavender is a warm and subtly strong touch-- but something they can change every month for the next 10 years if they want.
Great work. You have a decisive, strong and balanced eye, and great personal style. I would hire you to do my interiors (if I wasn't messing mine up myself as we speak!)
Posted by: guest at November 13, 2007 12:43 PM
You're joking, right? We should design our house to the tastes of future people 20 years from now? Fantasy clients?
"the final product may be too personalized"
That's the whole point! Our house, our design, our home. Of course it's personalized!
Grammaire, pal, we are architects. This means when we have clients, we design for them, for a living. The luxury and fun of this project is that we are finally our own clients. Clients on a tight-ass budget. And when we are our own clients, we design for ourselves.
Posted by: guest at November 13, 2007 12:47 PM
Love the tile work (truly outtasight -- anyone who doesn't like is having a severe imagination failure attack) and the black woodwork. Not 100% sure about the lavender walls. It's kinda a grey-blue lavender and a little cold. Have you looked at Benjamin Moore's Amethyst Cream? Much brighter but much warmer too.
Posted by: guest at November 13, 2007 1:06 PM
bravo, p & g. you've designed and executed an original and inspiring space. grammaire: why don't you post pictures of the bathrooms you've designed and tiled and painted for us to critique?
Posted by: guest at November 13, 2007 2:55 PM
omg. it's awesome. nice job! now off to the windows, eh? hope NOT to see you around home depot soon! =P
whoah...btw, there are some hard-to-bear comments here. kinda besides the point, too.
minyoung
Posted by: guest at November 13, 2007 4:30 PM
The grammar lady should pay a visit to the manners lady.
I LOVE what you did, and if I were you I know I'd be thrilled with the design for years to come.
I really like the violet, but what's great with b/w is that you can re-paint the walls almost any color for a change of pace. Very smart.
I hope you celebrate with cocktails in this great room.
Posted by: tinarina at November 14, 2007 1:51 PM
The naysayers aren't getting it, here. This is FABULOUS. I wasn't so sure about it when you started on the floor, but now I see the snowflakes on the wall, I understand what you're doing. You've taken this wonderful, old, traditional hex tile--a nod to the early part of the century--and employed it in a radically modern, larger-than-life pattern. A really chic, witty, striking effect; an utterly original application of a vintagey twist in an almost Hollywood Regency way. Who'd have thought? Are you guys designers or archtects or something? Congrats!!!!!
Posted by: Rehab at November 14, 2007 4:57 PM
I've said it once and I'll say it again--you guys are absolutely an inspiration. When I see everything you guys have done--and done yourselves--while being cost conscious-it gives me hope that we will eventually be able to do it too (although we are not architects and before buying this house -I thought lining the kitchen shelves was a real DIY project). I LOVE that you have made the house yours and although the bathroom is very personalized it has that WOW factor you desired. I think people will look at it in 15-30-or 50 years from now and be blown away by it in the same way we are all currently blown away by intricate wood work and plaster medallions.
Posted by: HomeSweetstuy at November 18, 2007 11:06 AM
HomeSweetstuy,
"...be blown away by it in the same way we are all currently blown away by intricate wood work and plaster medallions" ???
Sorry, but we had our plaster medallions taken out. They were ugly.
Also, a lot of the woodwork in these houses is not intricate but was off the shelf and sometimes pretty darn boring and sometimes not to everyone’s taste.
Remember, there were a good number of styles in the 1800's into the early 1900's and some people may care of one style and not another. Some people don't like any of the styles.
Just like many of us are doing, previous owners have found earlier styles unlivable and had interiors ripped out. This happened through the 1800's with successive owners making modifications and changes and then by the 1920's and up through the 50's interiors were being ripped out wholesale or buildings taken down. There was always some nostalgia for the past but what we have today seems to have its origins in the 60's only truly playing out in the 70's up through today...and then...each generation has had its own idea of "refurbishing"...one person’s idea of restoration /refurbishing may look very dated in 10 or 15 years.
Likelihood with these hex tiles: they'll simply start to pop out over time and another owner will prefer to put down another layer over this floor if materials are then available instead of repairing what is there. Bathrooms and this kind of tile work will rarely last like other rooms' woodwork, door and window casings away from humidity and the kind of heavy usage a bathroom gets and this room will not likely make it 50 years until some possible cycle in taste kicks in whereby this bathroom might be appreciated. There will be a long haul during which much of the bathroom and kitchen work now being done, either frou-frou or mod, will look out of fashion. Very little has ever been spared this fate in our consumer society.
SA, LGDdelaG
Posted by: guest at November 18, 2007 6:20 PM
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