Homeowners enjoy a fresh vibe for their remodeled master bath

What started as mold in the caulking of David and Dana Phillips’ shower turned into a completely remodeled master bathroom.

And they couldn’t be happier. “That was the impetus for doing the shower, for sure,” Dana Phillips said. “That’s how it started. But also, we despised that whirlpool tub. It was kind of gross to me. I knew if we did the shower, we would probably have to redo the flooring. If we have to redo the flooring, then why don’t we just rip out this bathtub we hate. It (the project) just kind of grows.”

The Phillipses’ Haughton home is some 15 years old – and the master bath was showing its age.

“It was very bland,” Phillips remembered. “Everything was beige.

The cabinets were stained dark red stain. Everything else was just … bland is the best word for it.”

“It was the typical, traditional builder home from the 1990s-2000s,” said Lisa Willard with Ashley’s Building and Construction, which did the remodel. “There was cultured marble in the shower, cultured marble on the countertops, as well as the tub decks. Cultured marble is now a little dated, and people want quartz and granite.”

Willard and her husband, Adam, own Ashley’s Building and Construction. She is the company’s designer, while Adam is the general contractor. When Lisa Willard first met Phillips, she wanted to get a feel for the homeowner’s tastes.

“We walked around the house, and she showed me some things in her backyard,” Willard said. “I noticed she really loves gardening and plants and earthy-type materials – natural woods, reclaimed woods … With all this in mind, as far as the plants, I knew I wanted to give her a really light palette, but I also wanted to be a little bold in some ways.”

“I gave her very little direction,” Phillips said. “I didn’t want it to be farmhouse looking, and I like color, but it needs to be something that’s not too different than other people might like, because we won’t be here forever, and other people need to like it, too.”

Thanks to technology, remodeling clients like the Phillipses can see what they are getting before the work begins.

“I have software that can show them a 3-D rendering and actually do a virtual walk-through of the room,” Willard said. “I put in all of those particular products that we chose in the room so they can see what it looks like. Sometimes, I will do multiple versions of the room with different products, so they can really see how it looks before they make their selection of the tile and the flooring.”

Willard designed a mix of the bold and the beautiful. She calls it a BOHO bathroom, BOHO being short for bohemian.

“There’s a pattern tile that we used that’s really subtle,” Willard said. “It doesn’t have loud colors in it. I think it allows (Phillips) to really decorate that space with the natural elements that she loves. There are very colorful things she can bring in there. Throughout the year, she can remove some of the decorations, then bring in new colors. We women like to redecorate every couple of years.”

Some two months later, the project was complete, and the Phillipses had the remodeled bath they wanted. It’s hard to tell who is more pleased, the client or the remodeler.

“I absolutely love it,” Dana Phillips said. “I stand there and go, ‘I cannot believe this is my bathroom!’ It’s amazing, and we are beyond thrilled how it turned out. It’s more than I could have dreamed of on my own.”

“When it was all done, and I had it all cleaned,” Willard said, “I walked in there – and this is going to sound ridiculous – but I literally wanted to cry because it was so pretty. Just gorgeous. That’s the best feeling. That’s what I wake up for – to have my clients happy and have them walk into their room every single day and say, “Yes, this is mine, and it’s gorgeous!” To learn more about Ashley’s Building and Construction, you may visit www. ashleysbuilding.com.