Friday, February 22, 2013

Getting Ready for Spring

Spring comes early in Tampa, and it seems to start a little earlier every year.  One of our clients recently took advantage of our "almost winter weather" to do a major outdoor project.

We viewed this project in a distant post, but the program changed pretty significantly since our last check in.  Here's what the "before" back yard looked like.  Though at a glance the area seems pretty and serene, there were some major issues with drainage, rotting deck, mosquitoes, aging trees...enough to make finding design solutions a necessity!


Though this very mature ficus tree had been a gift many years ago, the invasive roots made it's removal necessary to the design.

In this and the previous photo, you can see the green space that is necessitated by the need for drainage and air circulation under the house.

Portions of the deck were rotting due to contact with moisture from the ground and years of leaf debris collected under the decking.

These two oak trees in the middle of the deck were at the end of their life expectancy, and even posed a hazard to the home's roof.  The removal of the trees and stumps allowed an appropriate grade to be achieved for the patio-to-be.

Several design solutions were explored before the final idea was landed on.  These included a covered pavilion, a fountain, an elaborate pergola (which we saw drawings of in the previous post)....  But when the final idea percolated to the top, the homeowner was ecstatic!  And  a happy client makes for a happy designer.  Over the next couple of weeks we'll take a look at the final design and the process of getting there.  Spring here we come!

Friday, February 1, 2013

The Reveal--Safe, Warm and Exciting

Last week we took a look at our most recent renovation project at The Alpha House of Tampa.  The challenge was to completely refurbish the three-bedroom apartment deemed as their semi-independent quarters for teen moms.  Cynthia Keenan and I wanted to make the apartment both warm and relaxing, comforting and cheerful...a place the girls and their babies would feel is theirs and a space that makes them happy.

Let's take one more quick look at the space before renovations.










 Now, here's the finished space!  Notice new flooring, paint, lighting, fans, furniture, cabinets...nothing left untouched!

Entry and living area:





Kitchen:



Bathroom:

Bedroom 1: (In this room we walled in two doors, and added a new closet!)





Bedroom 2:




Bedroom 3:  (This is the smallest room, which made it challenging.  A loft style bed was chosen with drawer-storage and a pull out desk.)





Some details I am especially fond of:
Stained-glass, pencil cut back splash tile.  Looks terrific with the granite!

LOVE these chairs!

These cubes from Target were the perfect colors and size to fit under the console table for extra seating.

Batik print wall art.

Three separate shampoo/soap niches in the shower.  No fighting!
Fun piece of art in the kitchen looks hand-painted.
The list of people who donated time, materials and labor for this project is too long to detail here.  But as I think you can see, it took a total team effort to put this together, and all in only five weeks time!  We hope the residents at The Alpha House of Tampa will enjoy this space for years to come...and I hope you enjoyed seeing the project!