Guest Blogger: Design Galleria Kitchen & Bath Studio, Part IV


Editor’s note: To kick off showhouse season, we’ve asked Design Galleria Kitchen and Bath Studio for a sneak peek into the firm’s design process as it prepares for the opening of the 43rd annual Decorators’ Show House & Gardens on April 26. 

The firm’s task: To update not one, but three spaces in the historic Atlanta mansion, built in 1926 with a prominent location on West Paces Ferry. With just a few weeks until the Show House’s official opening, Design Galleria takes over AH&L’s blog to chronicle their adventures in remodeling. 

The existing pool house layout had two enormous bathrooms that resembled gym locker rooms at each end of this structure. The unusually wide and original glass pocket doors leading from the pool terrace into the pool house seemed to dictate that this space was meant for entertaining and needed a gathering space larger than one room. 

The decision was made to move both bathrooms to one side and knock down the wall between the original seating area and one of the bathrooms which doubled the size of the entertaining space. A dramatic black and white Crossville porcelain tiled floor in an asymmetric zigzag pattern instantly creates a mood of flirtatious sophistication. 

An outdated kitchenette was transformed into a glamorous bar with glass shelves suspended from gold chains. The black-and-white tiled bathrooms are as efficient as their locker room counterparts, but finished and decorated with decadent details fit for a Palm Beach hotel.  

As you can see by the hatched walls, which indicated the walls to demo, very few of the original walls remained save for the back wall of the kitchenette and its outer corners.

By concentrating the baths on one end of the space, we double the size of the entertaining area transforming it into a wonderful space to enjoy vs. an oversized changing area.

This shows the new framing of the pass through to the kitchenette which beautifully echoes the shape of the entry doors.

The tile installers are hard at work individually cutting and placing the tile in a uniquely asymmetric sort of herringbone pattern. What an elegant, yet fun design!

Pease join Debbie Blumencranz next week for an introduction to some of the many finishes and materials Design Galleria Kitchen and Bath Studio has implemented in the 2014 ASO Show House.

Written by Mary Kathryn Timoney