Interior Design Sense

Minimalism with maximum punch. That’s how I described the portfolio of Australian interior design firm Mim when I first featured them back here. Still less but luxe, still glam without the wham bam slap you in the face m’am. Quiet but stunning. The silent assassins of style. And if minimal bathrooms are your thing then I thinking you’ll be pinning several of these.

What a way to start the week! Let’s all move into this party home extraordinaire. Designed by Madrid interior designer Marta de la Rica this house in the resort of Sotogrande in Andalusia is perfect for long hot Spanish days. Friends and family, fun and relaxation. The dining room is just right for a long lunch, curl up for a movie in the family room, party time on the entertainment deck and pool house. Actually you’ll find me in those stunning bathrooms. I always love a bathroom.

Doctor Who fans will know the secret of the tardis. Bigger on the inside than it appears on the out. Who could imagine such high open spaces could be lurking behind this narrow single fronted house in Port Melbourne? A clever extension lifts the space to follow the roof pitch and seamlessly melds the inside and out. Features that speak to me are the  two “open” bathrooms, the way light is brought into the centre of the house through a series of pitched skylights and a clever open garden room. Link here while it lasts.

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about my huge home renovation and addition project and my need for finishes for the bathrooms (and the almost non-existent budget we will have). Well, I am in the same boat with flooring. I would like hardwood flooring (could be engineered wood) throughout the house with the exception of the front entrance and bathrooms which will be tile. The flooring is another aspect of this renovation where we may be stuck with subfloor for a while if there are no funds for flooring materials – which is why I am hopeful that someone out there can help us out with a great deal on flooring with blog mentions etc. in return. I am thinking I would like to do something fairly light. I am a huge fan of Scandinavian/mid century/industrial styles and hope to mix these in my new home with lots of greys, black and white. I also have SEVEN cats and refuse to do white floors (been there, done that, didn’t work out so well) or really dark floors. Both of these would be a complete nightmare to keep clean. We can always go back to the flooring we recently put down upstairs that you can see in this post.

I found some inspiration in my stash of photos, and my favourites are below. I did include one sort of dark floor (Luce Rosso) which I would reeeeeeeally love but if it were lighter. I love the idea of a light grey stain to show off the wood grain. And it’s a bit unusual instead of typical clear sealed natural hardwood. If anyone has any suggestions for sources of flooring, or types of flooring you think would work, I’d love to hear about it in the comments or via email (desiretoinspirekim@hotmail.com). Thanks!

Bo Bedre	Sköna hem
Bolig Magasinet	Luce Rosso
Maison	Deko
Sköna hem	Katarina Malmström Brown
Vårt Nya Hem	Guts to communicate

Elle Interiör
Hus & Hem
Per Magnus Persson
Magnus Marding
Hus & Hem
Indenfor & Udenfor
Sköna hem
Allt i Hemmet
Oak Management
Sköna hem

I am just DYING to have the work on my house started, but we’ve had to redo the plans to try and save a small fortune so my husband can get an extra 16″ of height for his basement “man cave”. While our plans are being finalized once again, we’ve started the quest for interior and exterior finishes and we frankly don’t really know where to begin. It’s a pretty daunting task for 2 people who have never really done any renovations before (except my kitchen a few years ago). We’re going to need pretty much everything – a staircase, windows, exterior finishes, fireplace, bathroom fixtures, hardwood, tile and on and on… You guys help out our readers when they have design dilemmas so I thought maybe this time you could help me out. I am hoping you can give me suggestions on where to shop, design ideas etc. Since I am located in Ottawa some of the products should probably be relatively accessible locally (ie. staircase).

We also have another dilemma. This renovation is going to cost us WAY more than we initially thought, which means we’re not sure we can complete the finishes in all the rooms (and I’m not even talking about furnishing them – there’s talk about leaving the floors with only the sub-floor, completing only one bathroom…). This brings me to my next call for help. If anyone out there would like to help us with some of the finishes by offering great bargains for materials, even freebies (!!!) I’d LOVE to chat  (email me at desiretoinspirekim@hotmail.com). There would of course be blog mentions/publicity in return.

So today’s post is about bathrooms. We will have a master bedroom ensuite, another full bathroom upstairs, and a powder room next to the front entrance. (For a peek at the plans see this post, keeping in mind the layout of the bathrooms is totally up for grabs). I’d love to have some fun with the powder room and do something really industrial and I have a thing for black and white bathrooms so I hope one of the other bathrooms can be done in those colours. I went through my stash of bathroom photos and found some of my favourites. Any ideas/sources etc. that you can suggest, let me know in the comments or via email! Thanks!

Annette English	Martha Stewart
Pappas Miron	Design*Sponge
Adela Cabré	Hus & Hem
Design*Sponge	Design*Sponge

Dwell
David Mikhail
Living Etc.
Bruce Bolander
Decor Demon
The Selby
Kate Hume
Bolig Magasinet
Liz Artindale
Charles de Lisle
Met Home
Living Etc.
Lorissa Kimm
Micasa Revista
Nuevo Estilo
Oak Management
Style At Home
Country Home
envelopeA+D
Scott Weston