The story below is a preview from our September/October 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
A homeowner brings her inspiration boards to life in her bathroom, thanks to great planning, communication and a clear vision.
Taylor Reschka
The accent wall of matte black chalkboard tile in herringbone pattern is brightened by brushed gold fixtures.
Kitty Moss bought her 1950s bungalow in Roanoke’s Greater Deyerle neighborhood in 2006. With four bedrooms and two and a half baths, it was a cozy place for her family of four, but Moss always had a vision for slow renovations to create the perfect home. “I’ve been working on updating it piecemeal, one room at a time,” she says.
Taylor Reschka
The former utility closet now houses a storage cabinet.
By not rushing and giving her family time to live in the space first, Moss was able to approach all house projects thoughtfully, forgoing trends they might outgrow or making changes that wouldn’t actually benefit her family’s lifestyle. With her intentional approach, each undertaking (like updating the kitchen and renovating the basement) had a bigger and longer-lasting impact on their home life.
“Working on each room one at a time lets me give my full attention to each detail, not to mention making it more manageable to keep to my budget,” Moss says.
A bathroom project became a high priority in 2020. “The bathroom was my pandemic project,” Moss says. “I started a Pinterest board and designed my ideal space.”
She researched everything, pinning down even the smallest details of her vision, which included chalkboard tile to replace the pastel blue walls. She was so well-prepared that by the time she’d hired Blue Ridge Restoration & Construction to execute her plans, Director of Operations Daniel De Souza credited her as a co-designer.
“We were able to go shopping for tile and appliances right away, because I knew what I wanted,” Moss says.
With a few renovation projects under her belt, Moss had a great sense of what she was looking for in a contractor. She’d already had experiences where she’d met with contractors to discuss a project, only for them to disappear or not call her back later.
After putting out feelers, she finally connected with Blue Ridge. “Daniel actually reached out to me,” Moss says, “and after we met, he sent a follow-up email summarizing everything we’d discussed so I knew we were on the same page.”
De Souza says it’s important for him to get to know his clients as well. “Just as a client evaluates us, when I meet with potential clients, I evaluate them as well. When I met Moss for the first time, I knew I wanted to be her contractor.”
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Taylor Reschka
Brushed gold finishes make functional fixtures stylish.
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Taylor Reschka
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Taylor Reschka
Blue Ridge excelled at communication for the duration of the project, Moss says, creating a clear paper trail that made it easy to track and update all progress. She was most impressed with their use of an app to manage everything from day-to-day progress reports to cross-referencing tile samples that she could upload directly from her phone.
“Communication is the key to a successful project and with so many moving parts in any construction project, it’s critical to rely on technology and to work as a team to resolve challenges,” De Souza says. The app was especially helpful for when Moss wasn’t able to be on-site at the same time as the crew, ensuring that she was always in the loop on the status of the project.
With two older boys sharing the bathroom, she had a specific vision to upgrade the space into something both functional and also modern, in a style that was versatile enough to appeal to her aesthetics without offending the boys’ sensibilities.
Want to read more about the process of creating this stunning bathroom? Check out the latest issue, now on newsstands, or see it for free in our digital guide linked below!
The story above is a preview from our September/October 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!