A Gold and Stone Bathroom by Fiorito Interior Design

You don't have to have a big celebrity mansion to have a beautifully appointed house finished with unique and special materials. When my clients bought an average condo kitted out with all the average builder-grade things that average builders stuff into spaces like that, they longed to make it theirs. Being collectors of colorful Fiesta tableware and lovers of extravagant stone, we set about infusing the space with a dose of their fun personality.

There wasn't a corner of the house that went untouched, but one of my favorite spaces turned out to be the primary bathroom. The scheme for this room took shape when we were at a slab warehouse shopping for material. We stumbled across a packet of a stunning quartzite called Fusion Wow Dark and immediately fell in love. We snatched up a pair of slabs for the counter as well as the back wall of the shower.

My clients were eager to be rid of a tub-shower alcove and create a spacious curbless shower, which meant a full piece of stone on the entire long wall would be stunning. But what should be put with it?

I found a neutral, sandstone-like tile for the return walls of the shower and brought it around the remaining walls of the space, capped with a coordinating chair rail. But my client's love of gold and all things sparkly led us to a wonderful mosaic. Composed of shifting hues of honey and gold, I envisioned the mosaic on the vanity wall and as a backing for the niche in the shower.

We chose a dark slate tile to ground the room, and designed a luxurious, glass French door shower enclosure. Little touches like a motion-detected toe kick night light at the vanity, oversized LED mirrors, and ultra-modern plumbing fixtures elevate this previously simple bathroom.

Photo by Bernardo Grijalva

Photo by Bernardo Grijalva

Photo by Bernardo Grijalva

Photo by Bernardo Grijalva

Photo by Bernardo Grijalva

And for a little perspective, here are some BEFORE and AFTER shots! As you can see, we ditched the mirrors that were just tacked to a piece of painted wood, the annoying drop-in sinks, and the dated tiled countertop.

If you wish to infuse some wow into your average space, give me a call. I'd love to help!

Happy designing!

Famous Homes: Georgia O'Keeffe's Abiquiú Home

Few famous homes have such an iconic connection between both location and inhabitant as the adobe structure in Abiquiú, New Mexico that legendary painter Georgia O'Keeffe called home.

After living just a few miles away at Ghost Ranch for several summers, she realized that the ranch was not suited for year-round living (especially in the colder winter months) and went in search of a permanent home. She found it in the small village of Abiquiú. The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum now owns both homes and the website has a succinct accounting:

Georgia O’Keeffe maintained two homes in Northern New Mexico. Her summer house, twelve miles from Abiquiú, sits on 12 acres at the edge of a 21,000-acre property called Ghost Ranch. When O’Keeffe purchased the parcel in 1940, the greater Ghost Ranch operated as a dude ranch—a destination for visitors and tourists...Though breathtakingly situated, O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch home was not suitable for her to live in year-round. O’Keeffe purchased a larger home, in the village of Abiquiú, for its well-irrigated garden and the comfort it offered in winter. While both houses are owned by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, only the Abiquiú Home and Studio is open for public tours.

The O’Keeffe Home and Studio reflects a blend of Native American and Spanish Colonial building styles, regional architectural traditions dating back centuries. The oldest rooms of the house were probably built in 1744. The house was expanded in the 19th century into a pueblo-style adobe (mud brick) hacienda, with rows of rooms organized around a common open space, or plazuela.

It was one of the courtyard walls of the home that first attracted O’Keeffe. She recalled: “As I climbed and walked about in the ruin I found a patio with a very pretty well house and bucket to draw up water. It was a good-sized patio with a long wall with a door on one side. That wall with a door in it was something I had to have.”

The 5,000-square-foot compound was in ruins in 1945 when she purchased the home from the Catholic Church. For the next four years, O’Keeffe supervised its restoration, which was carried out by her friend, Maria Chabot. O’Keeffe finally made Abiquiú her permanent home in 1949. The special character of the property, a quiet sanctuary from which to draw inspiration, perfectly suited O’Keeffe’s needs. O’Keeffe lived in the home from 1949 until 1984. She died in Santa Fe on March 6, 1986, at the age of 98. The O’Keeffe Home and Studio was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998 and is now part of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

There are several things that strike me about O'Keeffe's home and her personal style. She famously said when renovating the home that she did not want a Native American home, she did not want a Spanish Colonial home, she wanted "my home." Yet it is a blending of all those elements--the Native style straw-and-mud adobe texture outside and in as well as the spartan and functional design with open kiva fireplaces in corners that solidify the unique profile of this house. The near Zen-like interiors are a prefect foil for the type of pared-down sensibility of Modernism and Mid-Century Modern furniture styles. She preferred objects like Eero Saarinen's 1946 Womb Chair, his 1957 Tulip chair (previously here), the Eames' 1946 Molded Plywood Lounge Chair (previously here), and Alexander Calder mobiles. And it all works perfectly together.

A vintage view of the living room at Georgia O'Keefe's home with Saarinen's Womb Chair, at left.

A current view of the living room with the Womb Chair and ottoman.

The Eames-designed Molded Plywood Lounge Chair in red in the foreground.

A Le Corbusier-style lounge chair to the right of the fireplace with an O'Keefe sculpture on the hearth.

I just love this portrait of O'Keefe by photographer Christopher Springmann from 1974. He is a very talented portraitist because he got O'Keeffe to relax into a sweet sort of smile...

You can visit the Georgia O'Keeffe House in Abiquiú! Make reservations here. And then head to Santa Fe to view her work at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, tickets available here.

Happy designing!