THE LAKE HOUSE REMODEL:

This particular client found out about me through word of mouth. The wife was working out with her trainer and had mentioned that she wanted to hire a designer to design a remodel for her basement. We met in 2016 and ended up remodeling her basement in 2020.

This is a typical scenario for our area–maybe everywhere. Who knows? Clients get an stir to remodel and then life circumstances change their timeline or budget. This couple lived a pretty busy lifestyle, traveling for work and with adult children living in different states. They thought that they were ready to start their remodel, but it was put on hold.

BEFORE IMAGES

I got a call in 2019 that they were ready to go forward with the design, however, they wanted to scale back the remodel as they had planned to put the house on the market after the completion of the overall construction.

They intended to remodel the basement and completely overhaul the master and guest bathrooms upstairs with the basement being in Phase one. The original design was much more extensive for the basement. I even scaled back my second design so that they would have a profitable resale.

FLOOR PLANS

The design that we agreed upon added a bathroom and walk-in closet as planned. Since the couple live on a lake and the basement walks out onto the lake, we discussed that it might be a good selling point to add a small washer and dryer to the bathroom for swimsuits and towels. In the finished design, we still added all of the mechanical work, however, we added it to the interior of the closet instead of the bathroom.

The couple chose the top elevation, however, when they decided to scale the project back they chose to forgo the tile on the wall and shower and to add a shower unit versus a custom glass shower.

Even with scaling this project back, it turned out to be a very beautiful end result. There were very few challenges with this project. The client had originally wanted us to preserve as much of the existing materials as possible, but with new design, you start to see how “old” the old is and choose to just gut everything. So, we ripped down the ceiling, which was a much needed choice.

The only major change was that I had planned more extensive lighting in the bathroom, especially at the sink area. However, we lowered the ceiling in the area over the sink which removed my ability to add sconces and pendant lighting . We moved the recessed light closer to the wall, which I wasn’t happy about, but we needed it for light over the sink. Other than that, this design was very straight forward and easy-going.

Below are images of the final product. The client still has a mirror and shower curtain to hang in the bathroom, but for the most part…all done.

Part two: The Master Bathroom will be within the year. So, stay tuned for that. Enjoy the following images.

AFTER IMAGES

If you would like to see more of my interior design projects check them out below:

Read about The Rinehart Project, a full design from start to finish

Read about The Judson Project, a full design from start to finish