Date: August 18, 2016 | Story: Jennifer Bonds | Photography: Nancy Nolan |
A bath design dream team brings a Chenal home into the 21st Century with a new layout, custom storage, and on-trend color scheme
The original bath in this year’s Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Guild’s Designer Showhouse left a bit to be desired. Planning later to put the home on the market, the owner knew that the step-up jacuzzi tub, fluted columns, and too-small shower weren’t putting the home’s best foot forward. Meridith Ranouil of MLH Designs, Alissa Oates, and Bill Wrape of Distinctive Kitchens and Baths, and Debi Davis of Debi Davis Interior Design came on board to give the bath more appeal to potential buyers and bring it up to date. First, the layout was addressed. The dated corner tub unit was replaced with a glass-enclosed shower. Where the shower previously stood, Ranouil, Oates, and Wrape collaborated on a cabinet designed to look like an over-sized piece of furniture.
On the opposite wall, Davis created a dressing area with a console and mirror from her line of reproduction furnishings, Reborn Relics. “I like to mix old with contemporary,” she says. “To make it work, we stay away from dark wood tones—washed and bleached finishes work really well in transitional spaces.” In the shower, what appears to be marble is actually a large-scale porcelain slab from Acme Brick and Tile. Ranouil chose hexagon-shaped tile for the floor, which extends just beyond the shower’s glass doors. “The room already had new hardwood floors, but hardwood and water are obviously not a good combination,” Ranouil explains, who designed the shower to slope gently toward the linear drain in the center. “A designer is only as good as the installers, and here, they did a beautiful job executing my vision,” she says. The marble-look tile inspired the room’s color scheme of gray and white. “Gold and champagne tones are very popular right now, and they can really warm up a cold color scheme,” Davis says of the brushed bronze fixtures by Delta. The adjoining master bedroom—designed by Davis—is awash in whites, ivories, and blush, so she sought to bring a hint of that femininity to the en suite. “Meridith’s design for the bath definitely had a transitional edge, so I want to make an impact with just a few key pieces,” she says.
Design Resources
Accessories Reborn Relics, Little Rock, (501) 221-2032
Cabinets Bill Wrape, CKD, CBD and Alissa A. Oates, AKBD, Allied ASID, Distinctive Kitchens & Baths, Little Rock, (501) 666-7756, kitchensofarkansas.com
Countertops Plunkett Distributing, Little Rock, (501) 565-4548
Countertop fabrication AHI Stoneworks, Hot Springs, (501) 547-3545, ahistoneworks.net
Fixtures Southern Pipe & Supply, locations statewide, southernpipe.com
Flooring—hardwoods Kaufman by Design, Little Rock, (501) 673-3978, kaufmanbydesignwest.com
Flooring—tile Acme Brick & Tile, North Little Rock, (501) 812-5574, www.brick.com
Furniture Reborn Relics, Little Rock, (501) 221-2032
Hardware Distinctive Kitchens & Baths, Little Rock, (501) 666-7756, kitchensofarkansas.com
Lighting TEC Electric, Little Rock, (501) 758-5483, tecelectric.com
Mirrors Reborn Relics, Little Rock, (501) 221-2032
Paint Sherwin Williams, locations statewide, Sherwin-williams.com
Painting Paul Green Construction, Little Rock, (501) 690-5442
Shower enclosure West Little Rock Glass, Little Rock, (501) 223-3034, westlittlerockglass.net
Tile—Shower Acme Brick & Tile, North Little Rock, (501) 812-5574, www.brick.com
