Barbara Dettweiler, the talented blogger/creator of Haus Design in Germany, asked us to participate in her recent guest blogger series, Design in Five. She asked each participant to respond to the following premise: “You have a neutral room to work with, with good bones, but nothing outstanding. The challenge is this: You have a neutral room to work with good bones, but nothing outstanding. The challenge is this:  “What five items would you add?  In other words, what are the five elements in design that you can’t live without to make an amazing room?”  The items could be furniture, architectural details, accessories; anything you think really makes a room.”

We turned the question around a little asking ourselves what is it that we do when we design a space, in order to take it from this (Photo by John Kelsey)

to this  (Design by Wilson Kelsey Design, photo by John Kelsey)

to the final finished space. (Design by Wilson Kelsey Design, photo by Laura Moss)

Using examples drawn from our work, Sally and I illustrated Five Points we consider critical in order to successfully design a room. Those five points were,

1. Millwork and architectural detail

2. Lighting

3.Color

4. Fabric

5. Artwork

 To see our guest post and read more about our Five Points, see here.

Enjoy,

You know how much I love powder rooms if you’ve been reading our blog! I think they can be little jewels. Some powder rooms have enough space for both a small towel bar and a nice glass shelf, for little necessaries, or not-so-necessaries. Here is one we did recently with fun, fun, black and white wallpaper and a gorgeous shelf with escutcheions of white marble.

Here’s a close up of the shelf. Now, what to do with it? It will come in handy no matter what – just think of your guests and what they might need while visiting you – even if only for a dinner party.

Gorgeous marble and nickel escutcheons hold up this shelf

Do you remember my post about antique linens? Well, if you’ve inherited antique linens chances are that perhaps you have also inherited little dressing table items. Here are some from my grandmother and aunt. They would look adorable on a glass shelf in a powder room.

You could put cotton balls in the low jar, as I have, and cotton swabs in the tall jar. Or I have filled the taller jar with dried lavender flowers, which look so pretty. Or cranberries and little clippings of greenery for Christmas!

Silver Lid with Monogramming

The silver detail on the tall jar reminds me of Art Nouveau with their love of the morning glory flower. I also love the faceted crystal jar itself.

Here is a glass and nickel shelf that holds soap and hand towels in another of our recently finished powder rooms. We got this great small sink and stand combination, and faucets, from Designer Bath in Beverly, MA.  The stand was in mahogany, and we wanted black, so we had it refinished locally.

Glass shelf to left of sink is handy

Another shelf decoration that I like is this dried bunch of lavender flowers, tied with straw.

It stands up on its own and can act as a centerpiece on your bathroom shelf. No watering needed.  Just add some pretty towels and you are ready for your guests! And you can Wow them. You can make visting your powder room an EXPERIENCE to remember!

Best,