Bathroom remodel - decision paralysis

I think this is why so many of us are encouraging you to look at magazines, catalogs, Pinterest, etc. to find pictures of bathrooms/fixtures/features you love to give your designer a place to start the conversation. You don’t have to use AI (although I bet you’ll be hooked if you try). Pictures will give the designer an idea of your style and what you’re looking to end up with so s/he can render possibilities for you. And don’t be afraid to choose pictures of bathrooms you think are way outside your budget; it’s the “look” you’re going for, and a good designer will get you there. You don’t have to have it all figured out, that’s what you pay the designer for.

Reno/decor is my wheelhouse, but I got started on this path the old-fashioned way. Remember Metropolitan Home magazine? I’ll never forget a monthly feature that I devoured in the 80s – the magazine showed on two facing pages two rooms that looked almost identical, but the left page was $$$$$ while the duplicate look was $$. The accompanying article described how to achieve a palace look on a cottage budget. For example, the expensive room had museum-quality art, accessories, fabric, etc. while the same colors, shapes, and patterns were executed on the opposite side with reasonably-priced substitutes. The vase on the mantle on the left was Ming, on the right, a flea-market find of similar shape and color. If you had never seen the left page, you’d still be wowed by the right.

That lesson has stayed with me. I don’t care about the cost of the pictures I choose because I know that I can usually duplicate what I like about them at reasonable cost. You can achieve a look without copying every detail. Whenever I want to re-do a room, I start with professional pictures of the look I want to achieve and back into it based on what I can afford and tweak to suit my taste.

+1000 to this.

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