Monday, December 30, 2019

Happy New Year! Welcome 2020!


Happy New Year to all my followers and regular readers. May 2020 be a healing, peaceful, and prosperous year for the planet.

See you soon for the first post of 2020. Until then, Happy Designing!

Monday, December 23, 2019

Happy Winter Solstice and Happy Holidays 2019!

This year, 2019, the Winter Solstice--the shortest day and longest night of the year--for the northern hemisphere happened this Saturday, December 21st. I am wishing everyone a Happy Winter Solstice and a beautiful and joyous Holiday Season!

Monday, December 9, 2019

Fiorito Interior Design Sneak Peek: A Master Bathroom In Progress

Regular readers will know that I usually only post photos of completed projects, but every now and then I am so excited about a remodel, I need to share a bit of the process and progress before my photographer comes in to document the finished space. A current whole-house remodel I've been working on for over a year is nearly done and has turned out to be lovely, but the pinnacle is the master bathroom.

The original master bath of this 50+ year-old house was much smaller before we added on to the home and rebuilt the master suite. While still compact, we poured a lot of style and unique materials into the new bathroom and I am so thankful that my clients were eager for something special...and not afraid of pattern!

We found a fascinating tile for the floor...a hex pattern where each hex is bordered by a tiny 1/2" x 1/2  and then a 1" x 1" mosaic. It was a bold move to decide to put this tile on the floor and we were all so excited to see the results...


Here are some conceptual renderings of the original idea.


But as I say in my second Design Mantra to the right, design is a process and things always morph and change as the life of a project continues...that is the fun of design. Our color palette shifted from warm to cool and we chose the Carrara and Nero Marquina marble version of the flooring. The field tile on the return walls became bright white, and most excitingly, we discovered a glorious Carrara fish-scale mosaic for the main wall of the shower.


Picking the right grout color allows the tile shapes to be highlighted or hidden. In our case, we ended with a much brighter white than what you see below in order to highlight the texture of the fan-shaped tiles. The flooring grout stayed grey so as to blend in and not interrupt the pattern that drew us to it in the first place. And of course we matched the white tiles on the return walls as there is no need to draw attention to them. They are supporting players, not the star.


A large bench and large, long niche provide flexible function in the shower.


And here is our glorious tile on the floor (a linear drain allowed us to build a zero clearance shower and to run the floor tile right to the back wall!) and the shower walls with the special fan-shaped mosaic...all grouted and awaiting the installation of a glass enclosure.


I'm very excited for the rest of the house to be completed. Stay tuned in 2020 for beauty shots of this bathroom as well as guest bathrooms and a lovely blue and white kitchen!

Happy designing!