Before and After Country Master Suite Renovation

After having their second child, a couple in New Jersey was ready to renovate their bedroom. “These customers had dwelt in the home awhile, and we’re renovating room by room,” says interior designer Sheila Rich. “The home was built during an era when almost every room in the home had a wet bar and very little to no closet space. … This is a badly appointed master suite, with odd proportions, plenty of wasted space and extremely wasteful storage.”

The suite included a sitting room, bedroom and bath. Rich reconfigured the entire area, moving the bedroom into the former sitting room, changing the layout to incorporate a hallway and his-and-her walk in closets, including storage and shifting up the bathroom layout. The end result is elegant, airy and intimate, but more important, functional and comfortable.

“Lots of giggles happen in here,” Rich says. “Design should make a difference in my clients’ lives; it has to work long after you’re done and maintain up against the needs of the family. I want my customers to call me back after we’re done for working on the next room, not to inform me that what I did is not functioning”

Before Photo

This was originally the sitting room, but Rich felt its proportions and tray ceiling called for this to become the bedroom. “This room had lots of space to get a king-size bed, a dresser, and everything else we had,” she states.

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Rich freshened up the colors in the wife’s beloved palette of green and pink, employing the owners’ quilted floral bedspread as a jumping-off point. “The bedspread is the one large-scale print, and we used solids and mini-prints on everything else,” Rich says. The design has an elegant yet comfortable French country look.

She added the recessed lighting and chandelier. “I think in light a space evenly, but everything is on different switches and dimmers,” she states.

LLC, Sheila Rich Interiors

Rich added this 8-foot corridor, flanked by walk-in cupboards. French doors continue that the French state look into the sitting room and block noise from the tv without cutting off the space.

Sheila Rich Interiors, LLC

What remained was a space of 11 feet by 30 feet. “I added built-ins to bring the walls from 2.5-feet; this decreased the proportions to 11 feet by 25 feet,” Rich explains. “Additionally, it added plenty of much-needed storage” Including a wall of cabinets and shelves, along with a window chair throughout the room, complete with storage.

“My customer loves to utilize a lot of personal family photographs and things that are meaningful, not fluff,” says Rich. “It is always pleasant to display personal things in private spaces”

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The room functions as an oasis for the couple. “That is a sitting room for 2; there are plenty of other places in the home for the whole family to watch TV together,” Rich says.

“The wool rug is a beautiful large-scale Victorian flowery, therefore I used mini-prints and solid cloths on everything else,” she explains.

Before Photo

Rich’s customers lived in the home for a while and waited until after their second daughter’s birth to tackle the master suite. The time helped them determine exactly what they had from the renovation. Rich worked with them on chambers one by one.

The shower stall was small, dark and obsolete. “Reconfiguring the area left room for a state-of-the-art, spa-like angled shower using a huge chair, shower head, body sprays, rain head along with personal shower,” Rich says.

Before Photo

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French doors failed to offer you much toilet solitude. Rich replaced them with a smaller wood paneled door, which allowed room for a huge shower stall.

Rich reused the French doors onto the linen closet, lining them with tight shirred panels at a pink mini-print to hide the storage. The heap of laundry seen in the prior photos was organized in to lights, darks and dry cleaning in 3 thirds kept in the linen closet.

Porcelain and glass tiles along with the crystal clear glass shower enclosure bounce the light around, transforming the previously dark area into a light and relaxing refuge.

LLC, Sheila Rich Interiors

Not needing to make privacy from outside, the window treatments dress the walls while allowing views and natural lighting to warm the area. A 12-foot-long wood vanity, featuring two perpendicular medicine cabinets with glass shelves and interior light, provides the pair with the storage they want.

Glazed ivory wood and classic cabriole legs give the dressing table a furniture look. The green tile borders round the beveled mirrors picks up on additional tile accents.

Sheila Rich Interiors, LLC

A more child-friendly corner bathtub replaced the old, sharp-edged version. The drapes’ silk-like synthetic fabric is designed to hold up to steam, temperature changes and humidity.

“The ceiling light is in the same light group because the bedroom chandelier and the flush-mount lighting in the hall; it’s a semi-flush that satisfies all codes,” says Rich. It adds an elegant touch and performs off the crystal knobs onto the dressing table and doors.

Rich agrees this suite includes a little Dorothy Draper-esque spirit. “It is elegant, but it has got a little pizzazz!”

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