Search results for "Usage light" in Home Design Ideas

THE SETUP
This client lives in a great high-rise condo in downtown Chicago. Alicia has already remodeled a few areas of her home, including her kitchen and home office. The bathroom is one of the last big places the client wanted to update. The existing bathroom had a large, outdated whirlpool tub in the corner. It was a darker space that had a lack of natural light. There are no windows (due to the bathroom’s location within the high-rise building). So, the idea was to brighten up the space and give the client an updated, elegant primary bathroom that is more her style and tailor-made for her routines.
Design Objectives:
- Make the space brighter.
- Create different daily routine stations to maximize functionality while keeping things clutter-free – a makeup station, a blow-dry station, and a sink-needs station.
- Achieve the client’s specific style and function needs while also keeping the look and design open to future possibilities: different users of the space/resale clients.
Design Challenges:
- Toilet cannot be moved. (In a high-rise, you can’t really move plumbing around too much when reimagining a space)
- Existing bathroom had a soffit that hid a lot of electrical wiring, so completely removing the soffit wasn’t an option.
- The blow-dry station needs to accommodate the client’s preference for standing up.
- Finding a place for the make-up station, which the client wants oriented for sitting.
- Create storage within the shower that can eliminate the clutter of personal care products that are actually needed every day. Do this, while keeping the client’s favorite things about the existing shower: the shower bench, a tub filler faucet (for rinsing shaving cream when shaving legs) and a low niche for placing her foot when shaving her legs.
THE RENEWED SPACE
Design Solutions:
- Extended a bit of wall near the toilet to give the commode its own area within the space, but without closing it off into a claustrophobic WC.
- Worked within the reality of the existing soffit situation, reshaping it to align with the new shower. Can lights were also added. Installed a beautiful ceiling light fixture that works within the new soffit shape, commanding attention and adding light, as if the sofit shape was chosen for it.
- Created a nice, furniture-looking 42”-high cabinet with pullout drawers to be the blow-dry station, complete with a mirror and a nice top. The pullout drawers are all powered, concealing a Dyson dryer and curling iron (and all the accoutrements) while keeping them plugged in, which is ideal for easy usage and put away. A stylish mirror on the wall above the cabinet, and proper lighting, make this the perfect blow-dry station. The top has a grommet that can accommodate a power cord should the client ever want to have a powered device on top of the cabinet.
- Put the sit-down makeup station where the tub used to be, putting the mirror back into a new recessed wall just a bit, allowing the area to have more room.
- Created a niche in the shower’s inner wall so that you can’t see it unless you are literally inside the shower. At the client’s request, it also has a hook so she can hang her loofa. Hiding the utility niche in this way allowed us to use the full main wall of the shower as a canvas for a beautiful accent stripe of raised decorative tile. The new shower has her old favorites, too: the tub filler, foot niche and bench.
Alicia’s client loves her new primary bathroom, especially the blow dry area. It is very accommodating for her, as a tall lady, while being very easy to use. The drawers store everything. Being powered, they make using already-plugged in appliances very easy to use and put away.
Her previous makeup station was a freestanding vanity with a single drawer, so beauty products were all over the surface top. With her new makeup station, everything is nicely tucked away and organized in drawers.
The new lighting is fantastic and the colors are light and soft. The clients loves the overall look and feel of her new bathroom and raves about how well the functionality-minded design makes her morning routine – and her life – easier and enjoyable!

Gilmore Photography
Elegant master carpeted bedroom photo in Los Angeles with beige walls and a standard fireplace
Elegant master carpeted bedroom photo in Los Angeles with beige walls and a standard fireplace

This dreamy bath retreat centers around a luxurious wet room with a freestanding tub and gleaming brass fixtures, offering the essence of a private in-home spa. The vanity showcases stunning accent tile, Rift-Cut White Oak cabinetry in a weathered finish, and shimmery fluted sconces that cast a warm, elegant glow.
Notable furnishings & materials:
- Lightology - Master Bath Sconces / Fluted in Brass Finish
- Top Knobs Honey Bronze Pulls
- Cabinetry: Rift Cut White Oak in Weathered Finish
- TABLEAU BY KELLY WEARSTLER through Ann Sacks - Earthenware - Tableau is singularly chic with rich textures and iconic patterns.
- Countertop - All Natural Stone Porcelain Slab - White porcelain slab with subtle light gray veining
- Shower Walls - All Natural Stone - Porcelain, Color/Finish: Fairy White Lucido
- Wetroom Floor - TILE BAR - Aspekt Calacatta Hexagon Honed Marble
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©Tom Holdsworth

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This Family Room for a close family of 5 channels warmth and functional usage. Reupholstered chairs with 2 yellow striped ottomans for flexible seating and a large coffee table for plenty of game nights. The couch also converts to a queen bed for when guests are over.

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Wannemacher Interiors
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Serenity Yacht, Mondomarine, photo by: Aberto Cocchi
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With this project we have entered into completely new level of fireplace arrangement, which will hopefully create a new trend in the yacht market.

Finesse glazed ceramic wall tile brings a fresh, clean look to brighten any space. Suitable for interior applications throughout the home including kitchen counters, backsplashes and bathroom walls, this tile will provide the perfect complement to a variety of design styles.
Classic white ceramic tile with a unique wave pattern in a contemporary 10”x26” size. Add interest and dimension with this wave tile. Excellent for wall and backslash usage. Glazed ceramic with an easy to clean surface. Vanity was designed by us and made by our custom mill-worker. Designed by Joana Carreira

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Photo credit: Scott McDonald @ Hedrich Blessing
7RR-Ecohome:
The design objective was to build a house for a couple recently married who both had kids from previous marriages. How to bridge two families together?
The design looks forward in terms of how people live today. The home is an experiment in transparency and solid form; removing borders and edges from outside to inside the house, and to really depict “flowing and endless space”. The house floor plan is derived by pushing and pulling the house’s form to maximize the backyard and minimize the public front yard while welcoming the sun in key rooms by rotating the house 45-degrees to true north. The angular form of the house is a result of the family’s program, the zoning rules, the lot’s attributes, and the sun’s path. We wanted to construct a house that is smart and efficient in terms of construction and energy, both in terms of the building and the user. We could tell a story of how the house is built in terms of the constructability, structure and enclosure, with a nod to Japanese wood construction in the method in which the siding is installed and the exposed interior beams are placed in the double height space. We engineered the house to be smart which not only looks modern but acts modern; every aspect of user control is simplified to a digital touch button, whether lights, shades, blinds, HVAC, communication, audio, video, or security. We developed a planning module based on a 6-foot square room size and a 6-foot wide connector called an interstitial space for hallways, bathrooms, stairs and mechanical, which keeps the rooms pure and uncluttered. The house is 6,200 SF of livable space, plus garage and basement gallery for a total of 9,200 SF. A large formal foyer celebrates the entry and opens up to the living, dining, kitchen and family rooms all focused on the rear garden. The east side of the second floor is the Master wing and a center bridge connects it to the kid’s wing on the west. Second floor terraces and sunscreens provide views and shade in this suburban setting. The playful mathematical grid of the house in the x, y and z axis also extends into the layout of the trees and hard-scapes, all centered on a suburban one-acre lot.
Many green attributes were designed into the home; Ipe wood sunscreens and window shades block out unwanted solar gain in summer, but allow winter sun in. Patio door and operable windows provide ample opportunity for natural ventilation throughout the open floor plan. Minimal windows on east and west sides to reduce heat loss in winter and unwanted gains in summer. Open floor plan and large window expanse reduces lighting demands and maximizes available daylight. Skylights provide natural light to the basement rooms. Durable, low-maintenance exterior materials include stone, ipe wood siding and decking, and concrete roof pavers. Design is based on a 2' planning grid to minimize construction waste. Basement foundation walls and slab are highly insulated. FSC-certified walnut wood flooring was used. Light colored concrete roof pavers to reduce cooling loads by as much as 15%. 2x6 framing allows for more insulation and energy savings. Super efficient windows have low-E argon gas filled units, and thermally insulated aluminum frames. Permeable brick and stone pavers reduce the site’s storm-water runoff. Countertops use recycled composite materials. Energy-Star rated furnaces and smart thermostats are located throughout the house to minimize duct runs and avoid energy loss. Energy-Star rated boiler that heats up both radiant floors and domestic hot water. Low-flow toilets and plumbing fixtures are used to conserve water usage. No VOC finish options and direct venting fireplaces maintain a high interior air quality. Smart home system controls lighting, HVAC, and shades to better manage energy use. Plumbing runs through interior walls reducing possibilities of heat loss and freezing problems. A large food pantry was placed next to kitchen to reduce trips to the grocery store. Home office reduces need for automobile transit and associated CO2 footprint. Plan allows for aging in place, with guest suite than can become the master suite, with no need to move as family members mature.

EnviroHomeDesign LLC
Inspiration for a mid-sized timeless kids' white tile and subway tile porcelain tile and blue floor bathroom remodel in DC Metro
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This is part of a whole home remodel we completed and featured in the Home Builder's Association Showcase of Remodeled Homes.
This is the bathroom on the lower level, mostly for their son's usage. It was only upgraded with small modifications.
We removed the previous linoleum flooring and installed Ottomano 6"x6" tile. The toilet, vanity, mirror and lighting was replaced. We reused the existing light from the upstairs bathroom to save on budget. The walls were painted a dark grey/blue.
The trim was one of the only things that was reused from the existing home, due to budget restrictions.
Photo by Laura Cavendish
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