Next Generation

One of the most rewarding aspects of being an interior designer is when customers welcome me back to their home to design another room. After Lee and her husband, Matt, bought Lee’s childhood home in Whitehouse, Ohio they decided to remodel the 1973-built home — one room at a time. The kitchen was first. Matt and Lee were extremely happy with the final results of their kitchen renovation. The beautiful makeover ended up being featured in the ‘Show & Tell’ page in Kitchen Makeovers. A year later they hired me to transform their guest bathroom.

As a teenager Lee used to stand in this very same bathroom, in front of the bathroom mirror, flipping and smoothing her Farrah Fawcett style locks. And now here she was, decades later, asking me to renovate this very same room. Though Lee’s life was now completely different (she was married with 2 sons: Eric, 13, and Evan, 11), little about the space had changed since the early 1980s.

“This bathroom needs a serious facelift,” Lee said. I couldn’t have agreed with her more. It was overrun with gold-finishes on everything: bathtub, ceramic tile, toilet, and two sinks. There was outdated blue and mauve wallpaper which was a painful testament to the 1980s. And the laminate vanity top and mirror with round dressing-style lightbulbs clearly belonged to the era of feathered hair. Lee told me she wanted to redo the bathroom economically so that she’d have enough money to possibly renovate their master en suite. The wonderful homeowners decided to keep the footprint of this bathroom intact, but rip out the tub, toilet, cabinetry, and sinks. They planned to replace them with materials that offered a high-end look for a low price.

One of the ways we saved money was to use Showplace Cabinetry. We used red oak, which is a low cost wood species. The distressed charcoal stain with red undertones gave the cabinets a custom, polished look. Once the dark stain cabinets were decided on, the rest of the pieces — red accent wall, polished nickel hardware, black and taupe speckled Hi Macs solid surface vanity top — just fell into place. Lee didn’t want the room to look too feminine because it was for her teenage boys. But she wanted it to be appropriate for guests, so she wanted some elegance.

At first the Zelinas considered having wall tiles installed around the tub, but again, they wanted something more economical. So, I steered them toward a 4-piece shower/tub combo with a wall surround. The acrylic material resists chipping and offers an easy to care for surface for growing boys. The homeowners dressed up the plain surround by installing a border of the same decorative tiles used as for the backsplash. The new, clean-looking tub/shower combo offers the Zelinas flexibility. The boys can take quick showers, but guests can soak in the tub if they prefer. And the entire unit is easy to clean.

Flooring was another area the Zelinas saved money. Matt and Lee looked at ceramic tile, but it was too shiny and didn’t quite satisfy their vision of the atmosphere that they had envisioned. I suggested they use less expensive porcelain because it offered the look of natural stone.

Lee now has the best of both worlds: fantastic childhood memories of growing up in this house, alongside all the great amenities that make it wonderful to live here as an adult with a family. Not only that but Eric and Evan now have the perfect place to spritz and gel their own high-maintenance teenage hairstyles. Of course, whenever Lee points this out to her teenaged sons, she gets eyerolls.

This project was a huge success! And it got featured in another magazine! Both Lee and I were over the moon when Kitchen + Bath Makeovers by Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications editor contacted me to feature the makeover! We were also featured in the newspaper! Those were exciting times.