Simple. Sophistication. ™ From the Ground-Up

Happy 2011!

I want to first apologize for our short absence on here. Busy would be an understatement to describe our year so far, but now that I am back, I wanted to introduce to you a new blog series we are going to be doing. My newest project is for a family that is building their dream home and they have chosen me to design everything from the ground up! From picking paint colors and furniture to choosing appliances and lighting fixtures, I will be exploring each intricate piece with you and answering all of your questions along the way. I think it will be very interesting for all of you to read about our progress on their house over the next year and in the end, I will show you, room by room, the final product... Simple. Sophistication. ™! My goal as a designer is to bring a unique and functional aesthetic that combines both statement and simple pieces to form a sophisticated, yet functional home, so join us on this journey of design.
 First Shopping Trip!

-Castro Design Studio

The first time I take a client shopping, my goal is to not only get to know them as person, but to also start to understand their vision. In order to achieve this with my new client, I took her to Masterpiece Lighting to get a feeling for her taste in color, shape and texture.

First thing on our list... Plumbing. When it comes to buying these appliances, I suggest to start with the Master bedroom and Kitchen, then finish with the secondary bathrooms.

In this case, my client also needed plumbing in her powder room, so we had six rooms to do!

Style Secret: Don’t ever mix and match plumbing appliances! It is like wearing two different earrings!

1. Master Bathroom: Allow yourself to splurge in this room! We chose to do polished nickel Rohl appliances because of the warm yellow tint it gives the room. She fell in love with a high, skinny neck sink faucet with lever handles instead of knobs because of her arthritis pain.

Style Secret: If you have problems with your joints, replace all of the knobs in your house (doors and sinks) with levers.

When it came to the shower, there were a few more options to think about because there are three different types of shower heads. If you are looking for cleaning purposes only, the hand-held or standard shower head should be sufficient, but if you like relaxing showers, you should take a look at the rain version.

My client chose the best of both worlds and we are going to install a standard head on one side and have the rain head coming out of the ceiling in the middle of the shower.

2. Kitchen: Chose to do a brushed nickel Rohl sink with a bridge neck because of it adds personality to this room.

Style Secret: Polished appliances, depicted above, look great in kitchens, but they show water stains! I prefer a brushed finish because it doesn’t require as much maintenance, while still looking wonderful.

3. Powder Room: This room is going to be the most visited room by guests behind the kitchen, so don’t treat it like a standard secondary bathroom. I am looking to making this room funky, yet still classy for my client, so we might be extravagant with Rohl appliances here as well.

4. Secondary Bathrooms: These other three rooms is where we are going to save some money, which will allow us to splurge in the master, kitchen and powder room. Standard low neck sinks and shower head in a brushed nickel finish by California Appliances will look great in the other three bathrooms, while staying consistent with nickel throughout the house.

Stay tuned to learn about the art behind light fixtures!