Contemporary Design in a Traditional Area

Powder Room St. Davids

A few years ago I was commissioned to design and build a contemporary home in the Saint Davids Neighborhood of Wayne.  I am traditional in my personal tastes, the design challenged me and stretched me in a lot of exciting ways, since then I have been adding contemporary elements into a lot of my traditional designs.

Yesterday I used a sledge-hammer to break a hole through the floor of a bath we will be remodeling in the coming weeks.  I needed to verify the location of floor joists to position the drain in a custom shower tray that must be ordered now to be delivered on time to keep the project moving.  There is something satisfying about the destructive power of a sledge-hammer, and yes ladies, I did take a dust pan and brush along and cleaned up my mess.

Magazine Clipping

This client always has inspiration pictures, we use them as we explore design options and then as we make selections.  Her’s is a traditional main line suburban home and after years of living in traditional surroundings Ginny has decided to spice things up with more contemporary furnishings and finishes.  Following is a sneak preview of the job.

The new plan calls for a separate tub and shower. To create the additional space we eliminated the existing bath linen closet, and stole some room from an adjacent hall closet.  The lost storage was replaced by the linen cabinet next to the toilet.

Here is a picture of the tile in a 1×1 mosaic, There is a nice variety of coloring in the tile which adds visual texture to the room.  We chose 17×17 tile for most of the bath.

The lighting is decidedly contemporary.

The square theme continues with the plumbing fixtures.

The cabinet hardware continues the angular, square theme.

To offset the hardness of the square chrome fixtures and the tile we selected a warm stain on cherry wood for the cabinets and pulled one of the warmer tones from the tile for the wall paint, Benjamin Moore AF-100 pashmina.

I draw elevations of each wall to help the customer visualize the room and to communicate clearly with the tradesman that will execute the project.  Initially I presented the clients with 4 design concepts, this is the design concept that we used to price, and then to sign the contract.

After making selections, including a 3″ thick edge on the granite top, the drawings were revised.

This is the shower wall final layout with the 17×17 tile.

I am excited to see these ideas come to life.  This is the second time we have worked for this couple, I will strive to meet the expectations we set last time.

The renovation of our basement, laundry room, master bath and bedroom by Glenn Gingrich Inc. was excellent in every way.  We had many articles from interior design magazines of exactly what we wanted in terms of lighting, cabinetry, shower design, tile and overall design and the finished product looks exactly like these photographs! Bruce Gingrich was extremely helpful in guiding our selection of custom lighting, tile, coordinating paints, fixtures and cabinetry.  He was always available for questions by phone or email.  Daryl is a delight to have in your home and takes complete responsibility for every worker that comes through the door.  Every person that worked in our home was on time, worked a full day, was always courteous and as neat as possible.  In short, it would be difficult indeed to find any contractor that is going to do a better job than this one.  We recommend them with five stars!                                              ~ Ken and Ginny Pina 

Bruce Gingrich is a residential designer and custom builder based in New Holland, PA.  His company, Glenn Gingrich, Inc. is a design, build, remodel firm that executes projects from conception to completion.  His functional insight, meticulous planning, building expertise, and customer collaboration can give you the living space of your dreams.