West Marin friends give Mill Valley bathroom a fresh look – Marin Independent Journal
Allie Allen and Sasha White go way back. The lifelong buddies grew up a block from every other in Mill Valley and now dwell just a couple blocks away from 1 yet another in Stinson Beach front. But, in 2021, the two became colleagues immediately after setting up Shiny Drop Collective, a Mill Valley style and design organization playfully named right after their initial collaboration. They concentrate mainly on residential tasks.
White, the firm’s lead designer, minored in inside style at the University of Rhode Island but immediately after graduation, pursued a 10-calendar year-extended film creation job. It did not quench her passion for design and style, however, and 3 yrs ago, she moved to Italy to review inside architecture.
Allen, who beforehand labored in the community relations and marketing conclusion of the amusement field in New York and Los Angeles, now handles the firm’s business enterprise side.
“We felt like we could genuinely appear at this business enterprise with a fresh new perspective and obtain a way to make attractive design and style attainable for each and every price range,” Allen states.
Just one of their most recent assignments was a 40-sq.-foot bathroom renovation in the Sycamore Park community of Mill Valley. It was done in January and was designed by Mill Valley’s MW Standard Contracting.
Handmade Zellige tiles from Morocco, frameless doorways and stay brass fittings add model to the shower.
There have been “good bones” powering the dated details of the existing toilet and simply because the self-importance was “right justified versus the wall,” they saw the opportunity for sudden asymmetrical style options, White suggests.
“The customers required to preserve the similar structure of the first lavatory although bringing a far more timeless fashion to the area,” Allen says. “They also desired to continue to keep the recent flooring since it continues into their hallway and kitchen area.”
There have been some other features of the place the designers appreciated and wanted to maintain.
“We cherished the small specialized niche in the wall to the ideal of the vanity, so we modified the design and style but saved it in the new design,” Allen suggests. “We also desired to continue to keep the French doors that link the lavatory to the laundry area.”
“Anytime we can reuse anything current we test to. This can be a very wasteful industry, so we attempt to mitigate that any likelihood that we get,” she adds.
The doors have been stripped and stained in a darker shade, providing them much more of an aged appear.
Originally, the clientele wanted to retain the present off-the-shelf shower stall, as well.
On the other hand, “as we began presenting the layouts, they understood it was time for that shower to go,” White states. “Since it is a corner shower with glass, it is a design feature that impacts the entire room and changing out the white plastic for this textured natural and organic tile definitely assisted transform the house.”
The duo properly integrated the existing terracotta ground of the area with the shower pan by choosing 2-inch sq. unglazed purely natural Zellige tiles, handmade in Morocco, and sourced from Zia Tile.
They chose 4-inch square Zellige tiles at Tile Fever in Sausalito for the shower partitions and added a useful market for soaps and shampoos.
1 of their preferred features, on the other hand, is the exposed pipe shower fixture.
This Mill Valley bathroom was renovated in January by Shiny Shed Collective.
“Bringing in that stay brass fixture actually helps to warm up the house and provides to the organic and natural and timeless truly feel,” White claims. “Something can patina in excess of time and it promptly feels like it belongs and has been there for good. The attractive worn marble and the patinaed metals all in excess of Italy establish these components won’t go out of style.”
Due to the fact the current vainness was too small to present counter space and was as well very low for convenience, a taller and broader self-importance was specified.
Nevertheless, the self-importance could only be 18 inches deep to accommodate the French doorways. The clever concept of a wall-mounted faucet solved the difficulty and produced adequate room for a larger sized sink.
“The larger sized vanity really aided to redefine the room,” White suggests. “Since the vanity is pushed to the right of the wall, we leaned into the asymmetrical room it produced. If we had just place a light earlier mentioned the vanity and mirror it would have functioned just fine, but it felt like we would be missing out on a design and style chance.”
By hanging a a bit misshapen mirror and offsetting a one scalloped pendant light-weight (handmade by on line retail store Huey Lightshop) more than the vanity, “we truly manufactured the area sense more symmetrical,” White suggests.
They obtained a very good deal on the remnant piece of marble for the countertop, and experienced sufficient left over to build cabinets for the wall specialized niche.
When it came to the partitions, “the bathroom felt like it wished a little something a lot more than just a flat paint,” Allen suggests. “In Europe, you see a large amount of plaster walls or textured finishes. By utilizing this roman clay end, we additional more texture to the room with out it experience as well fast paced. “
For a cleaner appear, they taken out the mouldings all-around the wall area of interest and the cornice region.
“We desired the paint to carry on on the ceiling without having a split, which in fact can make the ceiling truly feel taller,” White claims.
When it arrives to estimating the value of a related renovation, she admits it can be difficult.
“HGTV can make things feel a lot easier and a lot a lot less high-priced than they genuinely are, nonetheless, if you’re searching to do much more than just a several cosmetic updates to a lavatory of this sizing, you ought to earmark $40,000 to $60,000.”
A dated lavatory in Mill Valley was specified a new seem by Shiny Lose Collective.
Other than the components associated in a renovation, “you lean on many distinctive professionals, from the people today who lay the tile to the people who drywall the ceiling,” she states. “They are the kinds that assist build your dream spaces.”
Maintain in brain, also, she provides, “that there will be hiccups and that is Okay. Acquiring the correct group involved can help you get as a result of the problems that are tough to navigate with no practical experience.”
Shiny Lose Collective can be found at shinyshedco.com or on Instagram @ShinyShedCo. The studio’s quantity is 415-233-0744.
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PJ Bremier writes on home, backyard, design and entertaining topics every Saturday. She may possibly be contacted at P.O. Box 412, Kentfield 94914, or at pj@pjbremier.com.