Master Suite Series - Master Ensuite

I've come to realize that getting ready in the mornings with the Mr. is a luxury that I miss from our old house.  We were spoiled with double sinks in our previous master ensuite, making it a breeze to share the bathroom in the mornings.  Our current bathroom situation at the rental?  The master ensuite is a utilitarian space, with a single sink and vanity... do your business, in and out, not a place to linger.  The Mr. is letting me have the ensuite to myself, while he preps for his day at the main bathroom, before little man gets up.

The one space I'm lookng forward to most at our new house is, you guessed it, the master ensuite. The new house's master ensuite has a practical layout with features that I love.  

As mentioned before in the first master suite post, an alley separates the closet to the right and ensuite to the left.  That makes the ensuite a long rectangular room, and a bit longer than the closet.

I was actually able to find photos on Pinterest that look similar to our ensuite's layout and size.   The entrance to the ensuite faces the double vanity, which is flanked by a stand-alone tub on the right side, with a window facing the tub as such:

Coastal Living

And a full length shower to the left end of the ensuite, with a window above the toilet.

Black Band Home & Design

Amazing what you can find on Pinterest!

Modern day master ensuite is not only a room for "personal business", but more so a relaxing spa-like space to enjoy.  That is my goal to turn this builder ensuite into our sanctuary at a reasonable budget. 

The one main change we did for the ensuite was replacing the double swing-in bathroom doors with a pair of pocket doors.  I struggled with this change for a while, because I have always envisioned changing out the pair of original solid doors to a pair of beautiful french doors.  The brass handles on this pair are simply divine:

Source unknown

But our house has an "open door policy", such that no doors should be left at less than wide opened, for fear of monsters hiding behind the door... (and let me tell you, it wasn't my request nor the little man's).  If I've to leave our ensuite doors open flat at all times, then I wouldn't be able to put anything at the walls behind them, losing out on valuable space.  After looking at the layout of the ensuite for the millionth time, I checked with the Mr. if he would be open to a set of pocket doors instead.

And he was!  Here's a photo of our ensuite taken from the closet across.  You can see the framed slots for the pocket doors on either side of the entrance.

With the pocket doors in place, now I can turn the left nook behind the pocket door into a stylish usable space.  I can decorate the space with an etagere, or install a train rack on the wall and pair it with a stool.

Etagere mrs. howard personal shopper; train rack restoration hardware; stool union lighting

With the vanity facing the entrance of the ensuite, I wanted it to be a beautiful piece.  Here are some of my favourite vanities of different styles:

Vanity Styles | Classy Glam Living | clockwise from top right:  Belle Vivir, Brian Gluckstein Design; home adore, Restoration Hardware.

As much as we love the open bottom style, we'll have to go with a vanity with storage, since we've made another change to the floor plan to delete the only linen closet in the house.  The Mr. doesn't quite like the floating style, so my compromise would be the furniture look.  It provides the storage we need, with a slightly open bottom on furniture legs to make the bathroom appear more spacious.

We're installing white glossy floor tiles, so we would go with a grey vanity for some contrast.  We asked the builder to install 3 light boxes for our sconces.  In place of the builder's large wall mirror, we'll have two individual beaded vanity mirrors.  I love a light crisp colour on the walls of the bathroom to add some contrast against all the whites and greys.  Last but not least, I think the Mr. would LOVE to add some wainscoting to our bathroom!

New House Master ensuite design board | vanity view | Classy Glam Living | Sources: Vanity Muti; mirror Home Depot; Single and Double Scounces Restoration Hardware; wall colour Benjamin Moore Marilyn's dress; crop of wainscoting Lowes

Another design feature in our master ensuite is the wall by the free-standing tub.  It's like a blank canvas that spans the length of the tub.  We can either take the modern route, with bookmatched marble wall as such...

Sophie Paterson Interiors

Or a more classic approach, with a marble ledge that is supported by corbels, going across the length of the wall. 

New House Master Ensuite | Tub Feature Wall Design | Classy Glam Living | Marble ledge image (VIA); Tub Home Depot; Chandelier feiss; side table Joss & Main; Corbels home depot.

The wainscoting that the Mr. will install would continue to the wall behind the tub as well.  A small side table for a drink to enjoy in the soaker tub, dimmed light from the mini crystal chandelier above the tub, would be the perfect ambiance at the end of a day.

I can't wait to plunge into the deep soaker tub in our new master ensuite, and I won't get up even after my skin turns wrinkly like a prune.  Afterall, I've waited long enough to enjoy this bathroom! While the Mr. hangs out at his workshop for the numerous projects at the new house, I'll be...  right here.

Design Inspirations for Our New Dining Room

When I saw the most recent sale of Get the Look of Downtown Loft  at One Kings Lane, my heart skipped a beat.  Not because of the items for sale, but the inspirational photos of the living and dining areas show a layout just like that of our new house!  The styling is impeccable - light walls as the background for statement art pieces, an elegantly furnished sitting area, and a traditional dining area with an abundance of natural light.  I think One Kings Lane just read my mind!

ONE KINGS LANE

ONE KINGS LANE

I've previously talked about how our living/ dining areas are adjacent to each other.  Here's the design board for our living room.  I'm hoping it'll be be loaded with natural light during the day, just like OKL's photos above.

NEW HOUSE LIVING ROOM DESIGN BOARD | CLASSY GLAM LIVING

Here is our furniture plan for the dining area, which is open to the living area, similar to the One Kings Lane photos above.  

The dining area is approximately 18' x 14', so our existing dining furniture will fit in nicely.  The left side of the dining room will look similar to our previous dining room, where the console table and mirror are placed against the wall.

However, not everything decor-wise will remain the same at the new house.  Afterall, moving into another house is the best time to try something new!  

Wall Treatment

The trim-crazy Mr. will no doubt still want to have trims done for the living and dining areas.  This time around, instead of a chair rail separating the upper and lower walls, the wainscoting will be from floor to ceiling.  The chair rail draws the eyes along the walls, and is more approriate for a large space.  With our smaller ground floor at the new house, we want to lead the eyes upwards and that can be achieved by a full floor to ceiling wainscoting.

The style of the wainscoting will be built out, rather than installing rectangular frames on the walls like we did for our previous dining room.  We used a similar built-out effect on our kitchen island.  We like the minimalist look of inset frames, while the architectural detailing still gives the area an elegant feeling.

BUILT-OUT PANELLING - FRAME IS INSET

FINISH LOOK OF BUILT-OUT PANELLING...  JUST IMAGINE THAT ON THE WALLS!

WINDOW TREATMENT

With the living and dining areas being open to each other in a smaller area, we would like to go with less heavy fabrics for draperies.  A softer look helps to open up the space, while still looking elegant.  I went from considering the extreme of a sheers-only look...

SOURCE UNKNOWN.

... to a sheer on sheer look...

OUR SUBURBAN COTTAGE

... and then I saw this set of gorgeous linen drapes.  Linen still has the light and airy feeling I'm opting for, but it has a slight weight to it that gathers nicely with French pleats.  Pair the panels with some nice rods, and we've got a winner!

TONIC LIVING

TWO CHANDELIERS ABOVE DINING TABLE

I had been searching for the longest time for the right dining room lighting fixture at our previous house.  At the new house, look no more!  We took our chandeliers above the kitchen island with us, and we'll put up the pair above the dining table!  That'll for sure be a statement piece of jewelry for the dining room!  This is my attempt to visualize the look =)

STATEMENT ART PIECE

At the right side of the dining room, we're planning to hang a statement art piece that measures around 4'H x 3'W.  We can leave that wall as is, but it will look too bare.  Putting an armchair at the corner with a sidetable would fill up the space nicely, while creating an extra sitting nook...  for someone ready to jump to help with dinner, or someone anxiously waiting to nab at food coming out of the kitchen (aka me)..

SARAH RICHARDSON DESIGN

BAR CART OR CONSOLE TABLE?

In place of the armchair at the corner, we originally thought that would be an excellent spot for a barcart.  Since we already have a console table, I think making it into a bar area looks just as attractive, similar to this look:

DOMAINE

THE DINING RUG

Ahhhhh, the dining room rug.  The search for it seems never-ending.  It's a similar situation as the dining room light fixture.  Getting the bang for the buck on these investment pieces is just not an easy task, not to mention other factors that we need to consider.  From the rug size and style, to practicality like material and pile, it's been a long ride. We prefer rugs with a border, with a muted tone on tone pattern or neutral colours that are subtle against the statement art piece.  In short, we've (finally) narrowed down to these several looks. 

POTTERY BARN

JOSS & MAIN

ONE KINGS LANE

This pretty much wraps up the ground floor design of our new house.  "Small space, big living" is our new motto, and we'll achieve that with practical design of our home.  From our entryway, kitchen, living room, and now the dining room, we want to (and need to) utilize and enjoy all the space available.  We don't have the luxury of extra space for a "display only" living and dining "museum", though we'll design our space with luxurious touches that are also practical for everyday living.  

Practical design is also key when you have a kiddo who grabs any stick-like objects and starts playing floor hockey right then and there...

CAN'T WAIT TO MOVE IN!

Restoration Hardware Inspired DIY Wainscoting & Chair Rail

Once upon a time, our combined living and dining room was little man's bachelor pad.  It came equipped with a (toy) kitchen, a parking pad for his (toy sit-on) car,  and a sports court on the left side.  

Not a very clear photo, but you get the idea of the expanse of little man's territory!

His "bachelor pad" took over that side of OUR house, and the Mr. decided to kick the tenant out before he marked further territory.   Truth was, little man grew out of those (toy) amenities and decided he would take over part of the basement as his floor hockey arena instead.  Great timing on his part, for daddy and mommy landlords to purchase our dining table and chairs.

We loved the rustic style of our baluster dining table, and the tufted dining chairs.  However, the bare walls seemed to be too plain in comparison.  We figured adding some wainscoting and a chair rail would create some needed balance on the walls. So I embarked on the search of inspirations for the Mr. to try his carpentry skills on.  

via http://classy-inthecity.com

via www.houzz.com

via www.mhouseinc.com

We decided to use thick wood trims to create the frames of each panel to add some depth. Trims that are too thin would just disappear in the large room.  We also used a tall chair rail to balance the thick wainscoting frames.  The space between each frame is around 3", which seemed to be the optimal distance - just wide enough to look un-crowded, and close enough for a cohesive look.

Close-up of frame trims and chair rail details.

After the Mr. marked out the dimensions of the frames with painter's tape, he was onto project "a frame a night".  He cut the wood trims to size of each panel, used carpenter glue to connect each corner and clamp down overnight.  The same routine went on each night until all frames were completed.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the making of the frames in progress =(

He first installed the chair rail around the room, levelling the rail as he nail-gunned into the studs. We installed the chair rail at the same height as the half wall for a continuous line, viewed from inside the room. 

The Mr. then began installing the frames starting at the short wall.  It was just easier to deal with the 3 frames across the wall and to learn from any mistakes from there.  On the short wall, we decided on a large middle section and two narrower frames on either side.  Our original plan was to install wall sconces on those two side panels, but of course, our design plan has changed from then!

Next was installing the upper and lower frames around the rest of the walls as marked. 

We like the unified look of using the same color on the walls, trims and baseboards, as in the inspiration photos above.  We think using the same colour throughout would make the walls a somewhat muted canvas, letting the furniture pieces speak for themselves as main focal points.

The chair rail and wainscoting warrant a dramatic color.  We narrowed down to 2 colors, as below:

On the left is Benjamin Moore's Inukshuk, on the right BenMoore's Silver Fox.  We chose to go with the lighter of the two.  It's a light taupe that's more cream in daylight but still dark enough for dramatic ambiance at night. 

1. Our dining/ living room is open to the rest of the floor, so the Mr. carefully taped around the edge of the adjacent wall (we only wanted the chosen color for the dining/ living room); 2. Kraft paper was laid and taped to protect the hardwood floor from paint drips, and made painting the baseboards a lot easier; 3. The Mr. removed all faceplates of electrical outlets, and... 4. marked them by corresponding numbers on the switches and outlets, so that reinstalling would be a breeze.

Here are some photos of the completed project. 

You can see how the Inukshuk color turns to a creamy taupe in sunlight...

... and in the photo below in darker light, the color turns to a darker taupe.  It gives the panel frames more definition.

I was so delighted that the Mr. completed our Restoration Hardware inspired dining room.  It's personal touches like these that transform a plain builder's room to one that reflects the homeowners' style.  

Now our dining table no longer feels lonely in a room of blank canvas.  The wall detailing enhances the look and feel of our dining room furniture.  

Have you recently been inspired by your furniture to make enhancements to your rooms?