Blog - New Interior Solutions

Bathroom design for a couple with completely different tastes

Recently Richard contacted me because he wanted to remodel his master bathroom. Richard is a very good friend of mine. We met about 10 years ago. He used to be a real estate agent and one day he called me because he needed my help to stage one of his listings. Richard is a very outgoing person and we soon became friends.

One day he invited me out for lunch. He wanted my help to gather some ideas to remodel his master bathroom. His wife couldn’t make it that day, so the two of us talked about his project. He showed me some photos and a sketch of the floor plan. Richard also shared with me what finishes he wanted to use, what colors, and the structural changes he wanted to apply to the shower and the bathtub.

There was just one thing he didn’t tell me. And that was that his wife Sandra had a completely different idea about the remodeling.

While Richard wanted marble like tiles, two big sinks, a half wall shower, and a deep bathtub from where he could watch the TV, Sandra preferred beige tiles, a make up vanity station, and most of all she wanted the bathtub and the shower enclosed in the same space, which is a very popular trend nowadays.

I liked both ideas, but I particularly liked to see how two different people approach a home project in two completely different ways. They were both trying to convey their taste and needs into the same space. And if you think about it, this is what interior design is all about. There’s no right or wrong design, because the space you build reflects your unique personality and desires.

At the end, I presented two designs for the same bathroom.

This is Richard’s vision:

While this is Sandra’s vision:

And this is the make up vanity station Sandra would like to install in the master bathroom:

In case you wonder, Richard and Sandra are still tying to find a middle ground for their master bathroom design. But at least now, thanks to the 3D renderings, they can better understand each other’s vision for what concerns the remodeling. Do you and your partner have the same design taste?

Lights on or off? (Real estate photos)

I recently read many articles about the dilemma of light temperature in real estate photography. For light temperature I mean the different color of light emitted by fixtures such as table lamps, sconces, chandeliers, etc. I’m sure you have heard about warm white, soft white, cool white and daylight bulbs…

The real estate photographer’s approach

There are many aspects to consider before deciding whether to turn the lights off or leave them on. From the photographer’s point of view it is much easier to photograph a room with the lights turned off. When the lights are on they spread some color cast around the light fixture that is very hard to correct, especially if it is reflected on the wall. Moreover, if the bulbs within the same room are either a different type or, even worse, are missing, the challenge becomes a real problem.
This last scenario happened to me once: I had to photograph a bathroom vanity and one of the lights above the mirror was burnt out. Luckily I was able to fix it in Photoshop, and it was a pretty easy fix but still time consuming. However, I think that we all agree that a room looks much more inviting and welcoming if the lights are on. For this reason real estate agents always require them.

Here’s an example

The photo above is a clear example of what happens when the lights are on but the bulbs are different. The color cast emitted by the floor lamp on the left is much warmer than the one emitted by the table lamps on the right. Now, is it really a huge problem? It depends. For some photographers this is not acceptable from a technical (and artistic) point of view, but for some others this is ok because their main goal is to deliver an image that is welcoming and clearly shows the details of a room.
This room in particular was quite dark therefore, in my opinion, the lights on did make a difference, but as you can see we also incurred in the problem of having the light fixtures emitting light with two different temperatures.

Are you a real estate agent? If so, what do you think? I’d love to hear your opinion!

PS
If you like this photo and would like to use it for your marketing material, go ahead and download it from my Unsplash account

Virtual remodeling of an attic

Say your house has an unfinished attic like this one.

Unfinished attic before rendering Now, say you want to turn it into a funky media room but your significant other prefers to turn it into an office. Today, with the new digital technology you can visualize both projects before making a final decision. Being able to see your design ideas come (virtually) to life way before demolition day or even before the selection of the materials is a great benefit as well as a huge time and money saver.

Virtual remodeling and interior design

As I mentioned before, virtual remodeling is a very effective tool for home owners. Not only it helps them visualize their home projects, but it helps them make up their mind if they have doubts or concerns about a particular design or style. It is a great way to show them different options for the same space. Taking the example above, this is how the attic would look if turned into a media room:

Rendering of an Attic- Media_Room

While this is how it would look if they decided to make it an office instead.

Virtual remodeling and real estate

Virtual remodeling can be applied to real estate as well. Actually, to tell you the truth, the images above were made for the listing of a cute little house that was about to go on the market. The house, besides being vacant, had this unfinished space. The realtor’s goal was to help potential buyers visualize how they could use this room. Therefore, we virtually remodeled it in two different ways. She then printed out the images and hung them on the wall in the room itself. The buyers appreciated the visual help and two weeks later the house was sold.

Does you home have an unfinished space that you would love to see rendered? Let’s talk!