DO's and DON'TS

Thanks so much for the comments I got from the last post, so much so that it has inspired me to still stay on this topic of bathrooms but like it was suggested, I want to show you how to achieve this look in your own bathrooms as it really isn't impossible to do so.

Though as an interior designer myself, I would always recommend for you to seek out professional services in this instant but as this blog is about educating people in the Diaspora, I feel compelled to show you some things that will help or even to show you what to look out for when doing your own designs.

Like I said in the last post, the bathroom is one of the most important parts in a house. Guests will probably judge an entire house when they take a look at the bathroom; which is why many people in Europe etc spend hundreds of dollars remodelling and refurbishing its interiors to make their bathroom more appealing and desirable but this doesn't happen in West Africa. I've noticed this to be a perpetual problem. All most homeowners seem to care about is that they have a toilet, (some don't even have seat covers) end of story. So, I want to propel you to see the other side and hopefully start a revolution (is that too strong, lol) in the way Africans see or treat their bathrooms!


There are simple things that you can do to improve your bathroom, first let's look at the do's and don'ts to consider before you begin your bathroom renovation.

1. If you have an existing bathroom, decide whether you want to change the sanitary ware you have already i.e. bath/toilet or you feel they are in good enough condition to keep or for budget reasons you can't change them right now.

2. You bathroom layout will depend a lot on the size of your bathroom, so I suggest that you take a piece of paper and roughly draw the plan of your bathroom and then draw in where you will like the bath, toilet and wash hand basin to go. Then get a measuring tape and you measure your bathroom exactly so as to make sure your bath/shower will fit in comfortably if buying new sanitary.

Virtually every bathroom uses one of the following three basic layouts:

One-wall layout. One-wall baths have the toilet, sink, and combination shower/tub plumbing aligned along one wall, making for a relatively long, narrow bathroom.

Two-wall layout. Two-wall baths usually have the toilet and sink on one wall and the shower/tub combo (or separate shower and tub) on the other

Three-wall layout. A three-wall layout, with the toilet on one wall, sink on another, and combination shower/tub on the third, is a space-conserving solution that can put every fixture within a step of the others.
The above picture is using the two wall layout, but notice how close the toilet is to the shower. This is BAD planning!!

3. Choose a proper colour scheme that would be the basis of your bathroom design theme.  Also you should decide whether you will be using paint, wallpapers or tiles. (I would not recommend real wood for your flooring as it's a wet area and will get easily damaged. Also, I recommend keeping it neutral and just adding splashes of colour on a feature wall or using your accessories to add colour).

4. Decide on the theme for your bathroom. Will it be contemporary, Victorian or traditional....the choices are endless depending on your taste.

5. Source reliable places where you can get good quality sanitary wares, tiles, accessories etc. (Check out my where to shop page). Using good accessories i.e towel rail, cabinets, tissue holder, is a great way to elevate your bathroom from ordinary to wow factor.

6. Get good workmen that people you know have recommended as it's the difference between a great bathroom and a bad one!

  


Well, I hope this has helped in giving you a clearer insight into how you can achieve the look in your own home, as it really isn't impossible. Please feel free to leave comments as it's really spurring me on to be more dedicated to this blog as we have a lot to teach each other.

Make sure you check out my 'Where to shop' page as Rouge interiors can really help you to achieve the look you need.

Don't forget....you can contact me for full interior design services or just a consultation.

Ciao!

From functionality to Pleasure!

I got thinking about houses and what my favourite room in the house is.....it was actually harder than I thought to narrow down but it turns out to be the bathroom!

Whenever I visit someones house or even travel and stay in a hotel, the first place I'm headed to is the bathroom because for me, if that is done well, then the rest of the room/house to me, is then livable. You might be thinking, o...it's not that bit of a big deal then I would say that I beg to differ. It just then means that you never experienced a 'top notch' bathroom before as if you have, you find it very hard to use mediocre ones.

What is making a 'splash' with bathroom designs now, its seems like pretty much anything goes. I've noticed how the bathroom is not just plain old bathrooms anymore but they are now another room entirely in there own right....not being just for functionality but places where you can relax and unwind and shut yourself off from the stress of the world.....

“If I want to be alone, some place where I can write, I can read, I can pray, I can cry, I can do whatever I want – I go to the bathroom.” – Alicia Keys -

So let me show you some bathroom designs that I found that I think bathrooms should be done and don't forget that a lot of these looks can be achieved in your very homes too so don't look at it like it's just a picture. Let them inspire you too......

Bela units Blanco Mate finish. GAMADECOR from Porcelanosa



LOUNGE Capitoné 120 cm units. NOKEN from Porcelanosa

IMAGINE units. NOKEN from Porcelanosa

Actually, let me use this opportunity to highlight this great company I've found here in West Africa. It's a company called Rouge Interiors and they are based in Accra, Ghana. They are an interiors furnishing company, so they provide most of your interior needs but the main reason I'm highlighting them is that they are the sole representative for Porcelanosa in Ghana and as we are looking at bathrooms, Porcelanosa do some of the best bathroom furnishings/sanitaries in the world. They are renowned for there outstanding quality and as you can see from some of the images above, you can agree that there products are stunning.
(If you want to find out more about them as they offer this full service so you too can have your bathroom looking like this, I will put there details on my 'where to shop' page).

Jennifer Brouwer Design

 I hope you've enjoyed taking a look at a few of these bathrooms and I hope as always it's inspired you to elevate your own bathrooms too.

Any comments or feedback, feel free to contact me and I also offer Interior design services too. Holla!

New Year....New Flavour!

Is it too late to say Happy New Year!!! (I hope not).....

I know we say it as the normal thing at the beginning of every year, but I truly mean it this year. It's weird but I feel like this year is very pivotal to those who get "moving", so taking my own advise, I am getting this blog back in full swing. Here we go....

What a better way to start off than to look at the trends for this season.

This year interior design is offering a fresh perspective on your existing homes. The new trends is helping people to see their properties through new eyes which is great as current economic conditions is not allowing people to buy new homes or even do big renovation projects on their homes, so the trends allow you to look at ways in making your old space into something new and chic for 2012.

Comfortable design, elegant style, luxurious materials and bright colours are back in favour. Chic design style and comfort themes will define interior decorating ideas in 2012. Soft home furnishings, luxurious and pleasant materials, attractive and cheerful colours, comfortable and beautiful design with interesting details will help create welcoming, unique and stylish homes/spaces.

So, before I hit you with images, I thought this colour/mood chart might help you to understand the colours that will be in focus this year.

Mood Chart

For the clean space, will be used neutral colours.
For a bright room filled with joy, use yellow, representing the sun, freedom.
For a calm space, offering a sense of relax, use a blue colour of the coldest.
Subtlety, gentleness and the element of surprise will be presented by Rose (ping) = Red White.
For grandeur and power will be use the Purple colour.
Freshness, relaxation and calm will be achieved through green colour: lime, bamboo, mint etc..

To give you some inspiration and get your designer juices going take a look at some of the interior spaces that I find inspiring and even though you may not be able to do exactly the same, you can pick certain or favourite elements that you can copy in your space. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me just quickly interject here that our love for throw-back inspired interiors from either 30's 50's, 60's etc is set to continue through this year and it doesn't necessarily have to be the whole space but again just elements, for instance a furniture of your chosing can have that throw-back look.

Ok, let me end here for now as I could truly go on. Again, I hope these images have inspired you to look at your own living space differently and instead of making the drastic move to move house, why not look at what you can change in your home now to truly usher in 2012.

 

 

 

*Please feel free to leave comments on what you thought of this blog and any areas/topics you'd like me to cover.

LIVE Renovation part 3

Wow....I can't believe how busy things have been lately that it's taken me over a week to be able to write this new post. Without further delay, you can imagine that a lot has transpired between my last post and now so let me get you up to speed on the 'goings-on'.

We left off last with the ceilings been prepared for plaster work or P.O.P as they call it here. They have gone a long way now and everything is taking shape

So as you can see a lot of work has gone on with the reception area ceiling and let me make a slight confession here. This wasn't originally what I planned for the effect. I wanted the oval shape to be recessed in but then my work men discussed with me and they convinced me that why not have alternative effects in each area and after a bit of consideration, it made sense so we went ahead and I think you will agree the effect looks good, though keep in mind it isn't finished yet.

Equally the reception area too has had work done to this level, let's take a look.

You can see the skeleton (noggins) of the ceiling that was there originally

 

In the process of doing this, the client has also decided to do some extra work like the empty space at the front of the building is now being turned into a small meeting/store room.

Let's take a quick look at the layout to remind you how it's supposed to be.

It's the room on the left of the diagram in the bottom left corner. We will be looking at that in the next post. I hope again you have found this insightful and till the next post. Ciao!

LIVE Renovation part 2

Hi all.....let me start off by saying sorry for the delay in the next instalment of the LIVE renovation going on but I promise to get you up-to-date on all the goings on thus far.

OK, so a lot has gone on and its all starting to take shape nicely. I most confess though as always with any re-design like this you have to have a very strong vision of what you are doing as trust me the contractors/workmen working for you will try and convince you to do things their way, so be firm.

So were did we leave off?......O yes, the workmen had began gutting the place out so we can have a blank canvas as such to work with.

 

From the picture above you can see how the place looks gutted especially the ceiling. Next step now is for them to partition the place into 2 so we now start fixing the two separate areas as they are.

The partition wall with doorway which will have a glass door

The guy in the blue coat is one of my main foreman on site standing in the doorway of the new partition wall.

The conference room side of the partition wall. Double layer of rock wool been added to the wall for sound proofing

Close up of the inside partition wall

One of the main features I wanted to play with is the ceiling of both areas hence why I had them strip the ceiling bare. This picture below is the working progress of the reception area ceiling. It will have an oval shape drop down, meaning it will extrude.

Reception Ceiling:

3D view of how the ceiling effect will look like

Conference room Ceiling:

3D view of how the ceiling effect will look like

I'll confess that we've come up with slightly more issues with the ceiling in this area as they tried to dodge and do something less than I wanted so again I'll , if you are not using a professional to project manage your renovation make sure you have a very clear idea/vision and stick to it.
Let me not over-load you guys, so I will stop here for now but check back for the next installment of the LIVE renovation.

LIVE Renovation in progress

So let's switch things up a little bit and show you a LIVE office renovation I am working on.....in a sense I'm going to start putting my money where my mouth is. As you know, I've been following trends and showing you what's hot in interiors at the moment but for the next couple of posts I want to look at the process involved in a re-design of an interior space.

This is exciting as I will be able to show you the different stages of what goes into the re-design of a space from space planning/concept to finish, thus allowing you to be better educated and at the end know what you should and shouldn't expect when you too enlist someone to do such for you. Remember, that one of the strong bones of contention I have in Nigeria is poor workmanship, but since people don't know better they can't do better.

So here we go......

Let's start off with the before pictures of the space.

From entrance into the space

End corner of the room

Looking into the space from the main entrance

The brief for this job simply put, is that the client wants this space to have a dual functionality as they need a reception area as well as a conference room. After establishing a good brief, next step is to do 'space planning', example below:

Existing Plan

Proposed Plan with dimensions

 

The area of focus is what is marked in the red oval. So follow me on this journey and let's see the transformation process of this space.