Before & After: Remodeling the Bathroom at the Ronald McDonald House

I continue the Before and After series of my Ronald McDonald house remodel today, with a focus on the remodel of the existing Bathroom.

Although perfectly clean and hospitable, the existing space and finishes were not necessarily the oasis and refuge I was hoping to create.

My initial inspiration for my room, began with images that made me feel a little touch of "home" .. my beloved Lisbon, Portugal. I love the way blue and white pattern is so dominant in so much of the visual landscape of the city.. and patterned "calcada" stone cover many of the old city streets.

So when I saw a post by Lee Nicholson of Filmore Clark based in Los Angeles, I knew this would be the PERFECT fit and reached out to Lee right away. To my great surprise, she was so excited to partner with me on the room, that we started designing these custom concrete tiles to match my color scheme right away.

So we got busy quite quickly, as these tiles are custom made and take some time to produce and chose my color palette. 

The concept for the Bathroom .. with colored elevation for the installers to follow

In order to complete the look, I decided to reach out to the amazing team at Brizo, and ask them if they would too be interested in participating in my bathroom remodel.

I remembered from my time with them at New York Fashion Week that there was a collection inspired by the lighthouses in Portugal so without beating that theme to a pulp, it just so happened that they were the perfect match and fit for the existing plumbing.

The Baliza collection, by Brizo, is a beautiful pairing to the concrete tiles by Filmore Clark.

Right before the time to have my tiles come in and start the installation of the bathroom, I was grateful to have received a sample of the rendered selection for the final color palette before it was shipped out.

Take 1 - Not exactly what we were looking for...

Needless to say, I was looking for a more gray tone and wasn't thrilled with this color mixture. It just didn't feel right. If there is a lesson to be learned here, ALWAYS GET A SAMPLE!

So with the help from Lee at Filmore Clark, I was able to change the beige tone closer to the gray that we were looking for... and they came out in perfectly!

Perfected color way ... and final result!

No install ever goes without it's mishaps but I must say that thanks to some quick thinking, a little help from Diamond Glass with some quick mirror install, and help from Laurence of House of Laurence that donated the labor to install the bathrooms throughout the house, the final result is one that I am truly proud of.

Thanks to Raina Kattelson for some *STYLING* love before my Photo Shoot 

Over the course of the next few weeks I will continue the Before & After series moments of mine as well as  all the rooms with special focus on the amazing brands that have made it possible for me to participate:

à BAKER FURNITURE – www.bakerfurniture.com

à BENJAMIN MOORE – www.benjaminmoore.com

à BRIZO – www.brizo.com

à BRUNSCHWIG et FILS – www.brunschwig.com

à CALIFORNIA CLOSETS – www.caliclosets.com Contact: Carolyn Musher 

à CURREY & CO – www.curreycodealers.com

à CUSTOM WINDOWS – (203) 231-3659 Contact: John Hayes

à FILMORE CLARK – http://filmoreclark.com/

à GRACIE – www.graciestudio.com

à KENISE BARNES – http://kbfa.com/

à KRAVET – www.kravet.com

à LEE JOFA -  www.leejofa.com

à OLIVER’S HOUSE PAINTING, LLC – T: 914 954-3742

à STARK - www.starkcarpet.com  Contact: Adam Khan - T: 203-899-1771
à THE FINISHED WALL - Contact: Angela Capan & Nancy Schadt. www.thefinishedwall.com

Please make sure to visit each of their websites, as they are simply amazing!

Open October 11-14th ONLY.
This is an event you do NOT want to miss!
Call 516-775-5683 x129 to reserve your tickets today! Kravet NYC&G


Designers participation:  Amanda Nisbet, Anthony Baratta, The Breakfast Room, Bunny Williams, Core Consulting, Danielle Colding Design, Delrose Design, Drake Design Associates, Drew McGukin Interiors, Dwell Studio, Elaine Griffin Interior Design, Eric Colher, Kate Singer, Kim E Courtney Interiors & Designs, Mabley Handler Interior Design, Margreet Cevasco Design, Matthew Patrick Smyth, Meg Braff Designs, Mehditash Design (thats me!) Michael Herold Design, Michael Tavano Design, Mr Call Design, Nick Olsen, Pappas & Mirron Design, Tilton Fenwick Young Huh Interior Design, 

Before and After Series: My Ronald McDonald Project Design Remodel

I thought the best way to showcase the remodel of my room at the Ronald McDonald house of Long Island would be to show you the Before & After shots and take you step by step through the design concept, the ordering and the install (and all of the dramas that occurred in between!) so that it would be the most genuine representation of all we do as designers when putting together any design scheme for our clients.

It may look like we sprinkle some fairy dust into the room, and voila, magic appears but in fact that isn't the case!

On our tour of the house, we were asked to select our room and Room 101 struck me as the one for me right away! With a view of the children's playground through the window, I felt that it was just a poignant reminder of why we were all here.

My room is used as the respit room, not one for families that would be there long term but instead those that truly are in need for a few minutes of comfort, silence and restoration.

So let's begin with the Bathroom in this multi-part series of Before and After shots...

There were many images that sparked the inspiration for the room.. a Kravet Fabric... a color scheme based on blues and white with a touch of raspberry..

But first I wanted to tackle the functionality of the room.
All the designers were provided with the same brief and almost identically sized rooms, and we needed to include in the final space:

• 2 Full Beds. Headboards that would be easily cleaned and maintained. 
• 1 desk or dresser 
• 1 chair or lounge chair
• 1 closet area for storage and clothing
• we could chose to remodel the bathroom if we were able to 
• flooring which was chosen as the faux "wood" laminate which is great for the type of use which this house gets.

The main issues that I felt were really important to address in my room in particular, was the overall dark ambiance in the room. Without being able to add any lighting to the ceiling I needed to think of a creative way to illuminate the entire room so that even though it was a ground floor and received very little natural light, it would be refreshing when the family spent time in the room.







By painting the walls in "Chantilly Lace" by Benjamin Moore, and adding a soffit along the headboard wall I was able to , which allowed to wash the entire wall with a soft light that would be

Thanks to the amazing work by Oliver Marinovic
this alone was a great improvement to the overall feeling in the space.

The design concept for my room was loosely based on the strong Moorish influences throughout Portuguese architecture. While maintaining a soft and serene feeling in the overall finished result, I decided to focus on creating elements of repetition in the pattern and color palette.

We needed to create the height to elevate the room, so we decided that a painted double headboard would be a great way to unite the two beds while still allowing for the individual needs of the maintenance of the individual fabric headboards. This became the feature wall treatment of the room which is reminiscent of the outlined doorways and patterns in many homes across Southern Portugal.

Thankfully, and with a little divine intervention, I met Angela from The Finished Wall only days before my room was to be completed. She heard about my decision to try and paint the headboard on my own, and immediately offered her help. She even brought in another artist with her, and voila they were able to make magic happen for me. I am so grateful to them for taking the time, and making this effort for me and for the room.

Painted Headboard treatment by The Finished Wall

I needed to begin pulling my fabric scheme together and was immediately attracted to the Windsor Smith ANDALUSIA ORKID with its strong texture, color and great upholstery quality I knew that it would be the perfect fabric for the headboard and the other fabrics and trims quickly followed suit..

KRAVET: Andalusia, Atomic Pearl, A. Hampton Tassel Fringe, 31252 (Duvet); Peter Fasano: Sandhurst Marino
LEE JOFA: Lucia Stripe, Seaburn Raffia, Malva ; BRUNSCHWIG et FILS: Chancellor Strie

Concept Mood Board for the Room.

For a look at the entire room.. watch this video!

Over the course of the next few weeks I will continue the Before & After series moments of mine as well as  all the rooms with special focus on the amazing brands that have made it possible for me to participate:

à BAKER FURNITURE – www.bakerfurniture.com

à BENJAMIN MOORE – www.benjaminmoore.com

à BRIZO – www.brizo.com

à BRUNSCHWIG et FILS – www.brunschwig.com

à CALIFORNIA CLOSETS – www.caliclosets.com Contact: Carolyn Musher 

à CURREY & CO – www.curreycodealers.com

à CUSTOM WINDOWS – (203) 231-3659 Contact: John Hayes

à FILMORE CLARK – http://filmoreclark.com/

à GRACIE – www.graciestudio.com

à KENISE BARNES – http://kbfa.com/

à KRAVET – www.kravet.com

à LEE JOFA -  www.leejofa.com

à OLIVER’S HOUSE PAINTING, LLC – T: 914 954-3742

à STARK - www.starkcarpet.com  Contact: Adam Khan - T: 203-899-1771
à THE FINISHED WALL - Contact: Angela Capan & Nancy Schadt. www.thefinishedwall.com

Please make sure to visit each of their websites, as they are simply amazing!

Open October 11-14th ONLY.
This is an event you do NOT want to miss!
Call 516-775-5683 x129 to reserve your tickets today! Kravet NYC&G


Designers participation:  Amanda Nisbet, Anthony Baratta, The Breakfast Room, Bunny Williams, Core Consulting, Danielle Colding Design, Delrose Design, Drake Design Associates, Drew McGukin Interiors, Dwell Studio, Elaine Griffin Interior Design, Eric Colher, Kate Singer, Kim E Courtney Interiors & Designs, Mabley Handler Interior Design, Margreet Cevasco Design, Matthew Patrick Smyth, Meg Braff Designs, Mehditash Design (thats me!) Michael Herold Design, Michael Tavano Design, Mr Call Design, Nick Olsen, Pappas & Mirron Design, Tilton Fenwick Young Huh Interior Design, 

The Home that Love Built - Ronald McDonald of Long Island Project Design with Kravet

I have mentioned it here before, how thrilled I was to be included in the amazing group of interior designers.
Some of you know how this came about, and some don't but truly its about a lot of wonderful people that I have met through social media opening their hearts and extending their hands to me.

In this case, having had the chance to speak about my journey at last year's Design Bloggers Conference I decided to be as candid as possible about 1 of the items .. lets just say big ticket items ...still on the "Designer Bucket List".
I wanted to take part in a New York Showhouse.

Having heard that this was something that would be truly a dream come true, Beth Greene of Kravet, one of the events sponsors and great pioneer of supporting designers/bloggers in every way, reached out to me after the conference about possibly being involved in this event that they were organizing.

It took me all of 1 millisecond to say YES!

From that moment on, I have been continuously surprised by the dedication of the entire Kravet team in helping all of those at the Ronald McDonald house of Long Island navigate the murky waters of contractors, designers, shippers, and you know, our day to day dramas!

Getting their "HANDS" Dirty! The team hard at work

Cary Kravet at the Ronald McDonald House

Cary Kravet took a simple request for a few yards of fabric for new upholstery at the Ronald McDonald house and turned that into an incredible act of giving and generosity.

He rallied the team at Kravet, to come together and reach out to everyone in the design business to show their support in helping bring the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island a much needed new lease of life.

The original design by Tony Baratta, although still great after nearly 30 years of much use and love simply needed a little freshening up.

But once you give interior designers an empty canvas the end results are infinitely creative.

We have been receiving some fantastic coverage so far, as so many appreciate what a special and unique event this truly is .. some press so far includes, News 12 of Long Island ...

1st dibs introspective magazine...

Press from 1st Dibs - Introspective magazine written by Eric Cohler

Thrilled to have my room Featured on Page 2! What a great way to kick off the event!
Thanks 1st Dibs!

So over the course of the next few weeks I will be showing the "behind the scenes" moments of all the rooms, throughout the past week months, as well as in my own room with special focus on the amazing brands that have made it possible for me to participate:

à BAKER FURNITURE – www.bakerfurniture.com

à BENJAMIN MOORE – www.benjaminmoore.com

à BRIZO – www.brizo.com

à BRUNSCHWIG et FILS – www.brunschwig.com

à CALIFORNIA CLOSETS – www.caliclosets.com Contact: Carolyn Musher 

à CURREY & CO – www.curreycodealers.com

à CUSTOM WINDOWS – (203) 231-3659 Contact: John Hayes

à FILMORE CLARK – http://filmoreclark.com/

à GRACIE – www.graciestudio.com

à KENISE BARNES – http://kbfa.com/

à KRAVET – www.kravet.com

à LEE JOFA -  www.leejofa.com

à OLIVER’S HOUSE PAINTING, LLC – T: 914 954-3742

à STARK - www.starkcarpet.com  Contact: Adam Khan - T: 203-899-1771
à THE FINISHED WALL - Contact: Angela Capan & Nancy Schadt. www.thefinishedwall.com

Please make sure to visit each of their websites, as they are simply amazing!

If you are a fellow blogger, and would like to get a special preview of the rooms before opening to the public, please make sure to reach out to Liza Morton of Blitzer & Co - liza@blitzerandcompany.com
The lunch, with transport from NYC, is scheduled for Oct 9th!

We are less than 5 days away from the official reveal of the newly designed Ronald McDonald House of Long Island! This is an event you do NOT want to miss!
Call 516-775-5683 x129 to reserve your tickets today! Kravet NYC&G


Designers participation:  Amanda Nisbet, Anthony Baratta, The Breakfast Room, Bunny Williams, Core Consulting, Danielle Colding Design, Delrose Design, Drake Design Associates, Drew McGukin Interiors, Dwell Studio, Elaine Griffin Interior Design, Eric Colher, Kate Singer, Kim E Courtney Interiors & Designs, Mabley Handler Interior Design, Margreet Cevasco Design, Matthew Patrick Smyth, Meg Braff Designs, Mehditash Design (thats me!) Michael Herold Design, Michael Tavano Design, Mr Call Design, Nick Olsen, Pappas & Mirron Design, Tilton Fenwick Young Huh Interior Design,