House of Glass

Time for an update on the master suite. As a refresher, we landed on a design that re-figured the top floor to make it more of a suite.  While it keeps a second small bedroom, the third floor will be built around the master bedroom, including expanding the master bed and building out a closet and bathroom. So where there used to be a bathroom and hallway, there will now be a large walk-through closet, with a study or nursery and master bath in the rear of the house. See below: 

The plan calls for walling off the currently open stairwell/hallway so that you come up the stairs and through a doorway into the suite. We are super excited about the design, but in thinking more about it we didn't like the idea of losing the sightline into the stairwell and losing the light that filters from the central skylight.

While preparing our interior elevations, Hill & Hurtt proposed an awesome solution to this dilemma - a glass wall. The bottom half would be an actual wall to keep the third floor visually separate from people coming up the stairs (it will be our closet, we need to have some privacy) but the top half of the wall will be glass.

I really like the idea because, while we are closing the space off, it will stay true to the original design of the house by creating a feeling of openness to the central stairwell without the danger factor (the railings are not to code by about 8 inches and it is a long way down).

What do you guys think? Do you love it or hate it? We are still exploring what the ultimate wall will look like (and if we can afford it - fingers crossed!!!) but I've included some images we have found from Pinterest below. Enjoy!

Kitchen Concerns: Faucet Assistance

Inspiration via @kohlerco and @rohlfaucets

We are choosing kitchen faucets and would love your input - should we do a bridge faucet (on the right, above) or should we do a single-handle faucet for our kitchen sink (which will be in the island)?

So far we are leaning toward bridge faucets but . . .

1. Does a single handle look better when the sink is in the kitchen island? 

2. Is one handle better than two? 

Let us know your vote!

Tile Talk

Inspiration from top to bottom/left to right:  popham design; David Pompa studio; ann sacks; cle tile; @kibak_tile; cle tile

Guys, I hate to break it to you, but it's time to talk tile. A lot of tile orders take 6-8 weeks to ship so we need to make decisions and put orders in ASAP if we want to stay on schedule. I'm not going to lie, the process of choosing tile is stressful (#firstworldproblems, I know). We have three bathrooms, a kitchen backsplash, and an entry-way vestibule we need to pick tile for. Finding a tile we both agree on, that is in our budget (or, you know, near our budget), and that we know we will like for the foreseeable future is daunting. 

Our color palette is going to be very white-focused and we don't anticipate painting our walls any bright colors. As a result, we have been thinking of ways we can add patterns or color to the bathrooms. 

from top to bottom/left to right: popham design; popham design; cle tile; @masseriaDC and villa lagoon tile; popham design; msi stone

Kyle and I have spent the last month's worth of Saturdays in tile shops and hours upon hours on Pinterest - all the tiles above have been in contention at one point or another, though some have been shot down by our architects (and here we thought our taste was unassailable!). 

From our research, patterns can be limited to the floor, limited to the wall, or run from the floor up the wall (some examples are below). What do you guys think? Any tile here that you love or hate? Let us know before we make a mistake that we can't take back!

- J & K