Here is our detailed entry. Enjoy!!

In this project, we transformed a small space that was once very cramped – the traffic flow had a bottleneck effect. Using the couple’s inspiration from French luxury hotels they have stayed at as well as matching their kitchen cabinetry style reminiscent of their Haywood-Wakefield furniture collection, we created a very unique little powder bathroom for their guests within a budget of $15,000.

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Congratulations to  our client on your award-winner medieval bathroom! We truly enjoyed working on this project and its  many obstacles.

Our latest project was a master suite. Our client, Doc, has a bone disease that causes muscle pain. He wanted to reconfigure his master suite to allow for two therapeutic, spa-type fixtures from Kohler to help him relax his muscles.

The Kohler shower came in a curved fixture that required more space. The whirlpool would be fitted in a similar position that the previous whirlpool was located, with a few adjustments to the plumbing.

When you walk into Doc’s house, you see knights in shining armour, books on castles and fantasy tales of times of castles, knights, kings, and queens. He has an entire collection of his family’s crests on the walls. He even has a book case with a rolling ladder! Seeing all of these unique possessions, we couldn’t help but consider making his new bathroom into a Medieval castle!

Now, you may be picturing something very gaudy, but we don’t do gaudy. With our top notch craftsmanship and a many creative solutions, we managed to create a bathroom suite that eludes a feeling of luxury and mystery… the way that castles should!

As a single man in his recently purchased home, Doc realized that the bathroom didn’t suit his needs fixturewise on several counts – he needed those spa fixtures for muscle relaxation, and he also didn’t need a double sink or oversized walk-in-closet that was meant for a couple. The ability to take over the closet allowed us to reconfigure the entire floor plan into three separate rooms.

The first room is a powder room that can be closed off when guests need to use it. As a man who values his privacy, being able to close off his personal vanity and bath was a great improvement for his first floor bathroom suite.

You enter the master suite through a large exterior door with a speakeasy… preparing visitors for what is to come. When you enter the powder bath, the first thing you see is the gargoyle fountain. Doc found an eaves spout tray in the shape of a gargoyle and we did some creative plumbing work to make it into a fountain with controlled water pressure to prevent splashes out of the gargoyle’s mouth.

The sink is a stone sink that Doc just fell in love with. The problem was, what do you put an odd-shaped, rustic stone sink on? Everything would look too clean cut and it wouldn’t match with his castle decor. We purchased some salvaged barn beams from the 1800s and stained them, cut them, and fitted them around the plumbing, giving the illusion that it supports that heavy stone sink.

The second room you enter is a vanity room complete with a trap door (access panel into ceiling), dungeon door (to linen closet), wood beams, marble-looking Corian, and stone floors with candle light sconces and candle glow yellow walls.

The archway to the right of the vanity introduces you to rom #3, which was themed as the exterior of the castle. The plastered walls are painted a sky blue and the walls of this conceptual castle are covered in rock –a nice mix of manufactured and natural stone to give it texture. The rock forms crenelations around the turret that was formed around the curved bath fixture.

To the right of the shower is another door. We call this the dugeon window, which was the heat vent as well as an access panel to the shower fixture. The flooring is transitioned into a conceptual drawbridge with chains dangling out of gargoyles at the top of the archway. The drawbridge is made of a wood-looking tile that matches the other wood tile found in the other rooms. The water around the bridge was brought through the use of muddy water colored rock tile. Who wouldn’t want to watch the game in there?!

The room is equipped with several other luxuries as well–heated floor tile, heated towel rack, and a few remote blowers for better ventilation.

As for the closet, we put a new walk-in closet that was suited for Doc’s needs. The linen closet (dungeon door) includes hangers for Doc’s work clothes so he can get ready in the morning more efficiently.

This job proved to be complex on many levels, require much innovation to overcome technical challenges, creativity to resolve aesthetic and design criterion, and a bit of “what the heck, let’s try it!” This project shows that we can take even the most conceptual design ideas and turn them into a luxurious reality. It’s a rare project that we feel privileged to have had the honor of working on.

Thanks for the honor, Doc!

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To our surprise during demolition, we found that years ago, a previous owner had sawn through all of the floor joists and many studs in the bathroom walls in order to get plumbing and HVAC through to the current locations. Definitely a case of “Do Not Try This At Home.” We relocated the plumbing pipes and HVAC to restore structural stability.

Once the structural issues were covered, it was on to creating a gorgeous main bath for the owner to enjoy. To go with her original woodwork found throughout the home, the owner chose natural cherry cabinetry that would get richer with time, just as her house’s woodwork has. We also managed to strip her door on the bathroom side (previously painted white) and stain it to match the existing woodwork found throughout the house. The trim in the bathroom didn’t match the rest of the house, so we duplicated the trim that was on the other side of the door.

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The colors of the cabinetry are found in the floor and shower tile, pulling everything together. We even found a paint color to match one of the colors in the glass mosaic.

To maintain the openness of the bathroom, the vanity wall was used as an accent wall, keeping the dark color on only one wall, and creating a focal point at the sink. Also, we replaced the window that was in the shower with a waterproof window so that the owner can enjoy a nice, cool breeze.

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Now the bathroom feels open and airy with a layout that recesses the vanity, toilet, and shower along one wall of the bathroom. The “banjo” style vanity top triples their countertop space and creates a continuity along the vanity wall.

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The slate flooring pulls in colors from the walls and cherry vanity cabinet, creating a sense of flow throughout the room.

The radiator and its cabinet cover were removed and replaced with a small wall radiator that is more energy efficient and space-saving. The homeowners found that they actually had extra space near the shower to place a small console table to house extra bathroom accessories as well as display more of their artwork, including the shadow box we created as a Thank You present.

The woodwork that we carried into their Craftsman Kitchen was also carried into their bathroom. The new window has obscure glass to match the original door and new shower door. Before the remodel, the interior side of the bathroom door had mismatched hardware and a board covering the recessed panel detailing found throughout the door. On top of that panel were several layers of white paint.

We managed to get the door stripped and restained to match the existing woodwork, bringing the old house character to a side of the door the homeowners had no idea had a hidden recessed panel.

We managed to change the functionality of the space–storage, flow, and workspace–without adding an addition.

Craftsmanship Shown in Craftsman Trim

This home had unique trim designs that we had never seen before. In order to continue the beautiful woodwork through the newly updated kitchen, we had to order new millwork and match the stain to the existing trim in adjacent rooms. With hours of working on it, we managed to duplicate the trim.

Our highly-skilled woodworker paid close attention to detail as he finished off the beautiful base boards and window trim. The homeowners now enjoy their window sills as a place to display some of their momentos.

Space Saving, Energy Saving

A great amount of storage space was added by replacing an unused countertop area and wall cabinets with full height pantries. The pantries are located along the main pathway to the back door. Due to their twelve inch depth, the pantries create a better traffic flow.

Another space-saving product used was a wall mounted radiator that doubles as a coat rack! Who wouldn’t enjoy warm coats in these Wisconsin winters? Now the radiator is away from the window where it was previously interrupting countertop space.

With all of the energy-saving products the home owners had installed, they earned a rebate through Energy Star for $750.

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