Jane Daly and Andrew O'Neil knew they had to do some renovations when tiny tiles started to fall off the walls of their daughters' bathroom.
Every time the girls closed a drawer in their bathroom, a tile would clink lightly to the floor. There was also an issue of hugely high water bills, with city officials estimating a family of seven should be living in the house.
Seven months and approximately $40,000 later, the owners of an arresting mid-century modern home in Ottawa's west end have three very slick and angular bathrooms.
The pair had already renovated a dramatic black powder room off the kitchen -- also on a snug budget.
Daly and O'Neil bought the redwood and glass bungalow five years ago, but took their time renovating because they wanted to respect the integrity of the house, which was designed by celebrated U.S. architect Herman York for the Slover family in 1959.
The couple started off renovating the kitchen, while keeping all of the original cabinetry; finished the lower level and laid down stone flooring and chocolate brown carpeting on the main level.
Then they paused before restoring two of the original bathrooms on the main floor and creating a new bathroom in the basement.
Three of the bathrooms are simple, pristine and angular, the upper two lit by skylights, which allow a glimpse of the sky while standing underneath a square rainforest shower head.
The trio are high style on a tight budget thanks to Daly's shopping skills and a head's up from her renovator, Pierre Sirois and Sons. "Pierre told me about a new line by Price Pfister at Home Depot and I went looking," says Daly, who first fell under the influence of mid-century modern architecture and uncluttered styling when staying at the Standard Hotel in Miami.
She had sourced out square Kohler tap fixtures that were highly polished chrome and fit their design mandate, but would have pushed costs up to $25,000 per bathroom. "No way. It was all adding up too quickly," says Daly with a laugh and a retort that her aim is high style on a controlled budget.
She navigated Home Depot's website and found Price Pfister's Vega4 tap for $159. "I love it. It's like a waterfall. It has one handle to control hot and cold and is super, super clean."
There's a similar story with the shower head. The two found a square shower head and were willing to pay $2,300 because they liked the design. Daly checked the Price Pfister's site and found the Kamato shower head, with virtually the same design. The final bill, including the bath spout and a hand-held shower added up to $479.
Hefty glass panels separate the shower from the bathroom, which feels larger than the actual dimensions because of the generous helping of square white tiles, the simplicity and the skylights.
Sirois tracked down small tiles for the three bathrooms at Interscapes in Ottawa for $6 a square foot and turned to Boone Plumbing for two large, square white sinks for the two upper bathrooms and to IKEA for the sink in the basement bathroom.
In another cost-saving venture, Daly found a laminate at Home Depot that is very close to the original wooden cabinetry, a penny-pinching alternative to the original tile top or a modern granite. It takes a practised eye to see a difference and the counter is durable and easy to wipe clean. "Perfect," says Daly, who also used her bargain eyes to find a polished steel vessel sink by Magick Woods for $200 and a crazy chrome tap that looks like a fat cylinder, also by Magick Woods for $175 for the black powder room located beside the kitchen. The sink and taps were all found at Home Depot and they used a piece of black Arborite left over from their kitchen for the countertop.
"The main message is, you don't have to spend big dollars to get a stylish look," says Daly. "You just have to shop carefully."
-- Canwest News Service
