Thursday, August 18, 2011

penny cloud finished

A reader came across my post on the penny clouds and asked for finished pictures. Here they are! I love the penny clouds, particularly the one on the floor in the shower. I wish I had a chance to design another one of these: once you start, the possibilities are endless.

Master Bath with penny cloud at upper right and on floor at left
We used the basic penny tile family from a Chicago tile showroom. We had to use colors from one tile family because different pennies are different dimensions and heights. Penny tile is an inexpensive way to get a tile with some color variation in the glaze. Color variation can be an expensive feature as you get into larger tile because it is usually glazed by hand. We used blue, white, and bronze tiles to achieve this penny cloud.

the wall cloud

the floor cloud
The tub is a basic 5 foot jacuzzi tub with a custom Caesarstone surround. This is a tiny master bath--but it feels spacious and peaceful inside the wet room. One of the things I love about the way the Caesarstone is finished is the tiny lip at the edges of the counters which keep water from dripping off the edge. This quartz material has a matte finish which is easy to maintain and very lovely.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

family house

orange makes a great ground
So we moved in in October 2010. As you can see from the nine month gap in postings, the house became a home and getting it liveable became the priority. We also ran into some serious problems with our builder which made the whole process of getting into the house strained and difficult. The joy and excitement of the blog was overshadowed by long complicated emails to the builder, the subs and finally to lawyers. However, we love the house and are settling in well to it. It is, as hoped, a wonderful family house.

ikea doors as white board

I have been taking process shots all along the way and will add them as chronologically as I can. We are about to embark on the landscaping (!) so I will also post some discussion of my inspirations and how that design process is going.

deep window frames make great dollhouses    
The pictures in this post all show the ways that the kids have modified the house to make it theirs.

  
The big fireplace makes an excellent backboard for wall ball
kid art makes art clock look less lonely

we finished the penthouse: and the kids moved in!