Pine, Pine Everywhere!
west paris, maine | fall 2023
Marissa’s newly purchased house featured a lot of pine. Her primary goal was to modernize both the function and look of her upstairs bathroom. She came to us with the following questions:
“Can I swap the jacuzzi tub for a tile shower? Do you think there’s also room for a free-standing tub even though the ceiling angles follow the roofline? How could we rearrange things for more walking space? If we get rid of the pine storage, how could I keep enough storage for the bathroom? How can we leave a little pine without it being overwhelming?”
We love working through these questions and helping to problem-solve an area! While at Marissa’s house we noticed that a closet in an adjoining bedroom was much deeper than your typical closet. We could easily gain 1½ feet for the bathroom by reframing the closet to a normal depth. It was too deep for good organization anyway! We were hopeful to give Marissa her whole wish list including the tub.
rethinking the layout
Pictures often work so well to dial in to the optimal floor plan and help us clearly communicate our vision. These are the ones we shared with Marissa.
The drawings clearly showed that no matter which way we configured the aspects of Marissa’s wish list the floor plan would be too constrictive– even with extra room gained from changing the closet. Based on her goals, Marissa decided to get rid of the free-standing tub. For this client, a good floor plan trumped the benefit of a tub. The floor plan also worked better with switching the shower to the left and the sink to the right.
built in storage
One of our favorite features that evolved from this project was how to incorporate the new storage while leaving that clean, more modern-looking finish. We built this custom storage complete with doors into the knee-wall. The economy of making successful use of a knee wall is so gratifying! And the effect on the flow of the room is inviting.
Final Touches
Marissa loves all those natural stone elements that help balance the pine without removing it completely. The bathroom still fits with the rest of the house, but that lovely, custom tile shower with its perfectly fitted glass door works with her style so much better. To keep a good, open flow we repurposed the existing hinged door into a pocket door. This option retained continuity with the other doors in the hallway. As we packed up and said goodbye, Marissa was so pleased with that blank slate ready to truly make her own.
