By Donna Heiderstadt
As anticipation grows for KBIS 2023 in Las Vegas, kicking off in celebratory style with The Kitchen & Bath Design + Industry Awards, the top three finalists in the Secondary Bath category have been chosen. The award show will be the start of NKBA’s year-long 60th Anniversary Celebration and will feature a BIG surprise celebrity guest that will kick off our Opening Party, which directly follows the Design Awards.
The winning projects — whose designers will receive $5,000 for a first-place finish, $2,500 for second, and $1,000 for third — won’t be revealed until the awards ceremony on January 30, in the Encore hotel’s ballroom at Wynn Las Vegas. However, the finalists’ bathroom designs can be previewed here. So, read on for details on the Secondary Bath finalists for 2023.
Nancy Finneson, DeMane Design, Gig Harbor, WA: “Crystal & Stone Contemporary Bath”
Nancy Finneson embraces a wide range of aesthetics in her role as principal of DeMane Design in Gig Harbor, WA. She always ensures that each space is unique, offering a balance of function and style for each client. For this local project, the homeowner requested that the space be “functional, distinctive, and artistic.” The challenge was the limited square footage, divided into two separate windowless rooms. Creating a secondary bath that felt large was also a top priority.
Nancy achieved a more open feel by having everything floating off the floor, as well as installing a Velux skylight to let in natural light and fresh air, complete with a solar-powered remote that closes when it senses rain. The focal point is a wall-hung vanity that has fabric laminated behind its glass door panels, and a countertop and sink molded from a single piece of glass. A sleek accent composed of a high-arc Dornbracht faucet pulls the look together. Kichler then added crystaline sconces and flanked a recessed medicine cabinet with a large mirror, in-floor heated porcelain floor tiles, and a generously-sized shower with a fold-up teak bench. The bathroom’s walls are done in a combination of Zebrano marble with striking vein cuts and geometrically patterned tile. “The owners didn’t want ordinary,” Nancy explains. “And now they have a functional bathroom that’s distinctive and artistic.”
Gina D’Amore Bauerle, D’Amore Interiors, Denver, CO: “When Nature Calls”
Gina D’Amore Bauerle is more than comfortable giving her clients a design with a “wow factor.” As partner and interior designer at Denver-based D’Amore Interiors, she earned the top prize of Best Overall Bathroom at the 2022 Kitchen & Bath Design + Industry Awards. Her entry this year offers equally eye-catching design solutions for a space that needed to function as both a secondary bathroom and a powder room for guests. The resolution was achieved by adding an abstract wall mural, a large, backlit IBMirror, and wood and metal elements. The look gave the home in Castle Rock, CO a dramatic, nature-inspired space, creating increased property value for a future sale.
Gina opened up the room by removing an interior doorway that separated the sink and closet from the toilet and bathtub, getting rid of the closet altogether and replacing it with a decorative cabinet, which offered linen storage. The tub was swapped for a DGI Waterford frameless standing shower, while a floating Porcelanosa Edge vanity with an oversized marble trough sink further enhanced the space. “Warm wood tones combined with an airy steel frame pull in a natural feeling with a contemporary flare,” she says. An upgraded Toto toilet and three asymmetrically hung Hammerton Gem pendants added more ambient lighting, while also creating distinctive shadows that play off the shapes in the mural.
Nichol Hollinger, Henrietta Heisler Interiors, Inc., Lancaster, PA: “Modern Jack & Jill Bath”
Nichol Hollinger, the senior interior designer for Lancaster, PA-based Henrietta Heisler Interiors, Inc., likes to approach every project as a “new challenge or puzzle to be fit together piece-by-piece, resulting in a creative, efficient, inspiring, and beautiful space.” For a local remodel of an 85-square-foot Jack-and-Jill bathroom, she needed to integrate improved functionality with a stylish visual experience.
Nichol’s challenges included toilet and shower drain lines that conflicted with structural floor joists, as well as soffits that created a somewhat cramped and dimly lit space. So, she removed the soffits to elevate the ceiling height and added more uniformly efficient lighting. She then shifted the position of the toilet (just clearing the floor joists below) to allow for a generous, glass-enclosed walk-in shower. Also, to free up space, she removed a closet and replaced it with ample vanity storage, and swapped the swinging doors for pocket doors. The piece de resistance was a custom wood-stained vanity with a mitered apron-front Cambria quartz countertop, complemented by a custom wood-stained slat wall with floating shelving behind the Kohler toilet. Finally, wall-mounted Kohler faucets and a set of Eurofase LED back-lit mirrors were adorned by a beautifully decorative tile backsplash.
Winning Announcements Coming Soon
The Kitchen & Bath Design + Industry Award winners for each category will be announced on January 30th at KBIS 2023. Shaping up to be an event not to be missed, the first, second, and third place winners will be formally announced in each of the six categories, as well as awards for Best Overall Kitchen, Best Overall Bath, and the new People’s Pick award. Over $100,000 will be awarded in total. If you cannot attend, check our newsfeed to read all about it. The award show will be the start of NKBA’s year-long 60th Anniversary Celebration and will feature a BIG surprise celebrity guest that will kick off our Opening Party, which directly follows the Design Awards.
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