Parrot on a PorchA Journey Toward the Little Mansion Dream

Vessel sinks or sometimes called, Glass sinks, are my dream bathroom sinks and the hottest current trend in bathroom design. It is coined as “vessel” sink because it adapts the shape of a vessel. Aside from the aesthetic charm, a lot prefer go for this type because it occupies very less space both width and height wise. It only contains a small sink with vessel faucets and a beautiful stand matching in color and design with the bowl. Another advantage is the control on the setup customization like the bowl and stand can be changed and the vessel faucets can be replaced with a single one type. Shapes and designs come in great variety, too. They make great bathroom vanities and give you a feel as if you’re in luxurious and posh hotels.

It would be nice if our dear Little Mansion can have these vessel sinks for the two bathrooms. Price wise, they’re a little steeper than the regular ones so I’m not sure if our little budget can still accommodate this upgrade if ever.

The developer who happens to be our wedding principal sponsor (thus, the complaisance and flexibility) gave us the go signal to canvass in a local construction supplies and tile shop for Little Mansion’s walls and flooring. Together with the husband’s aunt interior designer, they went to Wilcon Depot last month and here’s what they tentatively came up.

This isn’t the final list as we’re yet either to go back to the shop or browse online for the two bedrooms’ flooring which might probably parquet floor types.

For the Living Room:

Romangres Byzanthine Pentelic Porcelain Rustic Semi-Glazed Tile

For the Hallway (Kitchen) – I think this is for the service area (dirty kitchen)

Mariwasa Loft Tokyo Floor Tiles 30x30cm

Flooring, Wall and Boarder for the T & B on the ground floor:

Flooring: Romangres Noble Marrone 25×25cm
Wall: Romangres Enigma Beige 25×33cm
Boarder: Romangres Listelo Ditany Arvada Bisquit 7.5×25cm

T & B on the second floor:

Flooring: Romangres Noble Blue 25×25cm
Wall: Romangres Grey Ceramic 25×33cm
Boarder: Romangres Torelo Oasis Azzuro 3.5×25cm

For the Kitchen:

Flooring: Romangre Inserto Dittany Beige
Wall: Ramongres Marmara Dark Beige
Boarder: Listello Marigold Marmara Beige

When we visited the adjacent twin unit of our dear Little Mansion last time, I got a glimpsed of how ours will look like. The construction of the said unit was prioritized since the US-based owner will be needing it as a vacation house for this month. The house is fully furnished already and is just waiting for the occupants for the big move. We took note of the details of everything and since we can somehow customize to our liking some stuffs like the sinks, cabinets, etc, that following are what we have as options particularly for the kitchen and bathroom sinks.

We don’t want anything fancy like those luxurious sinks in hotels. We want it uncommon yet just simple such as this Overmount Porcelain Vanity Bowl from MR Direct Sinks and Faucets. It’s interesting to note that it’s just $23..so affordable yet dainty especially if partnered with a brushed nickel two handle faucet such as below.

As for the kitchen sinks, we’re amenable to what the developer plans to install. Their choice of undermount kitchen sink satisfactorily matches ours. I can’t find the exact model but it has great resemblance to this:

But seeing these undermount kitchen sinks convinces me to have another type installed in the main kitchen (the one near the dining table as we also have a dirty kitchen in the service area). I find them really unique and I bet my son will definitely enjoy washing his hands in his “own territory” in the middle. Then we can say…”a family that washes together, stays together”.

I love browsing MR Direct’s huge array of bathroom and kitchen sink selection. But what I love more is their economical costings because they manufacture their own sinks and direct sell them to clients. Their offerings are at par with those branded ones but way low-priced than Kohler, Blanco, Elkay, and Franke sinks.

The department store’s home section has become one of our must drop-by points whenever we go malling during weekends. We don’t have news yet from our developer regarding the housing loan approval but it’s never too early to start canvassing home furniture and appliances for our future little mansion, right? All the more it keeps me excited but at the same time, I think, I’m giving myself unnecessary pressure and overwhelmed thoughts because there are just too many lovely inspirations and ideas that I get.

Among the sub-sections, the racks and area for the bathroom has the most limited time visit. Why? Simply because this particular mall that we go to has just minimal options. This convinces me that we might just browse or if circumstances allow, perhaps order online for furniture and accessories, at least, for our bathrooms. By the way, I’m just excited that we’re having a couple of bathrooms in our future little mansion. (We’re used to having just one in our present and even former homes).

I have already bookmarked several websites but so far, Better Bathrooms stands out to be the best not only in terms of their huge bathroom suites selections but their affordable prices and clearance sale rates can not simply be missed. One great thing about shopping for bathroom suites from them is that they also supply the coordinating tiles giving a whopping 20% savings. Now one can practically build and design his dream bathroom with Better Bathrooms.

You know that I go for anything blue so I’m off to check if they have similar border tiles and designs such as shown here in my dream bathroom design:

As previously blogged, I really have a penchant with blue-colored or blue-themed rooms. I’ve come across a site that says the cool color of blue can actually make a small space appear bigger as it appears to recede from the viewer.

Here are just a few inspirations I pooled from my favorite home interior blogs:

Image Source

Image Source

Image Source

Sub-consciously, emotionally and mentally, our perceptions of colors affect and influence us. Colors affect our moods.

Blue is calming and soothing. Its different shades can be strong and steadfast or light and friendly. Interior designers say that blue is a good color for bedrooms because of its cool, calming effect and it can help you sleep. However, too much blue could dampen spirits as the phrase “feeling blue” conveys.

The color blue has always been my favorite.  According to an online quiz that I took, blue is my primary color and it symbolizes that I am a sensitive and reflective person..which is actually true.

Here are some of the blue inspired home inspirations for our future little mansion.

Photo Credits: Coastal Living

I’m sure, my online “purple” friend, Ems, would fall head over heels in love with this bathroom.

Happy Bathroom – (posted via Novello)

Yes, I am so into our house hunting project that my online time is usually spent on bookmarking sites and shops about home design, furniture inspiration, interior design and architecture. I am even subscribed to my favorite home design blog’s feeds on my Google Reader getting a daily dose of ideas and inspiration. Its latest blog post features this Mastella’s unique modern vanity bathtub. It has organic curves inspired by an egg’s shape only with a flat edge making it ideal for practical wall placement without sacrificing style. This is the perfect tub for my ideal bathroom.