It's easy to “say” you want to remodel your bathroom but understand it's a lot of work, even if you're only responsible for all the design and product decisions. With a bathroom remodel you might want a tile floor and maybe tile walls? Maybe it's time to update the shower and/or bathtub and there are some exciting new choices here. Those are the big decisions, but there are many smaller decisions that take lots of time to plan for, plus coordinating colors shopping for fixtures and materials.
Most people think working with a decorator is expensive, until you see how much time decorators can save you by recommending colors and textures they know work well together. They can also save you money by recommending alternatives that are less costly or where to shop for the top quality materials at lower prices.
Getting Help from a Decorator
When one of my handyman customers purchased a condo, he wanted to remodel both bathrooms and replace all the carpeting with hardwood floors. It was a big project with a big budget and it made sense to include a decorator to help make the many decisions quickly. Jennifer Myers Interiors worked with the client to select several tile choices for the master bathroom (we put wainscotting in the shared bath). Our customer originally wanted to tile the walls to three-quarter height but when we saw the cost of the bronze bathroom fixtures, we recommended a tile chair rail to give the feeling of tiled walls but at a much lower cost. The customer liked the idea and the savings so we'd stay within budget.
Finding the Right Tile Chair Rail
Working with the tile already selected for the bathroom floor and shower walls, our decorator picked out 3 different chair rail designs. With the lower half of the shower walls tiled, we attached the sample chair rail tile to the walls and took photos. Our client traveled extensively so we posted the photos online and he was able to make his decision from these photos (larger ones where he could see the details).
We actually had 2 decisions to make at this point in the project.
- Select a chair rail design, for the shower and around the perimeter of the room.
- Select tile to for the upper shower walls, i.e. match the tile below or pick a lighter color.
If you peak at the photo above, you'll see which chair rail design that was picked … and the surprise was the smaller tiles used above the chair rail in a lighter color to brighten the room and make the bathroom feel bigger.
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