Welcome to 2020+1! We’ve got a +1 on this new decade and in honor of moving just a little bit further into the future, we’re dedicating a blog post on ways to “plus up” your space. What do we mean by plus up? Finding a way to add a little pick-me-up to rejuvenate or otherwise add ease and efficiency to your space. Here are some great ways to add a little one-up to your mudroom, kitchen, bathroom and living room, giving your new year a boost!
+ Up Your Mudroom
What could make your life easier for you and your family? Maybe it’s finding a way to incorporate storage into your mudroom for the whole family. Not just a few hooks for coats. Or is it a clever way to store sports equipment so it can be a quick “Grab and go” that also keeps the mess and dirt out of the house? We’ve done quite a few posts on mudroom designs and materials that you can check out for style tips. But in terms of taking the space to the next level, think about what functional needs you have in that space.
Are you constantly having to adjust your door mat or find your door pushing it around the floor? Recessing a coir doormat is a great way to get the mud off the boots and have a minimal, clean look without the tripping hazard or instability of a doormat that gets pushed around. These can be recessed into either tile or wood floors.
If your mudroom is adjacent to a kids’ play area, or an entertainment space, you may want to add a small kitchenette. Perhaps some fridge drawers for beverages and snacks. For this mudroom remodel project in Old Greenwich, we added plenty of refrigeration space for the kids in the playroom next door, and for an easy way to grab a bottle of water on the way out the door. Plus a microwave for popcorn and even a freezer and fridge for the dog’s food!
Adding a sink to your mudroom can be great for lots of reasons. For gardeners to clean up after coming inside, or use for potting, or transferring fresh cut flowers to a vase, and other messes. Also, it’s a great way to get the kids to wash up as soon as they come in from playing outside. Or it can be used as a utility sink if your mudroom is combined with a laundry space.
This combined mud and laundry room has a sink right by the door for easy washing, dropping wet or muddy sports clothes, or pretreating stains for the wash.
This mudroom is a gardener’s dream! I love the charm and color, as well as plenty of quick access storage for pots.
Have a muddy dog? Perhaps muddy children? These mudroom showers are perfect for rinsing the dog after a muddy morning at the dog park, or washing small kiddos before muddy or chalky fingertips and footprints make a mess all over the house! Sound like something you’d like to do? We can help get you started with a free consultation.
This mud and utility room has lovely brick floors, and a great little rinsing area for dogs, feet, kids, or even anything you bring into the house that needs a quick cleaning.
This Laundry/mudroom is great for dog lovers with an area for leashes and a spot to rinse the pups!
This floor mount utility sink has a spot to rinse off muddy boots or our furry friends.
+ Up Your Kitchen
From quick changes to midsize modifications, here’s a few ways to perk up your kitchen, whether it’s existing or you’re planning a full remodel.
This Delta Glass Rinser is a great addition if you’re someone who’s constantly spending time at your sink trying to properly clean stainless steel water bottles, travel mugs, baby bottles or even wine glasses or champagne flutes. For items that are hard to reach, or aren’t dishwasher safe, you can hook up this tool to any unused countertop hole (where you may have had a separate pullout spray or soap dispenser, or simply drill a new hole!) connect to the faucet’s hot or cold water line, take your drinkware and turn it upside down and press, and high powered water will burst inside to clean it off.
It comes in a variety of finishes to match your existing décor. I would LOVE this to clean all of my water bottles that I’m never sure if I’ve gotten fully clean.
Another great accessory to add to your sink is a beverage faucet. These handy faucets can provide either on-demand hot water for making tea at the perfect temperature, or providing cold filtered drinking water straight from the tap (without the ugly attachment to your main faucet) or both! Again, just adding another hole drill to your countertop and adding the filter, or small hot water tank in the cabinet under the sink with some power (for hot water only) you’ll be living in on-demand luxury!
There are a few brands that offer the hot water tank or the filters, but my favorite is from InSinkerator. They have several styles of taps you can choose from or many of your favorite faucet vendors have compatible fixtures!
The instant hot water tank is compact and lives under your sink out of sight, but holds up to 2/3rds of a gallon for on demand hot drinking water.
The water filter is a tiny canister that filters out particles and chemicals including mercury, asbestos and lead. Just a quick twist and change out every 6 months will give you better smelling and tasting water!
High style faucets can be purchased from plumbing manufacturers like Kohler and Brizo to coordinate with your existing kitchen faucet. Just make sure you’re selecting a faucet that matches your setup, of hot AND filtered, or just one option.
Upgrade your outlets! You can do this in any area of your home. But since the kitchen is the heart of the home, it’s often where guests or family members may want to quickly charge their phone or plug in a laptop while keeping someone company in the kitchen. There are many styles and options like those from the Adorne Collection by LeGrande. USB plug outlets are very handy for a quick phone charge. Or pop-out outlets can be discreet and accommodate up to 3 plugs in a tiny amount of real estate!
New fast charging outlets get all your devices powered up quickly.
The Pop-Out outlets can disappear when not in use, or simply push and get 3 plugs!
At this kitchen remodel on Candlewood Lake, we needed to provide lots of outlets for this heavy use kitchen with a large island. To make the outlets more discreet, we used pop-up outlets on either end for small hand appliances, and inside the side panel, USB outlets were provided for people to use while sitting at the counter.
The baking center by the windows required two outlets to be provided by code, but the windows and trim were too large to fit an outlet on the backsplash. These sleek stainless steel outlets flip up with the touch of a button. They provide two outlets for hand mixers and other small appliances, as well as two USB ports! Contact us if you’re interested in any of these ideas to +Up your kitchen.
Make your sink work harder! Workstation sinks are a great feature in large and small kitchens alike; whether you’re short on counter space, or just want to add more utility to a large kitchen sink. The prices can range greatly on these, as well as some of the features. Ruvati makes a great sink for a more economical price point, while other brands like Kohler offer a slightly thicker gauge steel and a variety of sizes. These sinks often have features like cutting boards, colanders, and drying racks. Making it easy to prep and toss scraps down to the garbage disposal, or help organize a large sink basin for multitasking.
The Kohler Prolific sink is another great option with multiple sizes of cutting boards available.
+ Up Your Bathroom
Bathrooms are another area of the home where having a little boost of functionality or luxury can go a long way. As technology continues to advance, more and more features are available to traditional bathroom fixtures.
Medicine cabinets with lighting, night lights, outlets, and other convenient storage options can help make your space cleaner and more organized than the original box with a mirror on the front. Robern offers highly customizable medicine cabinets from traditional to super sleek and modern. Whether you’re just looking for a medicine cabinet with high style, or all of the technical features, they’re a great place to look!
The Main Line Collection offers a variety of finishes and frame styles, as well as different depths and sizes. Go simple, or add electric for an integrated outlet to keep that toothbrush, razor or other gadget charged and out of sight!
The AiO cabinets have high tech features like audio, integrated LED lighting at different color temperatures, electric outlets and USB, magnetic strips to quickly store tweezers or other metal tools, and a magnifying mirror.
Of course smart toilets seemed comical when they first came on the market years ago. By adding either a smart seat or a whole new toilet you can add modern style plus hygienic and luxury amenities and features. Some of what Toto offers are: a heated seat, hands free opening and closing, deodorizer, premist to help keep the bowl clean, and cleansing wand for hygienic use.
The Toto Washlet+ can be purchased as a seat to be added to an existing toilet, or can be purchased as a whole new toilet.
The Sensowash by Duravit even offers a nightlight, an app and multiple user profiles!
If you’re undertaking a full bathroom remodel, you may want to consider protecting your investment as well as adding ease of cleanliness, maintenance and adding a splash of luxury with a shower dryer. The Airmada Shower drying systems are a new concept to me, and although they might seem frivolous, they could prove to be well worth the investment. The AirJet Drying System has several small nozzles located throughout the shower area, in the ceiling and walls of the shower. Forcing high powered air directionally, this helps dry your shower quickly pushing air towards the drain, since water is no longer sitting for hours and hours slowly drying in a humid environment, this gets water out of your grout lines that can cause mold, mildew, and discoloration. For homeowners purchasing expensive tile, white marbles, or mosaics with lots of grout lines, this can help maintain that brand new appearance with little maintenance.
Nozzles in the ceiling and walls are relatively invisible and available in a variety of finishes.
Similarly, the Air-Pocket Door allows the shower space to be completely sealed off for a steam shower experience, but when opened, conceals the door completely to give the feeling of a walk-in shower. When the door is in the pocket, once activated, the air pocket will blast the water off the glass door and channel it to the drain. This keeps the door always looking fresh and clean, never streaky or with water spots.
This grand walk-in shower features the air pocket door. Allowing the space to fill with steam for a luxury shower experience, and low maintenance and ease of movement without a swinging door.
+ Up Your Living Room and Entire Home!
Are you torn between wanting a large TV in the room where everyone is always gathering, but having it totally ruin your aesthetic? In the past, people would buy an enormous TV cabinet that took up loads of space with doors to cover up the TV. Spoiler alert, the doors rarely ever get closed between uses, the cabinet looks clunky and provides little function for its size and limits the size of your TV. Enter the Samsung Frame TV. Available in a variety of sizes, different frame colors from natural, white and a wood look. When the TV is off, it displays a work of art that you can select from their Art Store with curated classic and modern pieces or upload your own! You can change the art at anytime to change with the season, holiday, or your mood. My favorite part? It mounts flush to the wall, just like any piece of art, unlike other TV mounts that push the TV out from the wall. Contact us for a free quote to +Up your living room or any room in your home.
Can you spot the TV?
Tired of trekking around the house opening and closing shades, or reaching behind bathtubs, sofas and other bulky furniture trying to close the shade? With motorized window treatments you can open or close an entire room of windows by using a remote, an app on your phone, or even voice activated smart speakers.
For clients with hard to reach controls, or a large quantity of windows in a space, I often recommend splurging for battery operated shades. They’re also a great idea for aging members of the family who may have arthritis, shoulder problems, or disabled family members. Not to mention, this also means no cords or choking hazards for small children or pets. Whether you’re looking for a simple solar shade, dual layers of a sheer and blackout, or custom made fabric roman shades, motorization is possible!
Remotes with up to 15 channels allows you to control many shades individually, or keeping groupings on specific channels to move together.
Consult with a designer or window treatment fabricator for a variety of options for controls and operating systems to see what will suit you best, without being over complicated. By making things more simple and streamlined, you’re sure to get more efficient use of your window treatments! Rollease’s Acmeda system allows for integration with Voice Activation and other Third Party home systems.
How Can We Be Your +1?
It’s often the small features or details that clients always end up telling me are their favorite aspect of a project. They can be total game changers in how we live in our homes, make our lives easier, which allows for more quality time enjoying your home and family! Have a few ideas you want to run by us? Not sure where to start? Contact a HomeSquare professional today!
Katie Canfield is the founder and principal designer at Studio KC. Studio KC got its humble start in 2015 when Katie was just 23 years old. While she was freelancing with other interior designers in the NY and CT area she also became a go-to designer for local contractors and trades that needed a designer’s help for their clients whether it be for custom cabinetry drawings or plans for a gut renovation on an entire home.
Katie Canfield’s design aesthetic is eclectic and flexible. She delights in the marriage between old and new- keeping spaces approachable but still matching each client’s unique aesthetic and family narrative. Her passion for design keeps her motivated and constantly on the hunt for new trends and materials. Her broad experience includes an art history background, study at the Accademia Italiana in Florence, a stint with the renowned Manhattan firm Amanda Nisbet Design, as well as collaborations with builders and designers across the tri-state area. She’s seen it all: from gutting prewar Manhattan apartments to new construction in the ‘burbs.
