ROOM WE LOVE: Paws and Effect

Vicky Little’s clients hired her to reconfigure their second floor to accommodate a laundry room and two bathrooms—with one big ask: keep the charm of their two-story Myers Park home intact. The 3,600-square-foot house had the typical trappings of a home built in 1956: limited closet space and compact bathrooms. The homeowners wanted to create an ensuite that allowed for more storage and a bathtub for their kids. With two dogs, and two boys under age 4, they also wanted it to be fun and colorful and incorporate some puppy love. “I love the play with the bold tile mixed with the whimsical wallpaper,” Little says. “Those two together are just the perfect mix.”

SMART MOVES

Little, owner of Dipped Interiors, worked with the team at F2 Construction to adapt the space to the 21st century. “This bathroom had one door that connected to the nursery and another to the hallway, so it only allowed a very small shower and a small amount of storage,” she says. “By closing off the hallway door, we made it an ensuite for the boys and got them a nice tub-shower combination and more storage.” They also installed white ceramic tile flooring with blue veining from Surface Studio (formerly Palmetto Tile) and replaced the double sinks with a single-basin vanity to give the boys more counter space.

BARK & BUBBLES

To hit a playful note, Little chose a dog patterned wallpaper from Milton & King. “We knew they wanted fun and color, so we looked at five or six different wallpapers before deciding on this one,” she says. “The older boy picked this one out specifically, and the mother was really happy with what he chose. It was fun having the little one a part of this.” Jennifer Papineau of Carolina Wallcoverings installed the wallpaper, and Little added wood wainscotting on the lower part of the walls, which is more vulnerable to condensation and mold, and painted it in Sherwin-Williams’ Pediment.

A SPLASH OF BLUE

The blue ceramic shower tile, from Surface Studio, complements the blue veining in the floors. Instead of a shower niche, they installed a ledge that would be easily accessible for young kids. “(The tile) is handmade, so there are a lot of variants in the color and texture,” Little says. “The installation was a challenge because it’s a herringbone pattern and we had a ledge, so it moves the tile pattern to where you have to Dutch cut the tile to make it look continuous … and I’m a stickler for grout lines.”

WELL-PLACED FINISHES

Little found the maple vanity at Baxter Cabinets in Fort Mill and added a quartz countertop and woven leather knobs to give it some character. She hung a pill-shaped mirror with a brass frame above the vanity and added antique brass sconces from West Elm on either side. The champagne bronze plumbing fixtures from Delta give it a timeless aesthetic without being too flashy. “The door has a crystal knob original to the house,” Little says. “It was tiny elements like that sold them on this house, and that’s what they wanted with this bathroom.”