Sunday, January 15, 2017

My Ongoing Love Affair With Navy Blue



Holy Smokes and Gee Whiz, and Happy Freaking New Year! Damn, it's been a minute my loves but I've been going through some pretty heavyweight personal changes (will dish on that in the near future) and so have been hunkered down, licking my wounds and focusing a LOT on designing some amazing spaces.
Speaking of said spaces, this powder room has me doing all sorts of dancing. I mean, WTH right? Who gets to the call this space their own?
A wonderful young couple from the my second favorite island, Barbados. They're newlyweds, bought their first home last year, and realized a few months in that they needed some guidance. Once I met Aria - hubby Steven is among the blessed team of "do what you want my love " -  I knew immediately we'd be in for a very long term relationship. She is a kindred spirit who wanted a thoughtful design process, right up my alley of design goals this year.
We have a lot to tackle but decided to begin with the living/dining rooms and powder room first in phase one. We completed the powder room first. Here's where we started:

Side note: why are the toilet seats always up in our before pictures?
Yes ladies and gents, what we have here is your standard builder grade bathroom fare. Basic ish. And Aria is no basic chic so we needed a powder room to showcase her fun, glamorous island styling ways.
I'd fallen in love with the vanities from Worlds Away on my rookie visit to High Point market last Spring, and knew we'd pitch one from their collection.
A tad pricey for a powder room, but oh, was it worth the splurge. 
We initially pitched this one but we had size issues and had to instead go with this one, a happy stroke of luck since Aria swooned when she saw the marble and gold.


The marble is a solid blend of the traditional, and paired with the gold Greek key legs just made this piece a stunner. The chevron tiles added a modern flair, with subtle drama. Tip:There's no need for a rug in a powder room when you have floors like this. Let em shine.


We chose a round mirror to balance the hard edges of the vanity. And decided to mix metals by going with chrome for the faucet and towel ring. And oh, I knew navy would make the gold and marble sing but wanted it everywhere, including the ceilings and moldings.

The blue ceilings would also make this chandelier sing all kinds of high notes. We settled on Sophisticated Navy by Glidden in a glossy finish.


But alas, a high gloss finish shows every imperfection on your walls and after living with it over the holidays, Aria decided she'd prefer a more matted finish and gasp, wanted to paint the ceilings and moldings white to be consistent with the rest of the house. Well, ya'll know I fought hard to keep it as envisioned, and I usually win, but Aria missed her white molding so we respected her wishes ( I mean, yes, ultimately it's her home!) and repainted the moldings and ceiling.

This photo was taken by Aria the morning after we repainted (lighting plays insane tricks with paint colors so yes, it's showing very purple in her photo).  She's insanely in love with her new powder room and that, my friends, is something she did not feel for the powder room in its former state. We're happy as long as she's happy.
So, where do you stand? Could you live with blue moldings and ceiling or are you a traditionalist at heart and prefer a white ceiling and moldings?
Can't wait to hear your thoughts.
P.S.
I've missed ya.



~Get the Look~



(1) Mirror (2) Vanity or awesome alternative here  (3) Semi Flush Light (4) Paint Color (5) Faucet 
(6) Wall Art (7) Wall Art (8) Tile

6 comments :

  1. It is a wonderful room. Love the tile. If I had a room that could take such a dark color, I might go with navy.

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  2. Live with blue molding and ceiling, this is probably my fav powder room project 💙💙

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  3. When I painted my powder room a darker blue I used the same color at 50% for the ceiling. The same blue made the room feel like a cave and the white ceiling was too much contrast. All the other rooms in the house do have white ceilings.

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  4. Gorgeous transformation Nicole. I love everything about this powder room!

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  5. OH OH I love this powder room. I prefer the blue ceiling and trim, but can respect the owner's wishes. The vanity is a dream. I'm so ecstatic that the design world is mixing metals. I have for years, mostly because I wanted some brass/gold in the room and added it where I could since I was unable to change the faucets.
    And that chandelier...Love it.
    Can't wait to see what additional magic you preform.
    xo
    Patty

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  6. I JUST discovered your blog and I'm thrilled! I LOVE your style!!! You are 100% right about the navy being everywhere! The way you originally painted it is high drama and sheer perfection! WOW!!!!

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